South American Archaeology

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VIII?PERU: THE SEQUENCE OF CULTURES HAVING sketched theancienthistoryof Peruasfar as we know it, and given a few details regarding the beliefs and general culture of the people, it is now time to deal with the question how far the archaeology of the country can explain, or be explained by, the...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VIII?PERU: THE SEQUENCE OF CULTURES HAVING sketched theancienthistoryof Peruasfar as we know it, and given a few details regarding the beliefs and general culture of the people, it is now time to deal with the question how far the archaeology of the country can explain, or be explained by, the foregoing chapters. Whatever view may be taken of the value of the writings of Montesinos it is evident that the short list of Inca, concerning which most of the chroniclers are in agreement, does not take us back to the earliest form of culture of which remains are found in the country. Apart from the fact that we find in Inca records stories of the discovery of mighty ruins, the evolution of the several varieties of the llama species, twoof which have never been found in a wild state, requires a longer period than that covered by the list; while the evolution of the cultivated varieties of maize and potato can only be explained by long centuries of agricultural activity. We have seen that a certain locality called Tiahuanaco, situated at the extreme south of lake Titicaca, is closely associated with the creation- myths current among the Inca and Colla. Here it was that Uiracocha, coming from the south, made mankind and the heavenly bodies, and here are found the ruins which most excited the astonishment of the later Inca conquerors. These ruins, of which a careful survey was made by StQbel and Uhle, and which have been further unveiled by Courty of the Crequi-Montfort expedition, stand in a desolate plain thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. The most noticeable feature is alarge mound, resembling a ruined step-pyramid, concerning the origin of which there has been much dispute. Some have held that it is natural, but the recent discovery of a series of walls, appare...