Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia Part 2

As bearing upon the possible use of these specimens it should be noticed that similar stool-like objects are made of clay, the softness and fragility of which would render them unsuitable for use as mealing plates or mortars, and it would also appear that they are rather fragile for use as stools. I would suggest that they may have served as supports for articles such as vases or idols employed in religious rites, or possibly as altars for offerings.

_Celts._--The cla.s.s of implements usually denominated celts is represented by several hundred specimens, nearly all of which are in a perfect state of preservation. They are thoroughly well made and beautifully finished, and leave the impression upon the mind that they must represent the very highest plane of Stone Age art.

Although varying widely in form and finish there is great h.o.m.ogeneity of characters, the marked family resemblance suggesting a single people and a single period or stage of culture. They are found in the cists along with other relics and are very generally distributed, a limited number, rarely more than three, being found in a single grave. They may be cla.s.sified by shape into a number of groups, each of which, however, will be found to grade more or less completely into the others. They display all degrees of finish from the freshly flaked to the evenly picked and wholly polished surface. The edges or points of nearly all show the contour and polish that come from long though careful use. All are made of compact, dark, volcanic tufa that resembles very closely a fine grained slate. The following ill.u.s.trations include all the more important types of form. There are but few specimens of very large size.

That shown in Fig. 14 is 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and seven-eighths of an inch thick. The blade is broad at the edge, rounded in outline, and well polished. The upper end terminates in a rather sharp point that shows the rough flaked surface of the original blocking out. The middle portion exhibits an evenly picked surface. The rock is a dark slaty looking tufa, the surface of which displays ring or rosette-like markings, reminding one of the polished surface of a section of fossil coral. These markings probably come from the decomposition of the mineral const.i.tuents of the rock.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 14. Large partially polished celt of mottled volcanic tufa--.]

The implement given in Fig. 15 may be taken as a type of a large cla.s.s of beautifully finished celts. It also is made of the dark tufa, very fine grained and compact, resembling slate. The beveled surfaces of the blade are well polished, the remainder of the surface being evenly picked. The hexagonal section is characteristic of the cla.s.s, but it is not so decided in this as in some other pieces in which the whole surface is freshly ground.

The contraction of the lateral outline and the sudden expansion on reaching the cutting edge noticed in this specimen are more clearly marked in other examples. The small celt shown in Fig. 16 is narrow above and quite wide toward the edge. A wide, thick specimen is given in Fig. 17. A specimen quite exceptional in Chiriqui is shown in Fig. 18.

Mr. McNiel states that in many years' exploration this is the only piece seen that exhibits the constriction of outline characteristic of grooved axes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 15. Celt of hexagonal section made of dark compact tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 16. Small wide bladed celt made of dark tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 17. Celt with heavy shaft made of dark speckled tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 18. Celt or ax with constriction near the top.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 19. Flaked and partially polished celt of dark tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20. Well polished celt of dark tufa--.]

Two superb implements are ill.u.s.trated in Figs. 19 and 20, the one in the rough excepting at the cutting edge, where it is ground into the desired shape, and the other neatly polished over nearly the entire surface. The surfaces are somewhat whitened from decomposition, but within the rock is nearly black, and the eye could not distinguish it from a dark slate.

The material is shown by microscopic test to be a volcanic tufa. These examples were evidently intended for more delicate work than the preceding. The shapes of the specimens ill.u.s.trated in Figs. 21 and 22 indicate a still different use. The upper end of the implement is large and rough, as if intended to facilitate holding or hafting, while the shaft diminishes in size below, terminating in a narrow, symmetrical, highly polished edge, a shape well calculated to unite delicacy and strength. The highest mechanical skill could hardly give to stone shapes more perfectly adapted to the manipulation of stone, metal, or other hard or compact substances. The material is a very dark, compact, fine grained tufa.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 21. Narrow pointed celt of dark tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 22. Narrow pointed celt of dark tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 23. Cylindrical celt with narrow point, of dark tufa--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 24. Leaf shaped objects suggesting spearpoints, of dark tufa--.]

An additional example is given in Fig. 23. The shaft is cylindrical and terminates in a conical point at one end and in a very narrow, abrupt, cutting edge at the other. The whole surface is polished. The material is the same dark tufa.

