752 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 986 



Paul Bartsch gave an account of the results of 

 dredging for mollusks at Chineoteague, Virginia. 

 In two days collecting eleven new species were 

 found. The speaker gave an account of some per- 

 sonal experiences and observations on the island. 

 He was followed by W. P. Hay, who also spoke of 

 his experiences during a visit to Chineoteague and 

 gave some interesting historical notes of the place. 

 D. E. Lantz, 

 Recording Secretary 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP "WASHINGTON 



A SPECIAL meeting of the society was held, Oc- 

 tober 28, in the National Museum building at 4:30 

 'clock. 



Dr. Ales Hrdlicka addressed the Society, his 

 sub j act being "The Eesults of the Speaker 's Re- 

 cent Trip to Peru; with Eemarks on the Anthro- 

 pological Problems of Peru"; illustrated with 

 lantern slides. In 1910 Dr. HrdliCka made a brief 

 exploratory trip in Peru, which resulted in the ac- 

 quisition of some valuable data and of important 

 skeletal collections. The opportunity to extend the 

 investigations came during the early part of the 

 current year, in connection with the preparation of 

 the anthropological exhibits for the Panama-Cali- 

 fornia Exposition at San Diego; and as a con- 

 sequence three busy months were spent on the 

 Peruvian coast and in certain parts of the moun- 

 tain region of Peru, in exploration of the ruined 

 cities and ancient cemeteries. The principal ob- 

 jects of the trip were, first, the mapping out as far 

 as possible of the anthropological distribution of 

 the prehistoric Peruvian, more particularly the 

 coast people; second, the determination of the 

 physical type of the important Nasea group of 

 people, which represent one of the highest Amer- 

 ican cultures; third, further inquiry as to man's 

 antiquity on the west coast of South America, and 

 fourth, the extension of the speaker's researches 

 on pre-Columbian pathology. The conclusions to 

 which the speaker was formerly led were in the 

 main corroborated. In regard to the mountain 

 regions much remains to be determined in the fu- 

 ture. As to the pathology of the native Peruvian 

 before contact with whites, the main work can per- 

 haps be now regarded as done, or nearly so, al- 

 though individual variation in different morbid 

 processes seems inexhaustible, and much in this line 

 remains to be secured by future exploration. The 

 ground covered was extensive and the skeletal ma- 

 terial examined was enormous, the selections alone 

 filling over thirty boxes. No excavation was prac- 

 tised, attention being restricted, on the coast, to 



the bones covering the surface of ancient ceme- 

 teries, exploited by the peons, and to burial caves 

 and houses in the mountains. 



Since the speaker 's trip to Peru three years ago, 

 a change for the worse was observed in the state 

 of preservation of the ancient remaius. Also, 

 where formerly there were seemingly inexhaustible 

 quantities of skeletal material there is now a 

 dearth of it. No such collection as that made in 

 1910, when the speaker gathered 3,400 important 

 crania, will ever again be possible from these re- 

 gions. The major part of the old population of 

 the coast region belongs to the brachyeephalic type 

 intimately related to the Maya-Zapotec type in the 

 north. Wherever they lived, these people of the 

 Peruvian coast were wont to practise, more or less, 

 the antero-posterior head deformation. Every- 

 where along the coast there are evidences of more 

 or less admixture with a more oblong-headed ele- 

 ment closely related to the Aztec and Algonquin 

 types of North America. 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 at first to suppose, for these burial grounds 

 and ruins date from different, although not far 

 distant, periods. 



The work now done, while to some extent estab- 

 lishing a foundation, is merely a fair beginning. 

 Similar investigations and collections by the an- 

 thropologist are urgently needed in the important 

 districts of Piura, Eten and Moquegua, on the 

 coast ; in the western sierras from the neighborhood 

 and latitude of Quito to those of Arequipa; and in 

 the eastern highlands from Tiahuanaco to Moyo- 

 bamba. The most important problems that await 

 solution are (1) the derivation of the Peruvians; 

 (2) the time of their advent into the country; (3) 

 the extension and exact physical characteristics of 

 the Aymara and Quechua, and (4) the genetic rela- 

 tions of the Peruvian to the Argentinan and 

 Chilean aborigines. Besides this there remains to 

 be established in many places the correlation of 

 culture with the physical type of the people. The 

 speaker repeats what he said in a former report, 

 that, due to the lack of scientific supervision of a 

 great majority of the excavations practised in 

 Peru to the present time, the archeologieal collec- 

 tions from that country are made up of little 

 more than curiosities which it is in most instances 

 impossible to refer either to any definite tribe or 

 period. 



Daniel Polkmae, 



Secretary 



