UOLMES] ABORIGI^^AL AMERICAN AXTTQUTTIES PART I 133. 



region. The minor lithic antiquities also present many features 

 of interest. The axes, celts, and clubheads in some sections, more 

 especially in Costa Rica, take on artistic and unique forms due 

 doubtless to association of mythic concepts, and personal orna- 

 ments of jade and other rare stones show much taste in design and 

 perfection of finish. The celts and chisels of Chiri(|ui in form, 

 finish, and effectiveness as tools are unsurpassed anywhere. Viewed 

 as a wdiole, omitting certain traces of Mayan and Xahuan influence, 

 the antiquities of Central America are allied wdth those of Colombia 

 and there is little doubt that Chibcha influence has been strongly 

 felt, if, indeed, the Isthmian region is not the original home of this 

 people and the birthplace of its remarkable and highly individualized 

 culture. 



Geographically, the Central American Isthmian area is a striking 



and significant feature of the American Continent — a 



intercontinental j^^j.^.^^ sinuous stretch of land, widening at the 



Thoroughfare ' f^ 



north, nearly 1,000 miles in length, connecting the 

 two grand divisions. If, as is generally supposed, America was 

 peopled from the northwest, the migrating grou})s had to traverse 

 this long neck with its tropical tangles and febric dangers before 

 the southern continent was reached, and the study of Isthmian 

 ethnology and archeology slu)uld thus be fraught with more than 

 usual interest. The observed ethnologic conditions give, how- 

 ever, no hint of the movements of tribes and stocks beyond the 

 suggestive intrusion of the Nahua from the north and the very 

 perplexing fact that most of the Isthmian tribes of historic times 

 as far north as Honduras are allied linguistically, and in many 

 features of their material culture, with the peo])les of South America, 

 just as the West Indians are connected with the South Americans 

 of the Orinoco region. The view that the movements were from 

 south to north is said to be supported by linguistic evidence, but 

 this evidence is too meager to be depended upon in a matter of 

 such moment. The archeologic remains of the narrow stretches of 

 the Isthmus have received little attention except on the part of 

 relic hunters lured by rich finds of mortuary gold, as in the prov- 

 inces of Nicoya, Cartago, and Chiriqui, and it is thus too early to 

 say whether or not the Istlimian highway holds identihable mate- 

 rial traces of the comings and goings of peoples other than the 

 historic stocks. The opening of the canal may in time afford the 

 opportunity of prosecuting researches in regions heretofore most 

 difficult of access. 



It is not necessary to assume that this neck of land, especially 

 the narrow sections, though a thoroughfare for migrating tribes of 

 earl}^ times, should have held any of these long enough or afforded 



