22 SMITHSONIAN* MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



The long' and other bones from Pachacamac afford many fea- 

 tures of interest, especially to pathology. Fractures, as elsewhere 

 along the coast, were very rare. Symmetric osteoporosis of the 

 skull and the " mushroom-head " femur, were fairly frequent, about 

 as at Ancon. One plain case of trephining was found, one was 

 discovered among the specimens collected on the first visit to these 

 ruins, and three or four other specimens in the total collection 

 show partly cicatrized lesions which may have been due to such 

 an operation. 



The Pachacamac burial grounds are still far from exhausted 

 (pi. 10, fig. 2). 



Chile a. — From Pachacamac, the main road south leads to the 

 cultivated valley of Lurin and then follows the coast deserts to the 

 large but, due to aridity of the region, now half-abandoned town 

 of Chilca, 70 km. south-southeast of Lima. The visit to this place 

 was due to information obtained from Sr. Jose Bravo, Chief of 

 the Bureau of the Engineers of Mines of Peru, and was facilitated 

 by kind aid from Sr. Bravo and Engineer C. W. Sutton. 



Upon arrival at Chilca, it was found that one large and one small 

 burial ground with a number of shell and refuse heaps existed to the 

 north of the place, and that ruins with numerous burials were 

 located on and about a hill three miles to the northwestward. 



The main cemetery, which commences a short distance beyond 

 the outskirts of the town, was found to have been in part recently 

 excavated, for another a high dignitary of Lima ; but the larger part 

 of it is fortunately still intact (pi. 11). This burial ground proved on 

 examination to be uncommonly interesting, for it was found to repre- 

 sent in a large measure a wedge-like intrusion among the coast 

 population of the oblong-headed mountain people. The ground so 

 far as dug over was strewn with bones and fabrics. The ma- 

 jority of the bones and skulls showed well-developed people of the 

 type met with in the not far distant district of Huarochiri. Besides 

 these there existed a moderate admixture of the more round- 

 headed coast elements. As in the mountains, the oblong skulls 

 were generally free from deformation, while those of the coast type 

 showed mostly the intentional antero-posterior flattening, though 

 not in a high degree. Two or possibly three cases of trephining 

 were discovered in this burial ground, and there were a number of 

 interesting pathological specimens, though on the whole the people 

 have evidently been very healthy. There was no well-defined case 

 of " mushroom-head " femur, and symmetric osteoporosis of the 



