134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 60 



the kind of environment required to give the genius of tlie people 

 an opportunity to assert itself. As to the evidence of recent tribal 

 movements, the original occupation of the continent is probably 

 so remote as to have resulted in a state of migratory equilibrium 

 many centuries or millenniums ago, so that in modern times move- 

 ments may as readily have taken place toward the north as tow^ard 

 the south. Under these conditions the present distribution of tribes, 

 stocks, languages, and arts can have little or no bearing on the prob- 

 lems of origin and primary distribution. 



It is well known that the Isthmian region has undergone very 

 radical changes in comparativeh' recent geological time, but there 

 seems to be no reason for supposing that man appeared until 

 the present configuration of the land had been permanently estab- 

 lished. No trace of occupancy has been found which may not be 

 safely assigned to the present geological period. 



The principal explorers of the antiquities of this region are: 

 Alfaro, Hartman. Pittier, Stevens, Zeltner, Brantsford, Bollaert, 

 Squier, Merritt, Uhle, Seler, and Spinden. For early explorers see 

 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv. 



17. The North AxDEAX-PAcinc Area 



This extended area comprises Colombia and some adjacent terri- 

 tory in A^enezuela and Ecuador, and its antiquities, although as yet 

 but little studied, must prove an important aid in analyzing the 

 apparently complex problems of the settlement and subsequent his- 

 tory of the regions connected by the Isthmus of Panama. A study 

 of the strongly marked physical features of the country and its di- 

 versified products may be expected to throw much light on the 

 problems of environmental influence. 



The area was occupied in early historic times by numerous stocks 

 and tribes, the descendants of which, although greatly scattered and 

 intermingled, still constitute the principal body of the population. 

 The more advanced comnuinities had reached a eul- 

 Ciiiture status ture development corresponding closely in many re- 



spects with that of Central America. The Chibcha 

 and Quimbaya had made noteworthy advance in some branches of 

 material culture, and the tribes of Ecuador, particularly in the high- 

 land and along the coast, have left traces, probably representing i^re- 

 Inca times, of still higher achievement. The little known peoples of 

 the north extending to the east into the drainage of Lake Maracaibo 

 and the valleys of the Orinoco and Amazon had attained varying 

 degrees of primitive culture, grading down to the utterly savage. 

 Traces here and there appear suggesting considerable advancement 

 in the arts. 



