2 MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 
investigations there started. The splendid facilities offered by the Carnegie Museum 
made it possible for me to continue the work in Costa Rica, and obtain additional 
data and material. 
In March 1903 I went down to Costa Rica for the second time and spent alto- 
gether seven months in archeological researches in various parts of the republic. 
During this stay I revisited several of the localities described in my previous work 
and carried on excavations at Las Guacas on the Pacific slope and at three newly 
discovered sites of burial grounds on the plains of the highlands. On the Atlantic 
coast my stay was limited to a short visit to the ancient settlement of Mercedes. 
One of the results obtained during my sojourn in Costa Rica was the purchase for 
the Carnegie Museum of the three largest private collections ever made in that 
country, two of these being the property of Padre José Maria Velasco of Santa Cruz, 
representing the cultures of the Pacific Coast, the third belonging to the estate of. 
Sr. Don Juan Troyo of Cartago, containing objects from the highlands. To these 
were added several smaller purchases. Altogether the archeological material thus 
secured for the Carnegie Museum exceeds in number and types that of all other 
museums combined, save only the collection of the National Museum of Costa Rica 
at San José. 
In this and forthcoming Memoirs I propose to present not only the principal 
results obtained during my own work in the field in Costa Rica, but also to supple- 
ment these with illustrations and descriptions of a series of the most important 
types of the ancient artefacts, selected from the extensive collections I purchased 
for the Carnegie Museum, and also from the rich material of the Museo Nacional 
in San José, which by the courtesy of the Director of the latter institution was 
placed at my disposal for study and reproduction. I thus hope to make accessible 
to the student of American archeology and art a selection of |the most interesting 
ancient artefacts which have been brought to ight by myself as well as by others 
in this comparatively little known part of Central America. 
In the present Memoir after a short historical introduction, there are given the 
observations and results obtained during my own excavations in the fall of 1908 at Las 
Guacas, the most important ancient cemetery as yet discovered on the Pacific Coast 
of Costa Rica. Then follows an account of a representative selection of the various 
stone implements contained in the collections which Padre J. M. Velasco previously 
had obtained at the same place. This part deals with implements of stone which 
are classified in two groups: (1) Tools and weapons, as metates, celts, axes, bark- 
scrapers, polishing-stones, and various other objects of a utilitarian character; (2) 
Objects of ornamental and ceremonial use, as banner-stones or maces, amulets, tubes, 
beads, ear-plugs, and various other small stone artefacts. 
