hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS OF EARLY MAN 301 



broken and decomposed skulls. One of these, an adult male, showed 

 a plain case of moderate Aymara deformation, which fact, as well as 

 the very evident recent character of the skull, after being pointed out 

 by the writer, was freely acknowledged by Professor Ameghino. 

 The remains were found, according to the sailor, in shallow graves 

 somewhere north of the Laguna Malacara, which lies about a mile 

 inland from the chata, but owing to an exaggerated notion of the 

 money value of svich objects the man would not reveal the exact loca- 

 tion. He said, however, there were other similar burials. The frag- 

 ments were, the writer understood, to be sent to the Museo Nacional, 

 Buenos Aires, but a month later they had not been received. 



Meanwhile the writer proceeded down to the Rio Negro, and there 

 succeeded, through the help of Srs. D. Gallindez, the acting governor, 

 and F. R. Cuestas, the inspector of police, in obtaining from the dry 

 mud of the Paso de la Laguna de Juncal, about 4 miles south of 

 Viedma, parts of 11 nearly black (except bleached parts protruding 

 from the ground) skeletons; and 10 of the skulls (the eleventh being 

 a part of that of a fetus) show more or less perceptible Aymara 

 deformation. In only 1 case is the deformation of a greater degree 

 than that in the specimen from Miramar (see pis. 35-41). Just 

 before leaving the region the writer obtained a similarly deformed 

 skull, but not stained or presenting any ancient characteristics or 

 fossihzation, from a superficial Indian burial-ground discovered 

 accidentally in the southwestern Umits of the town of Viedma itself 

 (pi. 39). " 



It is evident from the above summary that a center of population 

 practicing Aymara-like deformation of the head, existed at no very 

 distant time in the lower part of the Valley of the Rio Negro, in the 

 district of Viedma. The exact period of this occupation remains to 

 be determined. As seen before, Moreno found a skull with Aymara 

 deformation 1 feet deep in the sands. The crania found by the writer, 

 similar in appearance to some of the Rio Negro skulls collected by 

 Sr. Moreno, which were seen in the La Plata Museum, were all super- 

 ficial, and that from Viedma itself, is plainly recent. The surface 

 alluvium of the Rio Negro, a river which not infrequently overflows 

 the flats, is of no geologic antiquity. The brownish-black discolora- 

 tion of the bones is probably due to an abundance, in at least some 

 localities, of manganese and iron salts, and may be also due in part 

 to results of decomposition of organic matter; it is not a sign of 

 antiquity. As mentioned before (p. 298) a similar discoloration is 

 seen in a partially buried cow's pelvis collected by this expedition, and 

 in other recent bones. 



Both Necochea and Miramar are at no great distance from the 

 Rio Negro center and the road offered no obstacles. 



Thus, the artificial deformation, which suggests a limited former 

 Aymara influence on a part of the Argentine population, offers 



