A Survey of Ancient Peruvian Art. 



357 



purple, red disks respectively; 6 and 7 are purple with cream 

 disks. What this design can have been intended to represent it 

 is difficult to imagine. The only thing it seems to bear the 

 slightest resemblance to is the group of finds on the island of 

 La Plata, Ecuador, which Dorsey called "Perforated and 

 engraved stones." These objects are small rectangular oblongs 

 upon which are engraved circles with a dot, the number varying 

 from three circles up to eight. Dorsey suggests that perhaps the 

 stones in question were used in some game.^^ 



10 



n 



Fig. I. 



The decoration composed of small circles with a dot in the 

 centre occurs also on some objects from Machu Picchu. Its 

 occurrence there may mean one of several things: (i) That 

 some subjects of the Tiahuanaco II "empire" were once at 

 Vilcabamba and left these objects behind them; (2) That the 

 subjects of the Inca who dwelt at Vilcabamba happened to see 

 the motif on some remains of the former period and copied it; 

 (3) That the design, which is essentially simple, was "invented" 

 twice, first by the coast Tiahuanaco II people, secondly by the 

 Inca's subjects. The writer inclines to the belief that the last 

 is the correct explanation. It is, however, so simple a design 

 that it has been "invented" again and again in various parts of 

 the world. 



One more example of Tiahuanaco II art in connection with 

 the pottery of the coast will serve to round out our present brief 

 account of the matter. It is found in Baessler, Plate 140, Figure 

 392, and it shows another variation of the square-headed Weep- 

 ing God motif. The colors are red, cream, brown and white. 

 The figure is shown at full length. As before, the resemblances 

 to the Weeping God of Tiahuanaco, despite the divergences, are 



Dorsey, 1901, p. 262, and Plate LVII. 



