FORM AND DESIGN IN SANTO DOMINGAN POTTERY 61 



double gourd-shaped vessels from southeastern Santo Domingo, also 

 the double-compartment spherical bowls from northeastern Santo 

 Domingo, appearing either as plain-surfaced vessels or surmounted 

 with recumbent animal figurines, belong to the highest type of 

 Santo Domingan aboriginal pottery, and are limited in their distri- 

 bution to the eastern provinces. 



Details of construction amd design. — At first glance there appears 

 to be but little difference in the knobbed gray ware of the early 

 Pueblo pottery and the knobbed conventionalized gray ware from 

 Santo Domingo. It is only in the later developments of Pueblo 

 pottery that striking contrasts appear. The resemblance of Santo 

 Domingan earthenware forms to certain types and wares from the 

 Eastern States, however, remains. The paste, as mentioned before, 

 is principally of two kinds, producing the gray and the terra cotta 

 wares, varying according to the presence of iron in the clay, the 

 terra cotta producing a brown or chocolate colored, even a black 

 ware, and the gray producing various forms of slipped and j^ainted 

 ware occurring only on the north coast and in the upland interior. 

 Rims are usually small in height, frequently are reinforced with a 

 ribbon of clay on the outer surface, and may be incurved or out- 

 curved or straight. There is nearly always a sharply defined equa- 

 torial ridge or shoulder at the center of the body. Occasionally in 

 eastern Santo Domingo this shoulder ridge gives way to a constriction 

 forming a double-curved wall resembling a double gourd. Bottoms 

 may be either flattish, rounded, or flat. 



Rudimentary annular feet are rare and are flat or slightly con- 

 cave. Forms having rounded bottoms are much more abundant, 

 but these are always flattened spherical, never conical. So far as is 

 known from collections, no Santo Domingan forms of earthenware 

 vessels rest on tripod bases. Likewise no specimens have been re- 

 covered showing free supports or a deep annular foot as in certain 

 earthenware types from the Lesser Antilles. Lids to globular 

 vessels are rare, as are likewise grooved rims designed perhaps for 

 reception of flat, knobbed lids. Incense burners are infrequent, the 

 one discovered by De Booy in southeastern Santo Domingo being 

 referred to by him as a filter jar. Walls are built up by coiling, as 

 is the universal practice in aboriginal America. The applied deco- 

 rative features, however, may be simple extensions of the wall coils, 

 or, as in the knobbed designs, may be luted on as are the figurine 

 heads and flat handle loops. Extensions of the coil are always 

 horizontal; applied embellishments appear in a vertical position 

 at or near the rim. In no West Indian earthenware vessel does the 

 applied figurine occur anywhere but on or near the marginal rim. 

 Handles or lugs show a wide range, varying from a simple flat or 

 54291—^1 5 



