AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 
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caused the clothing and objects placed with the dead to be preserved for 
many centuries. 
As a rule the bodies were prepared for burial by placing them in a 
sitting position with the knees drawn up and the head and hands resting 
upon them, as is shown in the right-hand figure on page 6. | Sometimes, 
however, as appears from burials in the Chira Valley, in 
Preparation : 
ants Cs ae > a pe 
for Burial ‘the extreme northwest of Peru, the body was extended at 
fulllength. A few of the extended bodies have been found 
in other parts of the country, and two examples of this form from Surco, 
Peru, are in the collection. After the body was placed in position, it 
was enveloped in wrappings of various kinds. Sometimes the body was 
covered with fine cotton cloth, over which were placed finely woven 
blankets or ponchos of the wool of the vicufia or the alpaca, with 
designs in various colors. 
‘The body and its wrappings were bound together by a net-work of 
stout cord of vegetable fibre; by a piece of strong cloth sewed together 
in the form of a closed sack, or in some localities by a casing of woven 
rushes. ‘The “mummy bundle” was surmounted by the so-called 
“false head,” which was sewed to its upper surface. ‘The significance 
of this practice is unknown. ‘These false heads, many of which are 
present in the collection, were made of cloth and filled with different 
vegetable substances. ‘The face was represented in various ways: 
sometimes by a mask of wood or clay, but often the eyes, nose 
Mummy F : : : 
Bundles 2 mouth were made of wood, shell, gold or silver and fast- 
ened directly to the cloth by means of thread. ‘To the out- 
side of the mummy bundle were often attached several of the prayer 
sticks or sepulchral tablets which are frequently found in considerable 
numbers in the sand about the grave. ‘These are either in the form 
of a cross wound with variously colored yarns, or a framework of split 
reeds, covered with cloth upon which rude designs are painted. Favor- 
ite animals were sometimes buried with the dead as is shown by the 
mumunified bodies of a dog and a parrot in the collection. 
The manner of interment of the mummy bundle and its accompani- 
ments differed in various localities. In the coast region many of the 
Huacas 1m mies are found in little vaults, or “ huacas,”’ of adobes or 
flat stones roofed with sticks or canes, overlaid with mats or a 
layer of rushes, which prevented the earth covering from filling the 
grave. ‘These vaults usually contain from one to four bodies. 
