CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 63 



POTTERY 



Classification of types. — A leading interest centering about the 

 pottery of the native tribes of Darien lies in the search for struc- 

 tural and decorative similarity of detail to the ancient pottery of 

 the Province of Chiriqui in western Panama, as found in the pot- 

 tery burial offerings in the ancient graves of that area. The Cuna 

 tribes of the days of the early Spanish explorers knew of the great 

 achievements of the culture centers on the north and to the south, 

 namely, of the Maya in Yucatan, the Doraskeans in Chiriqui, and 

 of the Incas in Peru. There is but little evidence, however, traceable 

 through the decorative design and the structure of their pottery to 

 show that the Darien tribes had ever come into direct contact or 

 had ever acquired a great degree of knowledge of the potter's art 

 from any one of their more highly accomplished neighbors. 



The following classification of Darien pottery now in the Museum 

 collections will be concerning its use — whether domestic, ceremonial, 

 or miscellaneous — and the manner of its construction. 



The classes of pottery objects include stoves, cooking pots, bowls, 

 water and chicha jars, effigy canteens, stove censers, and many small 

 pottery figurines of birds, animals, and humans. 



Materials. — The materal used in the construction of the classes 

 named is a coarse reddish clay, when those objects are derived from 

 the Caribbean coast, and a light gray colored clay when from the 

 Sucubti River valley of the interior. The adhesive qualities of the 

 light gray Cuna pottery is much inferior to the tenacious reddish 

 or black marsh clays of the San Bias coast. This is partly due to 

 the material or paste used, also their inferior methods of coiling and 

 to firing in the open. 



Some of the points to be considered in this description of Darien 

 aboriginal pottery are : The constituent elements employed, the 

 means of construction, the surface finish, the decorative design, and 

 the outline form. The first class of pottery vessels to be considered 

 are the stove and the cooking pot. 



A cooking pot used by the Cuna of the upper reaches of the Chu- 

 cunaque and of the Sucubti Rivers, also of the San Bias coast Tule, 

 is referred to by the natives as " the two-handled cooking pot," or 

 " tsiya nala," (Tule). One of these vessels, made by the Cunas 

 Bravos of the Sucubti River (Cat. No. 327349, U.S.N.M., pi. 13, 

 No. 1), is 16 cm. (6.3 in.) wide with its greatest diameter just below 

 the neck constriction, and 11.5 cm. (4.5 in.) in height. The material 

 used in its manufacture is a coarse, sandy, friable, gray-colored clay. 

 Interspersed throughout the paste are particles of white sand, ashes, 

 and broken potsherds ground fine and mixed as a temper with the 

 clay. Although the workmanship of the Cunas Bravos pottery is 



