holmes] 



ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 



objective, monumental, traditional, and written — had beginnings, 

 we may say, at />, E^ F, (9, 77, respectively (fig. 5). Insignificant 

 and of slow development at first, the purposeful records gradually 

 expanded, as indicated in the diagram, so that to-day they occupy an 

 important place in the historic field, the written record having in- 

 creased in scope with exceptional rapidity. 



It is observed that the several purposeful records, although kept 



up continuously from generation to generation, are 

 tive ^^^^ ^ "^* ^^^ necessarily permanent, for while additions are 



made to-day, the records of yesterday are being ob- 

 literated. All fade out with the passing of the years, and are lost, 





f / / / 4' # / 





Ffies£A/r r/Me 



P/?£S£fJT TIME 



Fig. 5. Relations of unrecorded his- 

 tory and the several formsof record. 



Fig. 6. Relative permanency of the 

 several forms of record. 



though at different rates, as indicated in figure G. The traditional 

 records {h) persist for a few generations only, or at most a few 

 centuries. The monumental mnemonic records (<?), of which the 

 dolmen and the pyramid are examples, are durable as structures; 

 they suggest their purppse and tell of the customs of the time ; but 

 the associated record, being unwritten and hence dependent on tra- 

 dition, is soon wholly lost. Even the written record has in many 

 instances lost its significance, as in the case of dead tongues, becom- 

 ing thus a pai't of the subject matter of archeological research, and 

 if not thus retrieved passing into oblivion. The minor mnemonic 

 {d) are hardly more permanent. The quipu, for example, dug from 



