THE STORY OF MACHU PICCHU 



203 



THESK RECORD STONES WERE OE MANY 

 SIZES AND COEORS 



" 'Their bodies were embalmed with 

 their royal insignia round about and the 

 treasure and jewels which each one sent, 

 if they could. Above each one extended 

 a hole or little niche, where a small fig- 

 ure of clay, stone, or metal was repre- 

 sented, and inside were the small stones, 

 of various shapes and colors, which de- 

 noted his age, the years, and the month 

 of his reign.' 



"Velasco gives one other reference to 

 the use of the little stones in place of 

 qidpoj; but, aside from this single au- 

 thorit}^ we find no other statements re- 

 garding this interesting method used by 

 the Caras, after, according to their own 

 traditions, they had left the low coast- 

 lands and migrated, by way of the Es- 

 meraldas Valley, to the highlands in the 

 vicinity of Quito. The little stones of 

 distinct sizes, colors, and angular shapes, 

 used for the purpose of keeping histor- 

 ical and other records, are thus found on 

 the coast in the examples from La Plata, 

 Cerro, Jaboncillo, and La Tolita, not far 

 distant from the southern frontier of 

 Colombia, and each varies with the lo- 

 cality." (Saville: "The Antiquities of 

 Manabi, Ecuador," pages 172-173.) 



At Machu Picchu, hundreds of miles 

 south of Ecuador, we have quantities of 

 similar stones, including many regular 

 and irregular shapes (see page 204). The 

 irregular ones can hardly be classified. 

 The regular forms are disks, oblongs, and 

 triangles. 



Of the I §6 stone disks found at Machu 

 Picchu only three were found in the 

 caves containing skeletal material opened 

 by Dr. Eaton. In fact, the great major- 

 ity of them appear to have belonged to 

 an earlier culture than that represented 

 by the times of the skeletal material. 



The diameter of the largest stone disk 

 found in Machu Picchu is 23.5 cm. (or 

 about 9 inches), and of the next largest, 

 which is rather oval in shape, 23 cm. x 21 

 cm. The largest one was found in the 

 center of the Upper City, the other on 

 one of the terraces. Both are rough- 

 hewn, partially ground and polished. 



Of the others we find only one of the 

 disks to be less than i cm. (an inch being 



2.54 centimeters) ; the others range as 

 follows : 



THE MYSTERY OF THESE STONES 



It will be noticed that every half centi- 

 meter is represented b}^ one or more 

 disks from the largest to the smallest. 

 There are many more small ones than 

 large ones, one-half of the disks being 

 3 cm. or less in diameter. However, it 

 seems impossible to draw any hard and 

 fast dividing line between the sizes. 



I have thought that some of the larger, 

 rougher disks might have been used as 

 pot covers. If, however, all were used 

 as counters, the relative infrequency of 

 large numbers (supposing that the large 

 counter signified a large number) would 

 account for the relative scarcity of the 

 larger disks. 



Most of the large disks are roughly 

 made, but a few are nicely rounded, and 

 are ground and polished to a fairly con- 

 sistent thickness. The largest of all are 

 rough-hewn, but partially ground and 

 polished. Only one is clearly purposely 

 incised — that measuring over 13.5 cm. 

 This has a single cross on one side in the 

 center of the disk, the two lines being 

 respectively 4.5 cm. and 5 cm. in length. 

 One disk was found notched with four 

 notches, and four disks were perforated. 



A careful examination of the smaller 



