24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6 1 



IV. EXPLORATIONS IN THE LOMAS AND RIO ACARI 



REGIONS 



Lomas. — The rather insignificant port of Lomas lies about 280 

 miles southeast of Lima, and between 80 and 90 miles south-south- 

 west of Nasca. It is formed by a small rocky barren peninsula, 

 on which nestles the little sombre town of Lomas. The peninsula as 

 well as the surrounding country is desert, but a sandy depression just 

 to the north and northeast contains some moisture which gives 

 rise to a sparse growth of vegetation ; in the midst of this depression 

 is a well which supplies a poor quality of water, used mainly for 

 animals, while a better class of water must be brought from springs 

 nearly three leagues to the north. 



The sandy wastes just to the north of the road between the 

 peninsula and the above-mentioned well, contain a number of old 

 cemeteries. These as usual have been to a large degree dug over 

 and despoiled by the peons. Judging from their extent, they repre- 

 sent a prolonged occupation of the spot by a fairly numerous people, 

 reaching probably to post-Columbian times. Ruins, with the excep- 

 tion of a few remnants of walls on the northern border of the 

 peninsula, are wanting. The region was in all probability peopled 

 by fishermen, who for the most part built easily perishable habi- 

 tations. 



At Lomas the writer was fortunate enough to find an excellent 

 friend in the wealthiest and most cultured man of these regions, 

 a Piemontese, Sr. Enrique Fracchia, and whatever success attended 

 the explorations between here and lea is largely due to the generous 

 assistance given by this gentleman. 



The skeletal material exposed in the cemeteries about Lomas 

 represented the remains of between 400 and 500 bodies. Much 

 however is doubtless still left in the ground. 



The Lomas cemeteries date plainly from different periods and 

 do not represent exactly the same people. One of the small burial 

 grounds is probably post-Columbian, though no articles of white 

 man's manufacture lay exposed. In this cemetery the bodies were 

 not only in fresher condition but the burials were extended, while 

 in all the other cases the body was interred in the usual contracted 

 position. An interesting ethnological detail is that all the bodies 

 in this region, including even those in the most recent burials, were 

 sewn and bound into bundles, and the clothing with other fabrics 

 was more abundant than in any of the more northern cemeteries 

 that were examined. These fabrics were predominantly of wool, 



