The Chincha collection, excavated in 1900 by Dr. Max Uhle during the
Peruvian expedition financed by Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst, is
catalogued under two lot prefixes: 4- and 16-. Specimen numbers with
the prefix 4- indicate that the precise provenience as to site and
grave is known. The cloths in this lot have been previously analyzed
and a preliminary report has been published.[1] The cloths in the 16-
lot, as is explained in the report on the pottery,[2] did not identify
perfectly with entries in the collector's field catalogue or their
identification was dubious.
Six Chincha sites described in Uhle's field catalogue[3] are shown on
map 1. The number of cloth specimens representing each of these sites
varies from 2 to 52 (table 1). Briefly, the time periods indicated by
finds forming the basis of this report are as follows.
Site A (2 specimens). "On the declivities of the valley towards the
sea, 5 km. from Tambo de Mora to the north." Late Chincha period.
Site B (3 specimens). La Cumbe cemetery; nearly exhausted; the few
graves opened were "ordinary ones." Late Chincha period.
Site C (37 specimens). In "the higher Northern part of the valley."
Late Chincha period.
Site D, and "near" site D (52 specimens). "Chamberlike tombs, which
had been dug out in a mound-like older huaca." Late Chincha period.
Site E, and "near" site E (20 specimens). "The dry natural terrace ...
in front of the ruins of La Centinela." Several graves at this site
held European articles. Late Chincha period, in part after the Spanish
Conquest.
Site F (2 specimens). "The natural terraces with slopes directed to
the sea north of La Cumbe (circa Las Palmas)."[4] Late Chincha period.