Jan., 1919. Annual Report of the Director. 



24s 



localities, while notable additions have been made to districts already 

 represented. It is now possible to present an adequate pictiire of Eskimo 

 life and to illustrate minor variations in the culture of the tribes, due to 

 contact with other peoples, environment, and similar factors. Of the 

 Zavaleta collection, five cases have been arranged for future exhibition. 

 Labels have been written for three of these and are now being printed. 

 One case has been completely catalogued and packed for shipment. 

 The archaeological collection from La Plata Island was examined, ar- 

 ranged for installation in one case, labels written, and the material 

 packed. The balance of this collection, as far as it has not been sent to 

 the Museum of the American Indian for exchange, is likewise packed and 

 labeled as study material. Two cases of the Mexican section have been 

 packed for transportation, and the study material from the South Ameri- 

 can collections is packed in forty-three boxes. During the past year 

 the entire collection of skeletal material has been thoroughly over- 

 hauled, sorted, cleaned, arranged geographically, and mmibered by the 

 assistant curator of physical anthropology. The cataloguing of it is 

 now complete, so that data relating to any part of the collection are 

 readily available. In addition to the descriptive catalogue cards, a 

 considerable amoimt of laboratory work was done on the Peruvian 

 material. Carton-boxes of two sizes have been provided, and the entire 

 collection, including the portion displayed in the exhibition-cases on 

 the east gallery, has been carefully packed in cartons which are num- 

 bered and labeled. A list of this material has been prepared in duplicate 

 for future reference in the moving operations. The collections of facial 

 masks and plaster busts of racial types are included in this lot. As 

 this material has been accimiulating through twenty years, and an 

 account of its scientific value has not yet been offered, a short summary 

 may be of interest. The total mmiber of crania and skeletons is approx- 

 imately t^ree thousand six himdred, while casts number about two 

 hundred. There are four hundred and fifty specimens from South Ameri- 

 ca, chiefly from Peru, Bolivia, and Argentine. Among these are many 

 interesting examples which show deformation and trepanning. A large 

 collection of busts has been obtained from Mexico ; also a very interesting 

 series of crania excavated in the vicinity of an old temple site at Tezon- 

 tepec. All these skulls are broken in the occipital region, and it is 

 supposed that they were once displayed on a pole in sacrificial cere- 

 monies. Artificial deformation is found in nearly all these specimens. 

 Prehistoric American burials are well represented by collections from 

 the neighborhood of Trenton, New Jersey; the Hopewell, Oregonia, 

 and the Warren County moimds of Ohio; as well as from various sites 

 in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Cliff Dweller crania and skeletons 



