10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 66 
THE &quot; ANCIENT MAN OF CUZCO,&quot; PERU 
The Cuzco discoveries represent one of those rare fortunate in 
stances in which a serious earlier error in the chronological determi 
nation of human remains is fully corrected by some of those who were 
responsible for the original claims. 
In 1911-12, just before the publication of Early Man in South 
America, 1 in which were indicated certain fallacies in the numerous 
reports of geologically ancient human remains from South America, a 
considerable stir was caused by the announcement that human bones 
of &quot; glacial age &quot; had been found in the Cuzco gravels by the Yale 
Peruvian Expedition. The news reached the press, and because of 
the prominence of the expedition was given wide publicity long before 
the actual report on the finds could be made. In April, 1912, this re 
port, by three authors, appeared in The American Journal of Science. 
It consisted of a section by Prof. Hiram Bingham, director of the 
expedition, on &quot; The Discovery of Prehistoric Human Remains near 
Cuzco, Peru v ; 2 of an account by the geologist of the expedition, Prof. 
Isaiah Bowman, on &quot; The Geologic Relations of the Cuzco Remains&quot;; 3 
and of a u Report on the Remains of Man and of Lower Animals 
from the Vicinity of Cuzco, Peru,&quot; by Dr. George F. Eaton. 4 
Professor Bingham gave a concise account of the circumstances of 
the find, which may well be repeated practically in full. 
The Yale Peruvian Expedition was organized to do archaeological, geographi 
cal, geological, and topographical reconnaissance. We spent the first part of 
July, 1911. in and about Cuzco. On the morning of July 6, while walking up a 
gulch called AyaJiuaycco quebrada west of Cuzco, ... I noticed a few bones 
and several pieces of pottery interstrntified with the gravel bank of the gulch 
and apparently exposed by Decent erosion. This led me to examine both sides of 
the gulch very carefully. A hundred yards above the point where the first 
bones were noticed we found that erosion had cut through an ancient ash heap 
containing a large number of fragments of bones and pottery. Still farther up 
the gulch and on the side toward Cuzco I discovered a section of stone wall 
built of roughly finished stones more or less carefully fitted together. At first 
sight this wall appeared to have been built to prevent further washing away of 
that side of the gulch. Then I noticed that above the wall and flush with its 
surface the bank appeared to consist of stratified material, indicating that per 
haps the wall antedated the gravel deposits. 
Fifty feet up the quebrada another portion of wall appeared. Between 
this and the section first seen the gravel bank somewhat protruded. On top 
of the bank was a cultivated field. In order to see whether the wall extended 
behind this gravel bank, under the field, and whether the two portions were 
continuous, ! excavated and found, after half an hour s work&quot; on the compact 
gravel, that there was more wall behind the stratified sides of the gulch. 
The prefect of Cuzco later helped me to secure the services of six Indians, 
1 Bull. 52, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1912. 
2 Amcr. Journ. ScL, 4th ser., vol. xxxui, pp. 297-305, New Haven, Apr., 1912. 
3 Ibid., pp. 306-325. 
4 Ibid., pp. 325-333. 
