DESCRIPTION AND DISCUSSION OF THE PERUVIAN 
CRANIA 
(W J M.) 
THE COLLECTION 
The Muniz collection comprises 19 trephined crania out of a little 
over 1,000 specimens; i. e., almost exactly 2 percent of the crania of 
the collection were trephined. Neglecting a few doubtful cases of 
repetition, three specimens display two and a third three distinct opera- 
tions performed at different periods and generally on different parts of 
the cranium. There are thus twenty-four clear cases of trephining out 
of 1,000 specimens, or a percentage of about 2.5. 
Two of the crania are fragmentary; the other 17 nearly or quite 
entire. Four were mummified so completely that the desiccated soft 
tissue remains, despite accidents of exhumation and transportation; 
most of the others were mummified also, though the tissues have now 
disappeared; in two or three cases the bone was bleached, and in two 
others deeply corroded, when found. Most of the thousand skeletons, 
including those yielding the trephined crania, were exhumed from light 
and dry sandy, and often nitrous, soil; others were found in caves and 
rock shelters or on the surface of the ground. 
Classed geographically, eleven of the trephined specimens were found 
in the province of Huarochiri, chiefly in the environs of Lima; one 
specimen was found in Tarma, another in Pachacamac, not far from 
Lima, and still another in the province of Canete; these fourteen speci- 
mens representing western central Peru and the more arid piedmont 
and coastal region. Five specimens were found in the vicinity of 
Cuzco, in the southeastern and highly mountainous part of the country. 
Arranged in the order of description, which in the main is that sug- 
gested by character of operation, the crania are as follows: 
1. Semimumunified cranium from Huarochiri; operation by rectilinear 
incision (plates I, IL). 
2, Semimummified cranium from Huarochiri; operation by rectilinear 
incision (plates Iv, V). 
3. Weathered cranium from Canete; operation by rectilinear incision 
(plates VI, VII). 
4. Bleached cranium from Huarochiri; operation by compound recti- 
linear incision (plates VIII, IX). 
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