THE GRAVES. 59 



The osteological specimens are of very little interest. About all that can be said of them 

 is that, in addition to an assortment of llama bones, there is just enough human material 

 to show that two adult persons, male and female, were buried at one time or another in 

 the cave. 



Cave 58. 



From this cave, which was "600 yards south of the camp and above the level of the 

 Rock-sheltered Burial Terrace," parts of a human skeleton were obtained, apparently repre- 

 senting a medium-sized woman twenty-five years of age. The skull is too fragmentary to 

 permit of its being identified with either the coast or the mountain type. 



A bronze earring or pendant was found, similar to those obtained in Cave 57, and also 

 a thin earthenware disk 7 cm. in diameter (M. P. 1791). 



Cave 59. 



This grave was "half-way down the mountainside, northeast of the city." From it came 

 three badly broken skulls, a lower jaw and various other bones, some potsherds, two long 

 bronze pins of the kind worn by women (M. P. 537 and 2539) and a small, neatly decorated 

 olla (M. P. 964) containing, when delivered to Mr. Erdis, a remarkable hodge-podge of 

 articles, among which he recognized the following : "2 pieces of twisted rawhide, a small 

 rodent skull, 3 small bits of silver or lead ore, a seed, and 4 pieces of charcoal." The olla, 

 when examined by Professor Bingham after the return of the Expedition, was found to 

 contain several other articles, including some teeth and fragments of charred bone that belong 

 to two of the human skulls taken from this grave. 



The pieces of rawhide look a good deal like pieces of the twisted rawhide cords used 

 by arrieros and llama drivers to secure their cargoes. These articles, left in an olla on the 

 surface, exposed to the air and sheltered from moisture, might have lasted for centuries 

 after the decay of the softer tissues of human bodies, if the latter were placed in a more 

 exposed or damper part of the cave. 



To a zoologist, the small rodent skull (Ost. Coll. 3318) said to have been found in the 

 olla is a very interesting specimen, by far the most valuable relic from the grave, as it 

 represents a new species of the genus Abrocoiita. More bones of the same species were 

 afterwards obtained from other graves, and a full "description of the new material will be 

 found on page 87. 



Several excellent pieces of pottery have since been restored from the sherds collected here. 

 These are as follows : A small handsomely decorated plate ( M. P. 805 ) , a two-handled dish 

 (M. P. 838), a small two-handled dish (M. P. 842), a ladle or deep plate (M. P. 1022), and 

 a fire-blackened pelike-shaped olla (M. P. 1058). 



The human material from this grave is not especially attractive. There are, as noted 

 above, parts of three skulls. One of these was a small female brachycephalic skull, that is 

 to say, of the coast type. The second skull may also be described as small and female, but 

 I cannot put enough of it together to judge of its physical character. The third skull is 

 represented only by a few poor fragments. It was small and of feminine contours, as far 

 as these are indicated, but its sex cannot be stated with any degree of certainty. 



The other human skeletal parts included in the lot are few in number. They are small 

 and slight, and add nothing to the history of the interments. Some of the cranial fragments 



