INTRODUCTION
This study of the Chincha plain-weave materials in the Max Uhle collection of the University of California has been part of the work of a Senior course in technical analysis. Six members of the class, whose names appear as joint authors, are responsible for the data collected and for the initial organization.
The Material
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.