The cla.s.s of objects ill.u.s.trated in this and the two preceding cuts comprises but a small percentage of the chisel-like implements.

_Spearheads (?)._--Another cla.s.s of objects made of the same fine grained, slaty looking tufa is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 24. They resemble spearpoints, yet may have been devoted to a wholly different use. They are long, leaf-like flakes, triangular in section, slightly worked down by flaking, sharpened by grinding at the point, and slightly notched at the top, perhaps for hafting.

_Arrowpoints._--The unique character of the arrowpoints of Chiriqui is already known to archaeologists. The most striking feature is the triangular section presented in nearly all cases and shown in the figures (Fig. 25). The workmanship is extremely rude. The material is generally a flinty jasper of reddish and yellowish hues. The number found is comparatively small. The specimens given are of average size.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 25. Arrowpoints of jasper--1/1.]

_Ornaments._--It would seem from a study of our collections that ornaments of stone were seldom used by the inhabitants of Chiriqui.

There are a few medium sized beads of agate and one pendant of dark greenish stone rudely shaped to resemble a human head. Ornaments of gold and copper were evidently much preferred.

[Footnote 8: I am indebted to Mr. J. S. Diller, of the United States Geological Survey, for the determination of the species of stone in this series of objects.]

[Footnote 9: Seemann: Voy. Herald, Vol. I, p. 312.]

[Footnote 10: A. de Zeltner: Notes sur les sepultures indiennes du departement de Chiriqui.]

[Footnote 11: Seemann: Voy. Herald, Vol. I, p. 313.]

[Footnote 12: Cullen's Darien, p. 38.]

[Footnote 13: A. De Zeltner: Notes sur les sepultures indiennes, p. 7.]

METAL.

GOLD AND COPPER.

The Chiriquians, like many of their neighbors in the tropical portions of the American continent, were skilled in the working of metals. Gold, silver, copper, and tin--the last in alloys with copper forming bronze--are found in the graves. Gold is the most important, and is a.s.sociated with all the others in alloys or as a surface coating. The inhabitants of the isthmus at the time of the discovery were rich in objects, chiefly ornaments, of this metal, and expeditions sent out under Balboa, Pizarro, and others plundered the natives without mercy.

When the Indian village of Darien was captured by Balboa (1510) he obtained "plates of gold, such as they hang on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s and other parts, and other things, all of them amounting to ten thousand pesos of fine gold."[14] From an expedition to Nicaragua the same adventurers brought back to Panama the value of "112,524 pieces of eight in low gold, and 145 in pearls."[15] Early Spanish-American history abounds in stories of this kind. Among others we read that Columbus found the natives along the Atlantic coast of Chiriqui and Veragua so rich in objects of gold that he named the district _Castillo del Oro_. It is said that the illusory stories of an _El Dorado_ somewhere within the continent of South America arose from the lavish use of gold ornaments by the natives whom the Spaniards encountered, and that Costa Rica gets its name from the same circ.u.mstance. It is also recorded that the natives of various parts of Central and South America at the date of the conquest were in the habit of opening ancient graves for the purpose of securing mortuary trinkets. The whites have followed their example with the greatest eagerness. As far back as 1642 the Spaniards pa.s.sed a law claiming all the gold found in the burial places of Spanish America,[16]

the whole matter being treated merely as a means of revenue.

The objects of gold for which the tombs of Chiriqui are justly famous are generally believed to have been simple personal ornaments, the jewelry of the primeval inhabitants, although it is highly probable that many of the figures, at least as originally employed, had an emblematic meaning. They were doubtless at all times regarded as possessed of potent charms, and thus capable of protecting and forwarding the interests of their owners. They have been found in great numbers within the last twenty-five years, but for the most part, even at this late date, have been esteemed for their money value only. Very many specimens found their way to this country, where they were either sold for curiosities or, after waiting long for a purchaser, even in the very shadow of our museums, were consigned to the melting pot. Many stories bearing upon this point have been told me. A Washington jeweler is represented as having exhibited in his window on Pennsylvania avenue about the year 1860 a remarkable series of these trinkets, most of which were afterwards sent to New York to be melted. About the same period a gentleman on entering a shop in San Francisco was accosted by a stranger who had his pockets well filled with these curious relics and wished to dispose of them for cash. A number of my acquaintances have neat but grotesque examples of these little images of gold attached to their watch guards, thus approving the taste of our prehistoric countrymen and at the same time demonstrating the ident.i.ty of ideas of personal embellishment in all times and with all peoples.

