56 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



Antiquity. — As to the third main object of the expedition, namely, 

 the search for evidences of man's antiquity, the results were wholly 

 negative. Aside from the cemeteries or burial caves of the com- 

 mon coast or mountain type of people, and their archeological re- 

 mains, there was no sign of human occupation of these regions. 

 Not a trace suggesting even distantly something older than the 

 well-represented pre-Columbian Indian was met with or heard of 

 anywhere ; and the coast or mountain population itself cannot be 

 regarded as very ancient in the regions which it occupied, so far as 

 these were studied. There are no signs that any group has been 

 in any of the sites for even as much as, say, 20 centuries ; nor does 

 it seem that any of these people have developed their culture on 

 these spots, except in some particulars due to environmental oppor- 

 tunities or requirements. 



As to the density of the pre-Columbian population in Pern, there 

 are plain indications that in numerous localities it was greater than 

 at the present time, while in others it probably was less. However, 

 the burial grounds as well as the ruins offer everywhere plain 

 evidence that they are not contemporaneous, though the differences 

 in their age may often not be very great. The population changed, 

 new groups superseding others. Some of the ruins were doubtless 

 such long before the advent of white man, while others, including 

 the great Chan-Chan, were probably in decline, if not fully aban- 

 doned, when the country was entered by the Spaniards. In one word, 

 as among the North American Pueblos, nowhere was the aboriginal 

 Peruvian population at any time as great as the relatively numerous 

 cemeteries or ruins might lead one to suppose, for these burial 

 grounds and ruins date from different, though not far distant, periods. 



Future work. — In closing this report, the question naturally pre- 

 sents itself as to what remains to be done in Peru in the lines 

 followed by the writer. The answer is — the work recorded here, 

 while to some extent establishing a foundation, is far from sufficient. 

 Similar investigations and collections wait urgently on the anthro- 

 pologist in the districts of Piura, Eten, and Moquegua, on the coast ; 

 in the western sierras from the neighborhood and latitude of Caja- 

 marca to those of Arequipa ; and in the eastern highlands from Tia- 

 huanaco to Moyobamba. 



The four most important problems in Peruvian anthropology that 

 await their solution are ^1 ) The derivation of the coast brachycephals ; 

 (2) The extension and connections of the mountain type or types; 



