NO. l8 ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IN PERU HRDLICKA 



-D 



from the llama, but there were also those made of cotton. Besides 

 the fabrics, there is occasionally discovered in these graves a palm 

 fiber basket in character much like those of the Huacho Valley, filled 

 with thread balls and various feminine utensils. Pottery, judging 

 both from the reports and from the great scarcity of potsherds, is met 

 with much less frequently than in the cemeteries of the Nasca Valley, 

 but the varieties are on the whole similar. A specialty of these 

 burial grounds, though later found over the whole Nasca region, 

 was the frequency of the hitarakas or slings, and of small round 

 stones which were thrown from these. One or two of these slings 

 were apparently buried with every grown male, while smaller ones 

 were found with the male children. Some of the slings were 

 beautiful examples of workmanship, and it was interesting to note 

 that the design and colors on the strings near the central part 

 generally imitated a serpent. 



Physically, most of the people buried in the Lomas cemeteries 

 belonged to the coast type of moderate brachycephals. Besides 

 this predominant strain, there were varying proportions, according 

 to cemeteries, of oblong-headed individuals, but the percentage 

 was never very high. None of the people were very robust, com- 

 paring in this respect most closely with the inhabitants of Pacha- 

 camac. Also, the stature was very seldom above medium. 



The usual coast fronto-occipital deformation was practiced 

 extensively. But there were no extreme cases, and in numerous 

 instances the frontal flattening was but little marked. Evidently 

 none of the Peruvian coast people used planks to produce the 

 deformation, such as have been in vogue, for instance, in the 

 Columbia River valley. More probably they employed a pressure 

 by a pad or a double pad over the forehead, the bandage fastening 

 the head to something which simultaneously, by counter pressure, 

 flattened the occiput. It was frequently seen that the more oblong- 

 headed individuals have also suffered from the antero-posterior 

 deformation, showing that they were already inherent units of 

 these tribes and followed the same culture. Only a small propor- 

 tion of both the brachycephalic and the more oblong crania in the 

 older cemeteries of Lomas were undeformed. No example of 

 '" Aymara " deformation was discovered. 



From the pathological standpoint, the symmetric osteoporosis 

 of the skull was found to have been frequent but generally rather 

 mild. Not even one fracture of any of the long bones nor disloca- 

 tion was noted ; but wounds of the head by sling projectiles or clubs 

 4 



