Urn burial so widely diffused in the Atlantic Highland area (23) turns up here in infant burial only. Thus, one of the most puzzling peculiarities of the Calchaqui culture is the great number of large decorated urns containing the remains of very young infants. Adult urn burial is found just north and east of Calchaqui in the edge of the Atlantic Highland area. The designs have some vague resemblances to Marajo urns. Incidentally, we may note that urn burial of any kind is practically unknown in the Andean region. Other kinds of pottery are common in Calchaqui sites, some of which resemble the Nasca ware. The grooved ax also occurs here as in Ecuador. There are quite a number of original and unique articles, as the "knuckle-duster," a kind of hand dagger, and cup-shaped bells.[1]
23. The Atlantic Highlands. In this area we have included the whole coast from the mouth of the Orinoco to the La Plata, and a considerable portion of the interior. There are at least two general characteristics, that of urn burial throughout and, on the coast, extensive shell mounds. Most of these shell deposits are of human origin. On the north coast they contain objects suggesting the culture of the Antilles,[2] but from near the Amazon down, they seem to have a character of their own. That they contain pottery is not certain, the indications being that where found pottery is intrusive from the surface and later urn burials. Highly finished stone axes and other objects are common, and among the bones no suggestions of cannibalism are seen. In the vicinity of Santa Catharina, Brazil, there are finely wrought stone mortars in animal forms, and unique small point-like objects.[3]
Outside the shell mounds and inland, the most striking objects come from Marajo Island and the territory surrounding the lower Amazon. A special feature is the engraved decoration reinforced with color, and a very unique object is the tanga, or pottery fig leaf.
Urn burial is highly characteristic of the Amazon Basin and extends far to the south, though its intensity declines as we leave the Amazon in either direction. Taking the artifacts as a whole, two rather clearly marked subdivisions of
