Abstract
A FIRST instalment now lies before us of this magnificent undertaking, which, if fully realised, bids fair to rival in scientific interest and typographical splendour Lord Kingsborough's great work on Mexican Antiquities. Reserving a full notice for a later stage of the project, it will suffice here briefly to indicate its main features, and direct attention to its paramount importance for antiquarian and ethnological studies. The authors, who have lately returned from South America laden with archaeological treasures of all kinds, have been encouraged by the munificence of the directors of the Berlin Royal Museum to place the results of many years' diligent research at the disposal of the public. Under the general heading of “Peruvian Antiquities” the publishers, Messrs. Asher and Co., of Berlin and London, propose to issue simultaneously in English and German a series of folio volumes illustrating the whole field of the ancient Quichua-Aymara culture, such as it existed at the time of the Spanish invasion. The publication will spread over a number of years, each volume appearing in separate parts varying in number according to the nature of the subject. Each part will contain a number of chromolithographic engravings with corresponding pages of explanatory text. These illustrations, which of course are the great feature of the work, will be produced in; the most finished style of modern typographic art, and will consist of perfect facsimiles either in natural or reduced size of every conceivable object associated with the ancient civilisation of the Incas. The series begins with a volume devoted entirely to the “Necropolis of Ancon,” now an obscure watering place and fishing village on the Peruvian coast, a little north of Lima, but in pre-Spanish times evidently the centre of a thickly-peopled district that had long been occupied by a settled population. The “finds” made in the mummy graves of this burial-place are of extraordinary archæological interest, illustrating in the most vivid manner every aspect of the social and domestic life of the ancient Peruvians. The volume is to be completed during the course of the ensuing two years in ten uniform parts, as above described, and to judge from Part I., which has just appeared, it is likely to prove of the utmost value to the antiquary and ethnologist. But our remarks on all details must be postponed till this volume is completed. The English text has been entrusted to Mr. A. H. Keane, whose special knowledge of the subject must ensure accuracy in the descriptive and explanatory part of the work.
Peruvian Antiquities: The Necropolis of Ancon in Peru. A Series of Illustrations of the Civilisation and Industry of the Empire of the Incas. Being the Results of Excavations made on the Spot.
By W. Reiss A. Stübel. (London: Asher and Co., 1881.)
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Peruvian Antiquities: The Necropolis of Ancon in Peru. A Series of Illustrations of the Civilisation and Industry of the Empire of the Incas. Being the Results of Excavations made on the Spot. . Nature 23, 75 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/023075a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/023075a0