14 / 188
remate epoch, if we may place credence in the
data publi
1
shed by engineer Arthur Posnansky.
To thís epoch may be ascribed edifices eonstruct–
ed of huge stones; the- ínfluence of black as a
color, not only in textiles, but also in ceramics;
the traditions and primitive religious myths des–
cribing the cour-se of the Sun; the formation of
the Quechua world; the legiend of
H
uiraccocha
rising from the waters of Lake Titicaca, and the
fabl es of the conversation of the first men into
rocks and mountains. The great Andean 1myths
go back to this age-myths exalting the- beauty Óf
the
natural environment 1and the emotion inter–
pretations of the landscape.
At the zenit of the ci
vilization flourishing
on this high plateau, there bef.eU a catastrophe
which he
istortans have neVler been able to
fully explain: this may have been an . invasion
by ba;rbarians, as
is
the belief of sümH; or an
earthquake as is alleged by others. But
it
is
quite certain that
it
was
'SO
disastrüus
as
to com–
pletely extinguish the culture and political dom–
inion which had expanded through a great part
of Peru.
At sorne latter period the tribes of the low- _
lands
of
the Apurimac and Vilcamayo rivers, in
the Andes,
recuperated, and organized
them-
=
10--'"!