300 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 52 



the Aymara typo, on the other hand, it never widens and often 

 becomes even narrower than woidd be natural in the normal adult 

 stai^e, a condition which agrees with what is observed in the 

 Miramar specimen. 



It may be adduced that in the Aymara form the impression of the 

 compressing bandage can be plainly traceil about the A'aidt, and that 

 there are marked secondary effects of the compression, j^articularly a 

 coronal elevation antl precoronal as well as postcoronal depression, 

 besides a bulging, a protrusion, backward and upward, of the posterior 

 portion of the parietal and the upper part «>f the occipital region. 

 However, these effects are j^resent in only a very moderate degree 

 and are sometimes very nearly absent in cases of slight Aymara 

 deformation, very much as in the skidl of ^Nliramar. Never- 

 theless, even the !Miramar specimen (pis. 35, 36) is not entirely 

 devoid of such marks, for the lower half of the parietals presents a 

 faint concavity from above downward, extending over a larger }>art 

 of the bones antero-posteriorly than nsual: there is also a slight post- 

 coronal depression and there is the heightening of the norma posterior, 

 which does not take place without a simultaneous widening of the 

 same in the fronto-occipitahor simple occipital types of deformation. 



Xow% intentional deformation of the head, even among savages, is 

 a ritual operation, denotmg contact of peoples, an approach to a 

 sedentary life of the family, and at least a moderate stage of native 

 culture, all of which ill agrees with Professor Ameghino's ''first rejire- 

 sentative of the human beings" — if not even ''man's forerunner," the 

 Homo pampseus. 



Furthermore, similarly deformed Indian skidls have been found 

 before and since in Argentina. Burmeister mentions^ two deformed 

 crania from the Rio Negro, but gives no details as to the type. ^loreno 

 reports several- and states in addition, referring to the Valley of the 

 Rio Xegro, that he found more than 100 skulls deformed in this man- 

 ner. And Verneau^ mentions four crania of the Aymara type of 

 deformation from Yiedma, also in the Valley of the Rio Xegro. 



Shortly after the arrival of Professor Ameghino, his brother, Mr. 

 Willis, and the writer at the so-called chata, a stranded barge on the 

 coast north of Xecochea, the sailor occupying the boat, the man who 

 discovered the principal representative of the X'ecochea Homo 

 pampseus, brought in a box filled with black sandy vegetal earth, 

 containing human bones. On examination it was found that 

 the remams were parts of two, in no way '"fossibzed," but badly 



1 Burmeister, G., Sur les cr&nes, les mceurs et rindustrie des anciens Indiens de la Plata; in Compte- 

 rendu du Corup-h interrmtional d'anihropologie et d'archiologie prihistoriques, lS72,'Bmxe\les, 1S73, pp. 342-351. 



- Moreno, F. P., Sur deux cr&ues prehistoriques rapportt^s du Rio-Xegro; in Bull. Soc. d'Anlhr. Paris, 

 3"* s^r., in, ISSO, pp. 490-497; also Description des cimetieres et paraderos prehistoriques de Patagonie; 

 In Revue d'Anlhropologie, !»" sdr., ra, Paris, 1S74; Viaje &. la Patagonia austral, emprendido bajo los auspi- 

 cios del Gobiemo nacional, 1. 1, 1S76-77, Buenos Aires, 1S79 (for review of this work, see last-mentioned 

 Journal, 2n» s(?r., m, Paris, ISSO, pp. 303-309.) 



» Verueau, R., Cranes prehistoriques de Patagonie; in L'AiUhropologie, V, Paris, 1894, pp. 420-450. Also 

 by same author, Les anciens Patagons, Monaco, 1903, pp. 120-129. 



