90 CHILEAN MUMMY 



The special exhibits in the gallery rail cases include quipus used to 

 keep accounts, charms and medicines, coca which was chewed with lime, 



and shells that were found in mummy bundles and in the graves. A 



number of the chicha jars arc on exhibition on top of the case.-. 



In the first case to the lefl (south side) is a collection of skulls showing 

 Trephined many examples of trephining, artificial deformation, and 

 Skulls pathological conditions, together with a number of normal 



Peruvian skulls for comparison. 



The wall case at the left of the entrance contains mummy bundles and 

 various objects showing the burial customs of the Peruvians. In no pari 

 Mummy of America are found so many and so extensive burial 



Bundles places as in the coast region of Peru. Here were interred 



countless thousands of the ancient dead. In the huacas or graves, with 

 the bodies, were placed such articles as had been mosl useful and highly 

 prized during life, and such as it was considered would be mosl serviceable 

 in a future life. 



To this custom we are indebted for no small part of our knowledge of 

 the daily life of the ancient Peruvians. From the mummy bundles and 

 graves all the objects in the extensive collections in this hall, illustrating 

 their civilization, have been obtained. The wonderful state of preserva- 

 tion shown in the textile fabrics and other perishable materials from the 

 coast regions is due to the extreme dryness of the climate and the nitrous 

 character of the soil. [See Guide Leaflet No. 24.] 



The mummy in the case at the west end of the room was found in a 

 copper mine at Chuquicamata, Chile. The body is that of an Indian 

 Chilean miner who was killed by the falling in of rocks and earth 



Mummy while engaged in getting out the copper ore (atacamite) 



used by the Indians in making implements and ornaments in prehistoric 

 times. The tissues of the body have been preserved by copper salts 

 with which it is impregnated. The implements he was using at the time 

 of his death are shown beside him in the case. 



On the south side of the hall are the ethnological collections from 

 Brazil, British Guiana, Paraguay and Colombia. War implements, 

 basketry, featherwork, musical instruments, etc., are arranged in these 

 cases. 



The archaeological collections from the West India Islands have been 

 temporarily placed in this hall, and will be found on the south side, 

 w t I d* ^ 1C l ar £ es t an( l most interesting of these collections is 

 from Porto Rico. It contains many of the " stone collars'' 

 concerning the use of which so many ingenious theories have been 

 published. 