The ornaments are found only in a small percentage of the graves, those probably of persons sufficiently opulent to possess them in life; a majority of the graves contain none whatever. They are often found at the bottom of the pits, and probably in nearly the position occupied by them while still attached to the persons of the dead. It is said that occasionally they are found in niches at the sides of the graves, as if placed during the filling of the pit.

Strangely enough, the gold is very generally alloyed with copper, the composite metal ranging from pure gold to pure copper. A small percentage of silver is also present in some of the specimens examined, but this is probably a natural alloy. In a few cases very simple figures appear to have been shaped from nuggets or ma.s.ses of the native metals; this, however, is not susceptible of proof. The work is very skillfully done, so that we find it difficult to ascertain the precise methods of manipulation. The general effect in the more pretentious pieces resembles that of our filigree work, in which the parts are produced by hammering and united by soldering; yet there are many evidences of casting, and these must be considered with care. As a rule simple figures and some portions of composite figures present very decided indications of having been cast in molds, yet no traces of these molds have come to light, and there are none of those characteristic markings which result from the use of composite or "piece" molds. Wire was extensively used in the formation of details of anatomy and embellishment, and its presence does not at first seem compatible with ordinary casting. This wire, or pseudo-wire it may be, is generally about one-twenty-fifth of an inch in diameter.

The manner in which the numerous parts or sections of complex figures are joined together is both interesting and perplexing. Evidences of the use of solder have been looked for in vain, and if such a medium was ever used it was identical in kind with the body of the object or so small in quant.i.ty as to escape detection. At the junction of the parts there are often decided indications of hammering, or at least of the strong pressure of an implement; but in pursuing the matter further we find a singular perfection in the joining, which amounts to a coalescence of the metals of the two parts concerned. There is no weakness or tendency to part along the contact surfaces, neither is there anything like the parting of parallel wires in coils or where a series of wires is joined side by side and carried through various convolutions. In a number of cases I made sections of coils and parts composed of a number of wires, in the hope of discovering evidences of the individuality of the strands, but the metal in the section is always h.o.m.ogeneous, breaking with a rough, granular fracture, and not more readily along apparent lines of junction than across them; and further, in studying in detail the surface of parts unpolished or protected from wear by handling, we find everywhere the granular and pitted unevenness characteristic of cast surfaces. This is true of the wire forms as well as of the ma.s.sive parts, and, in addition to this, such defects occur in the wires as would hardly be possible if they were of wrought gold.

All points considered, I am inclined to believe that the objects were cast, and cast in their entirety. It is plain, however, that the original model was made up of separately constructed parts of wire or wirelike strands and of eccentric and often rather ma.s.sive parts, and that all were set together by the a.s.sistance of pressure, the indications being that the material used was sufficiently plastic to be worked after the manner of clay, dough, or wax. In one case, for example, the body of a serpent, consisting of two wires neatly twisted together, is held in the hand of a grotesque figure. The hand consists of four fingers made by doubling together two short pieces of wire. The coil has been laid across the hand and pressed down into it until half buried, and the ends of the fingers are drawn up around it without any indication of hammer strokes. Indeed, the effect is just such as would have been produced if the artist had worked in wax. Again, in the modeling of the eyes we have a good ill.u.s.tration. The eye is a minute ball cleft across the entire diameter by a sharp implement, thus giving the effect of the parted lids. Now, if the material had been gold or copper, as in the specimens, the ball would have been separated into two parts or hemispheres, which would not exhibit any great distortion; but as we see them here the parts are flattened and much drawn out by the pressure of the cutting edge, just as if the material had been decidedly plastic.

It seems to me that the processes of manufacture must have been a.n.a.logous to those employed by the more primitive metal workers of our own day. In Oriental countries delicate objects of bronze and other metals are made as follows: A model is constructed in some such material as wax or resin and over it are placed coatings of clay or other substance capable of standing great heat. These coatings, when sufficiently thickened and properly dried, form the mold, from which the original model is extracted by means of heat. The fused metal is afterwards poured in. As a matter of course, both the mold and the model are destroyed in each case, and exact duplications are not to be expected. Mr. George F. Kunz, of New York, with whom I have discussed this matter, states that he has seen live objects, such as insects, used as models in this way. Being coated with washes of clay or like substance until well protected and then heavily covered, they were placed in the furnace. The animal matter was thus reduced to ashes and extracted through small openings made for the purpose.

