when Lake Titicaca, now 3,810 meters high, was still at sea level and filled with ocean water during the Pliocene. The site was populated by the first men who emigrated to America, Asia, and Europe from the point where the two primordial races, Mongoloid and Middle Eastern, were derived from prehuman stock. The third Tiahuanacu, the most important prehistoric center in the world at the time, had its civilization brought to a close by adverse geological changes and “climatic aggres­ sion” (glaciation and lake level changes); the inhabitants spread as far as Arizona; the Aztec Aztlan is but a reminiscence of Tiahuanacu. The step symbol (signo escalonado), prominent in Tiahuanacu art, is the Leitmotiv of American prehistoric civilization, and originally denoted Heaven and Earth. To the reviewer Dr. Posnansky seems at his best in his analysis of the highly formalized Tiahuanaco relief sculpture. In the recognition and iconography of this symbolic decoration he knows his way around from long familiarity and preoccupation. In one sense he has “deciphered the ideographs”: true, there is no writing at Tiahuanaco, but his ex­ planations of the immediate meanings of the conventionalized parts and symbols are generally convincing. The sixty-four plates are based on high grade photographs, the two hundred drawings are intelligently and excellently executed, and the reproduction of both is splendid (as is the letterpress). Apart from all opinions and theories, these superb illus­ trations constitute a permanent contribution of the greatest value; for there can be little doubt that Tiahuanaco constitutes with Chav in and Mochica one of the three qualitative culminations of native art in pre- Columbian America. With this art there must have been associated developed religious and other cultural influences. Its special interest to historians lies in the probability that the peak of the Tiahuanaco phase of civilization falls as late as 1000-1200 A.D. and is thus brought,through the medium of the succeeding Incas, almost within the purview of Spanish documentation. It precedes this by about the same interval as Greek geometric style culture precedes the first preserved Greek his­ toriography. A. L. Kroeber. University of California, Berkeley. Don Francisco de Toledo supremo organizador del Peru. Su vida, su obra {1515-1572). By Roberto Levillier. Tomo I, Anos de andanzas y de guerra {1515-1572') (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S. A., 1935. Pp. 494. Paper. 18 pesetas.). Anexos (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S. A., 1935. Pp. 202. Paper. 8 pesetas.) Tomo II, Sus informaciones sobre los Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article-pdf/26/1/67/748073/0260067.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 incas {1570-1572) (Buenos Aires: Espasa-Calpe, S. A., 1940. Pp. cxii, 516. Paper. $10.00 m/n.) Tomo III, La historia de Sar­ miento de Gamboa que el mando escribir cotejada con los comentarios de Garcilaso y otras cronicas (Buenos Aires: Espasa-Calpe, S. A., 1942. Pp. cxcvi, 382. Paper. $15.00 m/n.) These four volumes and another that is in preparation represent the culmination of the life interest and work of Roberto Levillier, the dis­ tinguished Argentine historian and diplomat. Ever since 1915 there has been coming from his pen a constant stream of historical publications, nearly all of which relate to the history of the Spanish colonial period, especially the sixteenth century. Some forty volumes contain docu­ ments copied from the Archivo General de Indias. Another fifteen books, including the four under review, give us new light on outstanding events and personages of the sixteenth century. To this lengthy list of publications one should also add ten reprints of the lengthy introductions to the volumes containing the documents. Sr. Levillier always had one final goal in all his historical writing and compilation of documents: the preparation of not only a biography but also a definitive synthesis of the life and work of Francisco de Toledo, the fifth viceroy of Peru. The four volumes under review form a part of this effort. In the first volume of this biography the youth of Toledo is hastily sketched. The appointment of Toledo as viceroy and his early years in Peru form the bulk of the volume. Besides protraying the events of Toledo’s life, the author pauses from time to time to correct many of the former misinterpretations and erroneous statements made in the past not only by the Spanish chroniclers but also by modern writers. Per­ haps, no event in Toledo’s life has been so grossly misinterpreted as his execution of the so-called “last” Inca—Tupac Amaru I. To this mooted question Sr. Levillier devotes 150 pages of careful scholarship, and when he is through it can be said that any one who reads these pages with an open mind will have to revise former conclusions. No longer can this event be used, as it has been, as a cornerstone of the famous, or infamous, Black Legend. Besides this lengthy but necessary digression from the main events of Toledo’s life, this volume contains a very adequate dis­ cussion of the various Indian wars in Peru and what is now Bolivia and Argentina, and the ideology behind them. The little volume called Anexos, which appeared simultaneously with the first volume, contains thirty-three heretofore unpublished docu­ ments, the majority of which were found in the Museo de Valencia y Don Juan. Of great interest is the will of Toledo, taken from the family archives of the House of Alvarez de Toledo. It alone is a study in itself of the intimate life and varied interest of a man-of-affairs of sixteenth- Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article-pdf/26/1/67/748073/0260067.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 century Spain. In particular it reveals the humanity of this greatest of all the Spanish viceroys. The second volume of this biography is a digression from the story of the life of Toledo. In reality, it is a critical study on the one hand and the complete publication on the other hand of the informaciones concern­ ing the traditions and history of the Incas and their conquests which Toledo had ordered gathered together and which for many years have been the subject of much controversy. In the critical essay Sr. Levillier carefully and in many cases ruthlessly criticizes the scholarship and interpretations of such modern writers as Sir Clements Markham, Philip A. Means, Jos6 de la Riva Aguero, Horacio Urteaga, and Luis Valcarcel. Nor does he hesitate to demolish by careful documentation, the myths and highly dramatic statements of the Spanish chroniclers. In like manner volume three is also a digression and is entirely de­ voted to a critical study of the history of the Incas written at the request of Toledo by the celebrated but maligned comosgrapher and student of Indian life, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. The first part of this volume concerns itself with a detailed comparison of Sarmiento’s history with the various histories of the Incas written in the sixteenth century. Par­ ticularly, the author dissects the writings of the famous Garcilaso de la Vega and with the sureness of a surgeon removes from that literary work most of its highly dramatic and diseased viscera. Also the translation by Sir Clements Markham of Sarmiento’s history is carefully examined and his innumerable inaccuracies revealed. The second part of this volume contains the complete history written by Sarmiento and is an accurate copy of the manuscript which has been carefully preserved for many years in the library of the University of Goettingen. Of particular interest is the fact that this manuscript does not contain the interpola­ tions which Toledo is reported by Markham and others to have added and which these writers used as evidence for blackening the reputation and questioning the integrity of Toledo. The third and last part of the volume contains extracts from the works of twelve Spanish chroniclers who wrote prior to 1644 about the traditions and history of the Incas. Such in brief, are the main emphases of these four volumes. Still to come from Sr. Levillier’s pen are his interpretations of the legislation promulgated by Toledo and of the remaining events of his viceregal rule in Peru. It is hoped that nothing will impede the appearance of the remaining volumes. Whether one agrees with all Sr. Levillier’s interpretations or not, this must be said, namely, that here is a work which must be given serious study and consideration by all who profess to know anything about Spanish colonial history. „ „ Arthur F. Zimmerman. Santiago de Chile. Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article-pdf/26/1/67/748073/0260067.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021.