Abstract
Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, série ii., tome iv., fasc. 1 (Paris, 1889).—Pre-Columbian ethnography of Venezuela, by Dr. Marcano. The author prefaces his special ethnographical remarks with a short geographical notice of the Venezuelian territory, entering more particularly into the physiographical character of the fertile valleys of Aragua and Caracas. The special feature of the landscape in these picturesque regions is the range of low hills locally characterized as “Cerritos,”which extend over a large area near the beautiful lake of Valencia, first known to the Spaniards as Lake Tacarigua, and which were regarded by the native Indians as natural features of the soil. It has been discovered, however, by recent explorers, that they are artificial elevations, raised in past ages by some aboriginal Indian race long extinct, whose very name is unknown to the present inhabitants of the district, although the shores and bottom of the lake testify, through their vast accumulations of bones and other débris, that the country must have been densely populated at some remote prehistoric period. Dr. Marcano, who devoted several years to the exploration of the Cerritos, near Lake Valencia, has succeeded in laying bare the interiors of twenty of these mounds, which prove to be sepulchral caves filled with bone and other detritus. All present a uniform plan of arrangement, and consist of a central circular walled-in space, containing an enormous mass of whole and fractured bones, and marine and fresh-water shells, with fragments of stone, bone, and wood implements, and sherds of pottery, most of which bear traces of the action of fire. The human remains were deposited in round earthen jars or urns, each of which contained only the separate bones of one body, the skull resting at the base of the vessel, while the sacrum, with the long and the small bones, was laid above it so as to fit into all the available space. The appearance of these bones indicates that the flesh had been detached from the dead body before its interment, but their brittle condition rendered a minute examination impossible in some cases, although Dr. Marcano was able to recover forty crania which admitted of sufficiently exact investigation to warrant the conclusion that they represent two distinct types of brachycephalism. About half of these crania showed signs of deformity, due to artificial pressure over the frontal bones. The most remarkable characteristic was their prognathism, which exceeded that of any skull previously examined by him, although his observations were based on the examination of more than 2000 crania, of which some belonged to New Caledonians, who have hitherto ranked as belonging to the most prognathic race extant, The implements found in the Cerritos caves are nearly identical with those associated with the Neolithic age in Europe, while the animal remains are composed of types belonging to the local terrestrial and aqueous faunas, including the broken skull of a cebus; while so enormous a mass of the bones of a caïman (Crocodilus bava, which is peculiar to the Lake of Valencia and its affluents) was found, that it is evident the flesh of this animal must have served as food. A number of detailed craniological tables, and numerous illustrations of the crania and of the curious figurines and idols, the urns, tools, ornaments, and other objects interred with the human bones, add greatly to the value of Dr. Marcano's exhaustive memoir.—The superstitions prevalent in Wales, by M. Maricourt. In this article the author has drawn his materials so indiscriminately from casual travelling companions, and from writers of the most various degrees of authority, that his statements can lay no claim to the serious attention of students of folk-lore, and present no interest for the English reader.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 40, 142–143 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040142b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040142b0