FORM AND DESIGN IN SANTO DOMINGAN POTTERY 55 



lines, curves, circles, open and closed spirals on the incurved 

 shoulder; third, luting on to the body of the vessel of bilaterally 

 applied anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figurine heads on unpainted 

 wares, also of knobs and wens in relief on the incurved shoulder of 

 painted and slipped red ware bowls. Incised paneled designs and 

 applied relief figures are freely used in combination, the plain 

 knobbed or zoomorphic figurine heads being mounted near the rim 

 of the vessel on the incurved shoulder of which appear geometric 

 incised embellishments. The terminal pit occurs in conjunction 

 with straight lines and incomplete circles, while the incised or 

 applied circle appears with a centrally excavated pit or punctation. 



The simplicity of the free-hand technic employed in shaping the 

 molded figurine head is remarkable because of its effectiveness. 

 Many of the figurine heads are clearly intended to represent turtles, 

 frogs, snakes, iguanas, or lizards; birds, such as the parrot, owl, 

 bat, i^elican, and others; and mammals, as the jutia, monkey, and 

 sea covr. Others are more conventionalized representations of the 

 so-called " monkey " type. In this type the upper and lower parts 

 of the clay head are molded to stand out in relief while the central 

 portion is depressed. Horizontally incised lines of different 

 lengths are cut transversely and are terminated with a characteristic 

 shallow punctation, or are separated by a nasal eminence. 



Anthropomorphic figurines may be plainly caricatures; a few 

 appear to be portrait models in clay of definite individuals. Head- 

 dress forms are particularly striking. Representations of the turban, 

 as on the archaic figurines from the valley of Mexico, and other 

 forms representing feather and cloth headdresses and hair coiffures, 

 are as characteristic as the suspended disc earring or ear plug ap- 

 pearing in anthropomorphic figurines as a figure 8. A more 

 realistic ear modeling is noted in the distinctly animal figurines. 



Generally it is impossible to recognize the species intended by the 

 modeled zoomorphic figurine because of conventional distortions and 

 omissions. Undoubtedly some of the figurine heads represent zemis 

 belonging to an individual or family. Conventionalized presenta- 

 tions bespeak an old and deeply rooted culture, not necessarily a 

 high culture, but one thriving throughout a long period of time in 

 comparative isolation. It is possible that the personages or creatures 

 represented are in part ceremonial and belong to the social and 

 religious life of the tribe, as does the bat head in Mexico and the 

 eagle design in southeastern United States pottery designs. Such 

 representations need not necessarily bear any definite relationship to 

 animal forms as described in natural history boofe. 



There can be no exact identity in earthenware examples from the 

 Gulf States with earthenware vessels from Santo Domingo unless 

 similar available clays abound. Then, too, local developments in 



