574 ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN ARGENTINA AND BOLIVIA. 



tliose <*'rottoes, slio^vini>\ iu the corner, a skeleton which I unearthed. 

 The grottoes average about 1.5 meters in depth and about 2 meters 

 in height at the entrance. Tlie i-ock forming the foundation of the 

 grotto slopes usually downward from the entrance, but rises again 

 farther in, so that a longitudinal se(;tion shows that the floor, the 

 inner wall, and the roof of the grotto together form a curve which 

 nearl}^ approximates to two-thirds of the circumference of a circle. 

 Thus the floor of the grotto is markedly concave in form; it is cov- 

 ered with a layer of sand, usually of a depth of as much as one meter 

 at the deepest part. En that layer the corpse is found deposited in a 

 sitting posture, or else, where there was not a sufficient dei3th of sand, 

 in a lying one, but always with the legs bent up and pressed upon the 

 chest, so that the chin and knees almost touch. I have not observed 

 that the corpse was systematically placed facing any particular point 

 of the compass. In front of the entrance to the grotto there is often 

 to be seen a semicircular arrangement of stones, piled in several 

 courses, one on top of another; that was presumably a precautionary 

 measure against the removal of the sand by the blowing of the Avind. 

 As a rule, I found only one skeleton in each grotto, but in some there 

 were up to the number of three. In some graves the dead had house- 

 hold utensils, etc., lying beside them, though in only one of the graves 

 which I examined was there any trace of clothes. As the layer of 

 sand in the graves has never been exposed to the influence of any 

 damp to speak of, a number of the corpses, instead of rotting away, 

 have merel}^ dried up; they resemble mummies in api^earance. It 

 seems to me scarcely probable that any species of embalming was 

 resorted to; it must, indeed, have been superfluous, inasmuch as the 

 articles of wood and other perishable or destructible substances 

 w'hich I found in the grottoes are in remarkably good preservation. 

 I succeeded in collecting a fairly large number of specimens of 

 skeletons, both of adults and children. Professor Retzius is at pres- 

 ent studying them, and lie informs me that all the heads from here 

 bear evidence of having been artificially deformed to a greater or 

 less extent. The hairs upon them are coal-black, coarse, but not 

 very stitl'. Kound one of the heads there Avas a curious bandage 

 of llama wool. The body to which this skull belongs was wrapped 

 round in two woven mantles, one of a very delicate texture, worked 

 in a strange pattern and of an exceedingly i)retty color; the other 

 coarser and very thick. The finer one is ])robably of vicuna wool, 

 and was woven in a peculiar numner, whereby the threads were 

 made to follow the pattern. Consequently the threads in some 

 places are verv closely })acked together, in others wader apart. The 

 coarser mantle is of llama wool. Close to the skin of the dead body 

 I found renmants of a garment of some thin material, originally 

 white in color. 



