54 BULLETIN 15 6, UI^ITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tive design on the north coast of Santo Domingo and to a lesser 

 extent in western parts of the island. More or less deeply incised 

 pits are regularly excavated in series of from one to six or more 

 encircling bands appearing above the shoulder and below the lip 

 of the hemispherical and globose vessel. This archaic design pattern 

 appears also on South American earthenware vessels from Vene- 

 zuela and Colombia. It is, however, entirely unlike most punctate 

 designs from Florida. Other survivals of archaic decorative designs 

 in Santo Domingan earthenware are several forms of eye molding 

 so well described by Spinden from the valley of Mexico. An applied 

 ribbon of clay, with central pit or slit, resembling a coffee bean or 

 button, is a rare form. Two concentric circles with intervening 

 ridges and central pit typify a more common type of lip eye modeling. 

 A mere depression, or gouged-out area, also a central punctation 

 or node surrounded with an applied ribbon of clay, are the most 

 characteristic forms of eye representation. The banded punctate 

 embellishments appear frequently on slipped ware, principally red 

 or maroon, while the archaic forms of eye representation appear solely 

 on unpainted wares. The use of clay buttons each with its central 

 pit is apparently characteristic of the cruder type of unpainted 

 Tainoan pottery. 



A decorative panel of incised vertical, oval, or horizontal lines on 

 the incurved shoulder ridge of earthenware is perhaps the most com- 

 mon conventionalized method of applying a decorative design on 

 aboriginal pottery from Santo Domingo. Both vertical and hori- 

 zontal lines are incised alternately in series. The incised lines may 

 or may not appear regularly terminated with rounded pits and fiat 

 bottoms. Scarified decorative designs are frequenth'' produced by 

 scratching or even deeply incising the walls of the vessel with 

 hachure figures before firing. The lines are roughly parallel, and 

 appear without the terminal pits. This is the crudest type of incised 

 design. Another form of crosshatching is produced by use of a 

 paddle stamp or repeated use of an edged stick in horizontal, then 

 transverse positions. The reticulated imprint somewhat resembles 

 that of basketry fabric remains. Crosshatching and incised linear 

 designs terminated with pits appear as embellishments oftenest on 

 the black incised and on terra cotta unpainted wares. The use of 

 a check stamp, or of a more elaborate pattern stamp as in Florida 

 and elsewhere in the Gulf States, is not common to aboriginal Santo 

 Domingan pottery. 



Characteristic media of artistic expression, then, in the decorative 

 designs embellishing aboriginal Santo Domingan pottery are three- 

 fold: First, application of paints or slips in white, salmon, red, 

 maroon, and polychrome paints; second, application of geometric 

 designs in incised paneling, including series of punctations, straight 



