372 Philip Ainsworth Means, 



previous culture from which it derived most of its characteristics 

 had flourished. This explains why "Epigonal" art, which differs 

 from Tiahuanaco II only in its imperfection, throve in the region 

 where Tiahuanaco II had been at its best, and why red- white- 

 black art, similar in many respects to Proto-Chimu, existed in 

 the same territory as the latter. On the whole, this period was 

 one of stagnation. At any rate, nothing appears to have been 

 done to advance the development of art in Peru. 



Of what went on in the mountains during this period we know 

 absolutely nothing. Perhaps the shock caused by the putative 

 cataclysm had been so great as to result in a state of affairs 

 almost verging on savagery. There is a possibility that it was 

 at the beginning of this period that the very low-cultured Urus 

 entered the Titicaca basin. They came from the south.^- 



5. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHIMU AND NASCA 

 CULTURES. 



As we have already noted, we know something definite in 

 regard to the political, social and ethnological aspects of the 

 people of this period. It will be our task in the present section 

 to study their art, and in doing so we shall observe several close 

 similarities between this coast-culture and the Proto-Chimu and 

 Proto-Nasca cultures. We can but hope that the close artistic 

 correspondence between the two is a token of social corre- 

 spondence. 



The distinctive ware of the Chimu period is the black ware 

 that comes from the northern half of the coast and from various 

 regions here and there in the highlands. Though the ware in 

 question has a wide distribution, one may generalize by saying 

 that it is especially distinctive of the northern half of the coast. 



In Plate XI, Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, are shown four very good 

 specimens of the type. The originals are all in the Peabody 

 Museum, Cambridge, Mass. Besides the fact that the vessels 

 are made of black clay, another new and distinctive feature 

 presents itself. This is the important part played by bas-relief 

 in the decoration of the vessels. In every case, the technique 



"^ Chamberlain, 1910, pp. 417 ff. ; Bandelier, 1910, pp. 36 ff. ; Garcilasso, 

 II, pp. 224 ff. ; Balboa, 1840, Chap. XI ; Roman, 1908, p. 71 ; Polo, 1901. 



