An Ancient Sepulcher at Placeres Del Oro, State of Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

A N archeological discovery of great interest and in a region new to most students of Mexican art was made in June, 19Io, by Mr William Niven, of Mexico City. Mr Niven has for years studied and collected the antiquities of the west coast of Mexico, particularly in the state of Guerrero. Representative collections made by him are now in the Museo Nacional of Mexico City, in the American Museum of Natural History, and in the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Mr Niven's investigations have shown that the state of Guerrero contains many extensive ruins which bear witness to a large prehistoric population and to a fairly high culture. The numerous pyramids and platform mounds of this region are, however, merely loose masses of natural or roughly cut boulders, and the temples which once crowned their summits are now in utter ruin. Thus, because they lack in spectacular interest, even the most important sites have never been adequately explored. The collections so far gathered consist, for the most part, of occasional finds of small carved stones, either implements or ornaments. The few slight excavations have revealed carved specimens of jadeite, serpentine, and obsidian, as well as objects of gold and copper. The series of remarkable objects that will presently be described is evidence of much higher and more intensified culture than has hitherto been suspected. The discovery in question was made in the valley of the Rio del Oro, near the mining town of Placeres del Oro, which lies in the municipality of Coyuca de Catalan, on the Rio Balsas, about two hundred miles southwest of Mexico City. The Rio del Oro, rising in the high sierras of interior Guerrero, flows in its upper courses through a deep cation. A few miles above the town of Milpa 29