HARTMAN: ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF COSTA RICA 11 
or cascajo, about four feet below the surface, and had been exposed in a cut in the 
road by the wash of the rainy season.” 
Of the objects Dr. Bransford obtained on the peninsula he has figured the two 
whistles mentioned in the text and on a plate sixteen objects in green stone. All 
these specimens resemble common types of Las Guacas. His collection is preserved 
in the United States National Museum in Washington. 
In a publication of 1894 Sr. Don Anastasio Alfaro® describes a tour of reconnais- 
sance he made in a former year to the province of Guanacaste and mentions the ex- 
istence of large shell-heaps, as well as other ancient remains. In conclusion he 
states: ‘In the whole of this province of Guanacaste it is a very difficult undertak- 
ing to excavate any ancient grave, for the reason that the ground is very hard and 
because the relics are first encountered at the depth of two to three meters and in 
the greatest confusion. And, as it further is not possible to know where the objects 
are placed, being mixed up with earth, stones, and potsherds, which the Indians 
used for filling up the graves, most of them upon excavation are broken to pieces.” 
In the year 1888 the National Museum of Costa Rica purchased for two thousand 
pesos a collection of 600 archeological objects brought together from various parts of 
the peninsula, but principally from the neighborhood of the pueblo of Nicoya, by 
Juan J. Matarrita, a native official who accompanied Dr. Bransford on his journey.‘ 
In the following year the same institution procured the Fornera and Abruzzo 
Collection of some two hundred specimens from Nicoya and in the year 1894 was 
added a second Velasco collection of about twenty-seven hundred objects. 
In 1895 Mr. Ake Sjogren, then a resident civil engineer on the Pacific coast of 
Costa Rica, made a journey throughout the peninsula in order to investigate miner- 
alogical features and especially to ascertain the source of the ancient supply of jade. 
He carried on excavations at Indian sites in various parts, and also made a sojourn 
at Las Guacas, while the work of Velasco’s men was there in progress. Reference 
to his observations are given by Thomas Wilson’ of the United States National 
Museum. 
In 1897 from March to September the writer carried on excavations with six to 
twelve men at various burial-grounds and other ancient sites on the peninsula of 
Nicoya, on Chira and other islands of the Gulf as well as on the mainland near 
Puntarenas. The results of this work, now preserved in the Stockholm Hthno- 
graphical Museum are as yet not published. 
In the year 1899 Dr. Carl Sapper entered the peninsula from Nicaragua and 
3 Alfaro, Anastasio. ‘‘ Antigtiedddes de Costa Rica,’’ San José, Costa Rica, 1896, p. 14, 15. 
‘Ferraz, Juan F. ‘‘ Informe de Museo Nacional de Costa Rica,’’ 1897-1898. 
5 Wilson, Thomas. ‘‘ Prehistoric Art,’? Annual Report U. S. National Museum, 1896, pp. 458-459. 