As bearing upon this subject it should be mentioned that occasionally small figures in a fine reddish resin are obtained from the graves of Chiriqui. They are identical in style of modeling with the objects of gold and copper obtained from the same source.

In discussing possible processes, Mr. William Hallock, of the division of chemistry and physics of the United States Geological Survey, suggested that if the various sections of a metal ornament were embedded in the surface of a ma.s.s of fire clay in their proper relations and contacts they could then be completely inclosed in the ma.s.s and subjected to heat until the metal melted and ran together. After cooling, the complete figure could be removed by breaking up the clay matrix. I imagine that in such work much difficulty would be experienced in securing proper contact and adjustment of parts of complex figures.

It will likewise be observed that evidences of plasticity in the modeling material would not exist. I must not pa.s.s a suggestion of Nadaillac[17] which offers a possible solution of the problem of manipulation. Referring to a statement of the early Spanish explorers that smelting was unknown to the inhabitants of Peru, he states that it would be possible for a people in a low state of culture to discover that an amalgam of gold with mercury is quite plastic, and that after a figure is modeled in this composite metal the mercury may be dissipated by heat, leaving the form in gold, which then needs only to be polished.

There is, however, no evidence whatever that these people had any knowledge of mercury.

There is no indication of carving or engraving in the Chiriquian work.

In finishing, some of the extremities seem to have been shaped by hammering. This was a mere flattening out of the feet or parts of the accessories, which required no particular skill and could have been accomplished with comparatively rude stone hammers. It is a remarkable fact that many, if not most, of the objects appear to be either plated or washed with pure gold, the body or foundation being of base gold or of nearly pure copper. This fact, coupled with that of the a.s.sociation of objects of bronze with the relics, leads us to inquire carefully into the possibilities of European influence or agency. I observe that recent writers do not seem to have questioned the genuineness of the objects described by them, but that at the same time no mention is made of the plating or washing. This latter circ.u.mstance leads to the inference that pieces now in my possession exhibiting this phenomenon may have been tampered with by the whites. In this connection attention should be called to the fact that history is not silent on the matter of plating.

The Indians of New Granada are said to have been not only marvelously skillful in the manipulation of metals, but, according to Bollaert, Acosta declares that these peoples had much _gilt_ copper, "and the copper was gilt by the use of the juice of a plant rubbed over it, then put into the fire, when it took the gold color."[18] Just what this means we cannot readily determine, but we safely conclude that, whatever the process hinted at in these words, a thin surface deposit of pure gold, or the close semblance of it, was actually obtained. It is not impossible that an acid may have been applied which tended to destroy the copper of the alloy, leaving a deposit of gold upon the surface, which could afterwards be burnished down.

It has been suggested to me that possibly the film of gold may in cases be the result of simple decay on the part of the copper of the alloy, the gold remaining as a sh.e.l.l upon the surface of the still undecayed portion of the composite metal; but the surface in such a case would not be burnished, whereas the show surfaces of the specimens recovered are in all cases neatly polished.

If we should conclude that the ancient Americans were probably able to secure in some such manner a thin film of gold, it still remains to inquire whether there may not have been some purely mechanical means of plating. In some of the Chiriquian specimens a foundation of very base metal appears to have been plated with heavy sheet gold, which as the copper decays comes off in flakes. Occasional pieces have a blistered look as a consequence. Were these people able with their rude appliances to beat gold into very thin leaves? and Had they discovered processes by which these could be applied to the surfaces of objects of metal? are questions that should probably be answered in the affirmative.

The flakes in some cases indicate a very great degree of thinness.

Specimens of sheet gold ornaments found in the tombs are thicker, but are sufficiently thin to indicate that, if actually made by these people, almost any degree of thinness could be attained by them. It would probably not be difficult to apply thin sheet gold to the comparatively smooth surfaces of these ornaments and to fix it by burnishing.