344 Philip Ainsworth Means, 



work the reader is urged to refer.^^ By study of the Plates that 

 accompany this article and those that go with the works here 

 referred to, it will be seen that in the matter of form the Proto- 

 Nasca pottery was not so diverse as the Proto-Chimu. A tenta- 

 tive division into sub-types will, as in the case of Proto-Chimu, 

 be offered for the Proto-Nasca art. At present we will limit 

 ourselves to a consideration of the decoration. 



Color is indubitably the "strong point" of Proto-Nasca art. 

 For example, Plate II, Figures 3, 4 and 6 are all of remarkably 

 rich tonality. Red, brown, gray, yellow and black, as well as 

 cream-color, are the tints most frequently met with. The finish 

 of some of the Proto-Nasca pots is so lustrous as almost to 

 suggest a glaze. As for the subject-matter of Proto-Nasca art, 

 it cannot be so easily described as that of Proto-Chimu, although 

 the two have much in common in that respect. Proto-Nasca vase- 

 paintings mostly concern themselves with the portrayal of a few 

 personages who, being few in number, occur again and again 

 in the vase paintings. These paintings were no doubt supposed 

 to represent deities or mythical persons; at all events, there is 

 absolutely nothing realistic about them ; they are merely elaborate 

 and formal portrayals of putative objects of veneration. The 

 chief personages of Proto-Nasca art seem to be two in number. 

 Each occurs in several variations. We will describe them in turn, 

 applying arbitrary names for the sake of ease of identification. 



The "Centipede God." See Plate II, Figures 3 and 4, Plate 

 III, Figures i and 2, and Plate IV, Figure 2. The name chosen 

 is suggested by the fact that this *god' is usually shown as 

 having a long body at right angles to his face and fringed with 

 spike-like objects that are evidently conventionalized legs. Some- 

 times he has a series of subsidiary human faces where the legs 

 ought to be; sometimes both legs and faces occur (as in Plate 

 III, Figure 2). Again, the "Centipede God" is shown as a man, 

 strongly conventionalized to be sure, who has centipede attributes 

 such as the girdle shown in Plate II, Figure 4. It is very inter- 

 esting to note certain well nigh invariable features that mark 

 the portrayal of the "Centipede God," whether that 'god' is 



'"Joyce, 1912, Plate I, Joyce, 1913b; Therese von Bayern, 1907; Reiss 

 u. Stubel; Baessler, 1902-03; Berthon, 191 1, Plates I-VI; Uhle, 1913b, 

 p. 358 ff. 



