4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 56 



For a detailed history and description of Pachacamac, the writer 

 must refer to the work of Dr. Uhle.^ Pachacamac was a famous 

 rehgious center, comparable to the Egyptian Thebes or the Mo- 

 hammedan Mecca. It originally contained a shrine of the " creator " 

 god, Pachacamac, to which flocked " pilgrims coming from all 

 parts of Peru, three hundred leagues or more " (Estete), and later, 

 after conquest of the place by the Peruvians of the highlands, it 

 also had a famous Temple of the Sun. It was at the same time a 

 political center, the seat of a chief who ruled over the populous 

 valleys of Lurin, Rimac, Chancay, Huacho, Supe, and Huanan 

 (Garcilasso). Its decline dates from the year of the entrance of the 

 Spaniards (1533) and the destruction by them of the venerated 

 statue of the principal deity of the place (Pachacamac). In the 

 early fifties of the sixteenth century the Augustinian monks trans- 

 ferred the town to the valley, and in the first part of the seven- 

 teenth century it was already a desolate pile of ruins (Calancha). 



The inhabitants and the pilgrims of Pachacamac disappeared, 

 leaving scarcely a trace in history, but they left behind a vast 

 number of graves. Uhle estimates the total number of burials that 

 existed within and about the ruins at between 60,000 and 80,000. 

 There are six or more aggregations of the graves which may be 

 regarded as distinct cemeteries, but burials, often two deep, existed 

 apparently in every available part of the ground, within the temples, 

 and even about and within the dwellings. The middle part of the 

 region, bounded by the principal ruins, and especially the front of 

 the Temple of Pachacamac, look like one vast burial place. 



These cemeteries, with the exception of a smaller one, heretofore 

 unknown, found by the writer on the south side, have been for 

 many years, in common with the majority of other burial places in 

 Peru, the prey of the peons, engaged in searching for pottery and 

 precious metals, which are carried to Lima for sale. Considerable 

 and scientifically conducted work has been done here by Uhle, 

 particularly in the neighborhood of the temples, but the area of 

 depredations is much greater. The result of the peons' work is the 

 destruction of thousands of mummy bundles, and often of the 

 mummies themselves, scattering of the bones, damage to the walls 

 and foundations, and destruction or abandonment of everything 

 that cannot be sold with profit. The skulls, bones, wrappings, 

 damaged fabrics, broken jars, etc., are left to litter the surface of 



^ Uhle, M. Pachacamac. University of Pennsylvania Publications, Folio, 

 Philadelphia, 1903. 



