DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25181#0002
128
On the different styles of Pottery found in
a population of over a million, and certainly not from the miserable remnant of
200,000 now existing.
In describing the contents of the graves, I will first speak of the human
remains. No coffin was used, as no traces of wood are found. The number of
bodies buried in one grave varies greatly, bones being sometimes massed together
in quantities sufficient to have formed twenty corpses, whilst sometimes one or
two bodies only occupy a grave, but on an average five or six. would seem to have
been buried together, probably members of the same family. Some difficulty is
presented by the positions of the skeletons, which, though they are sometimes
laid out at full length, are more frequently found lying confusedly in a heap, and
in a space only three or four feet square. Such would have been the case had
the bodies been buried in a sitting posture, a custom which obtained among the
ancient Peruvians, as well as other races. In only one instance have bones
been found calcined, showing that as a rule the bodies were not burnt.
It seems to have been the invariable custom in those ancient times to bury
earthen vases with the deceased, containing, doubtless, drink and food, of which it
was supposed they would stand in need. It may be observed, in passing, that a
custom presenting some analogy to the above, and probably derived from heathen
times, still exists in this island, both among Christians and Mussulmans, a
custom which renders it incumbent on the nearest of kin to provide doles of food
for the poor for a period of forty days on the occasion of a death. The breach of
this custom is regarded as betraying a want of respect for the deceased, and its
observance as more binding than the natural duty of providing for the wants of
the widow and orphan children. The name by which this offering is called is
“Pood for the dead,” and may well be a relic of the old custom, after the intro-
duction of Christianity bad destroyed the illusion that the dead themselves could
ever stand in need of human food.
The pottery excavated comprises an immense variety of styles, both in form and
ornamentation, the styles, moreover, being so distinct as to make it easy to separate
the cemeteries into different classes, a careful examination of which leads to
the conclusion that the various kinds of pottery are characteristic of distinct
races. The ingenuity of the potters, or artists as they deserve to be called, of
those remote times in devising new and singular shapes, and in adorning them
with a variety of tasteful patterns, is certainly most remarkable, though the
execution is not always equal to the conception. The cuneiform inscriptions
inform us that Esar-haddon, who began his reign b.c. 681, received, as contribu-
tions from the subject nations of his empire, works of art for the decoration of the
On the different styles of Pottery found in
a population of over a million, and certainly not from the miserable remnant of
200,000 now existing.
In describing the contents of the graves, I will first speak of the human
remains. No coffin was used, as no traces of wood are found. The number of
bodies buried in one grave varies greatly, bones being sometimes massed together
in quantities sufficient to have formed twenty corpses, whilst sometimes one or
two bodies only occupy a grave, but on an average five or six. would seem to have
been buried together, probably members of the same family. Some difficulty is
presented by the positions of the skeletons, which, though they are sometimes
laid out at full length, are more frequently found lying confusedly in a heap, and
in a space only three or four feet square. Such would have been the case had
the bodies been buried in a sitting posture, a custom which obtained among the
ancient Peruvians, as well as other races. In only one instance have bones
been found calcined, showing that as a rule the bodies were not burnt.
It seems to have been the invariable custom in those ancient times to bury
earthen vases with the deceased, containing, doubtless, drink and food, of which it
was supposed they would stand in need. It may be observed, in passing, that a
custom presenting some analogy to the above, and probably derived from heathen
times, still exists in this island, both among Christians and Mussulmans, a
custom which renders it incumbent on the nearest of kin to provide doles of food
for the poor for a period of forty days on the occasion of a death. The breach of
this custom is regarded as betraying a want of respect for the deceased, and its
observance as more binding than the natural duty of providing for the wants of
the widow and orphan children. The name by which this offering is called is
“Pood for the dead,” and may well be a relic of the old custom, after the intro-
duction of Christianity bad destroyed the illusion that the dead themselves could
ever stand in need of human food.
The pottery excavated comprises an immense variety of styles, both in form and
ornamentation, the styles, moreover, being so distinct as to make it easy to separate
the cemeteries into different classes, a careful examination of which leads to
the conclusion that the various kinds of pottery are characteristic of distinct
races. The ingenuity of the potters, or artists as they deserve to be called, of
those remote times in devising new and singular shapes, and in adorning them
with a variety of tasteful patterns, is certainly most remarkable, though the
execution is not always equal to the conception. The cuneiform inscriptions
inform us that Esar-haddon, who began his reign b.c. 681, received, as contribu-
tions from the subject nations of his empire, works of art for the decoration of the