Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/402

 39 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 22, 1920

1. The paintings on stone in the caves of the Serroto do Pintor and the Casa de Pedra (which were used by the Maracas Indians as burial places) evidently served the purpose of indicating the genealogy or posterity of the dead.

2. These varicolored paintings, which frequently are located at a considerable height, so much so, in fact, that special arrangements must have been made use of in order thus to locate them, are not the result of a mere idling away of the time but are due to preconsidered work and carried out with a definite purpose in view.

3. The inscriptions which have been studied, at least those of the Serroto' do Pintor, are to be dated at about the time of the conquests by the Europeans or even later.

On examining Sempaio's pictures of drawings by Brazilian Indians we are stuck by certain forms which occur repeatedly and which remind us of the prehistoric ones of Altamira and those of the French caves. This applies especially to the digitated or pectiniform figures, which show here 3, 4, 5, 6, or even more perpendicular lines and are provided with a border, so that the entire figure reminds one of a shield. According to Dr. Sampaio these drawings, which he likewise designates as escudetes (shields) were intended to indicate the number of the offspring of those whose remains were buried there.

While we have to admit the close resemblance of the figures found in the cave of Altamira with those of Brazil, we nevertheless cannot agree so readily with Dr. Sampaio's explanation. In no way do the drawings of Altamira, which are primarily representations of animals, indicate the presence of a burial place. The so-called digitated figure of Altamira, which is located above the representation of an animal, reminds one of a craftman's "trademark." Be it remembered that an individual, by simple strokes or indentations on a weapon or utensil, could thereby indicate his ownership. It is not at all impossible that this type of figures, to which different ones were added later, could indicate the mark of ownership, not only of individuals, but also of entire clans. In the case of the pectiniform drawing of Altamira and that of the Indian drawings in the valley of the Paraguassu, we are probably dealing with such tribal marks. The same mark is found among those of the manu- facturers of steel wares in Solingen. Let us also note that even today many families have on their escutcheons lines, (i.e., pales) similar to those found in the drawings here in question. In the Spanish cave as wel las among the Brazilian inscriptions we find also certain scalariform drawings. Even today the cattle raisers of Ceara frequently use marks which they call escadas (ladders) in branding their herds. These marks consist of two horizontal lines crossed by two perpendiculars. The

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