308 
a storm swept over Mercedes and up- 
turned a great tree. The next day in 
the earth that still clung to the upturned 
roots, he caught the glitter of gold and 
upon examination thirty pieces of ancient 
gold craft were found. The great tree 
had grown over the grave of some for- 
gotten chief and its roots had enmeshed 
the funeral offerings. In addition to 
long continued excavations at Mercedes, 
supplementary work was carried on in 
other parts of Costa Rica. Many fine 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
wax was melted out and a mould was 
left. Hollow castings were made by 
building the patterns over a core of clay 
held in position by sprues or pins. Ina 
number of specimens a portion of the 
clay core can still be seen. The rough 
castings were finished off by hammering 
and burnishing. Two kinds of gold 
plating were accomplished by the ancient 
metal-workers. One is a heavy plating 
made over copper and the other a very 
It has 
thin and impermanent gilding. 
Birds of prey are often figured in a simple but forcible fashion, with spread wings and tail and out- 
stretched talons. 
neck as ornaments 
examples of art in gold were found in the 
region of Rio General. 
The technical processes of the ancient 
goldsmiths are admirably illustrated 
in Mr. Keith’s collection. Many orna- 
ments including the disk-shaped gorgets 
are made of beaten gold and have de- 
signs in repoussé. Others are castings. 
Of the latter some examples were cast 
in one piece and others in several pieces 
afterwards welded together. The pat- 
terns were made of resin or wax. They 
were enclosed in clay and the resin or 
These pieces have a ring at the back for suspension and were probably worn about the 
been suggested that the molds were 
lined with leaf gold or sprinkled with 
gold dust before the copper was poured 
in. The metal runs from pure gold to 
pure copper with all the intermediate 
alloys. In addition to copper, silver 
and even platinum may occur as a 
natural alloy in the gold. Bronze was 
apparently not made. The gold was 
obtained from placer deposits that some- 
times yielded nuggets of good size. 
The range of natural forms is well 
covered. Human beings are represented 
