HOLMEsl ABOEIGINAL AMERICAN AXTTQUTTIES PART 1 145 



found that nia}' not be attributed to the known aborigines rather 

 than to any hypothetical people. 



The literature of this great region is naturally very extensive, 

 but few of the explorers outside of Argentina have given close atten- 

 tion to the antiquities. Among the most helpful authors are: 

 Ambrosetti, Ameghino, Lehmann-Nitsche, Moreno, Hrdlicka, and 

 Outes in the south, and Netto. Hartt, Pinot, Ernst, von Ihering, 

 Church, Ehrenreich, Von den Steinen, im Thurn, Giildi, and Eara- 

 bee in the middle and north. 



22. The West Indian on Axtilleax Area 



The "West Indies present a most attractive field for archeological 

 research — a field as yet touched only superficially 

 tines" ^ "" " except for the recent researches of Eewkes and 

 de Booj. The archipelago stretches out over a 

 length of l.('>00 miles of ocean expanse, connecting by way of the 

 Lesser Antilles somewhat closelv with South America, and through 

 the Bahamas with eastern Elorida. The greatest expanse of open 

 sea between South America and the Lesser Antilles is that separat- 

 ing the islands of Tobago and Grenada, a distance of some 80 miles, 

 while the distance between the Bahamas and the Elorida coast is 

 about 60 miles, and that separating Yucatan from the Island of 

 Cuba is 120 miles. Within historic times the inhabitants of the 

 islands have included tAvo great linguistic stocks — the 

 The People Arawak and the Carib, both generally believed to 



have had their origin in contiguous regions of South 

 America. The foi-mer had practical possession of the islands in late 

 pre-Columbian times, while the latter were rapidly encroaching upon 

 their territory and threatening their extinction at the period of dis- 

 covery. Whether the Arawak were preceded l)y any other earlier 

 race or stock is still a question, since no well authenticated traces 

 of such antecedent population have been found. The aborigines 

 decreased rapidly under the merciless rule of the conquerors, and 

 to-day barely perce]:)tible traces of Indian blood are to be found. 

 The entire material culture presents somewhat uniform character- 

 istics and, as would be expected from known race re- 

 The Culture latioiisliips, coiTesponds more closely with the culture 



of South America than with that of Elorida or Yuca- 

 tan, the break between these latter regions and the islands, as indi- 

 cated by the antiquities, being in many respects very marked. The 

 culture, all features considered, is quite equal to that of the southeast- 

 ern United States and superior to that of northern South America. 



