70 BULLETIN 15 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the inner organs and parts of the body, as vertebral column, ribs, 

 and other parts, appear molded in relief. (PL 8.) 



In form, both Lesser and Greater Antillean areas show a wide 

 range from the flat earthenware griddle to the elaborate vase. What 

 has been said regarding earthenware forms and designs from Porto 

 Rico and Santo Domingo does not apply to ceramics from Cuba 

 and Jamaica, where Arawak forms have originated distinct as to 

 paste, form, and design. 



Earthenware objects made by the aborigines of Santo Domingo 

 are for the most part vases, shallow hemispherical dishes, plates, 

 globular bowls, effigy jars, and bottles. Many of these vessels are 

 irregularly circular, others are oval, trencher, hourglass, or gourd 

 shape with angular rim. The rim is often decorated with relief 

 figures. 



As a rule the pottery is a granular, unpainted, but well-made bis- 

 cuit or terra-cotta ware. Many of the specimens have flat, others 

 have rounded bases. The decoration is ordinarily incised by lines 

 or relief figures. Among the common forms of incised geometrical 

 designs are lines, triangles, spirals, and circles. Spirals are rare, 

 but parallel and angular lines are very common. The potter ter- 

 minated a line with a shallow pit that was joined or slightly sep- 

 arated from the end of the line. There is no other pottery area 

 known to the writer where this decorative technic is employed except 

 from the tribes (Ashanti) of the Nigerian coast of Africa. The con- 

 tinuity of circular lines is also broken by inserting at the break either 

 a double pit or a short line drawn at right angles. 



Handle lugs are in general similar throughout the island of Santo 

 Domingo, and may be classified as zoomorphic figurine types or as 

 loop handles. In the latter group a raised ring of clay served all 

 the purposes of a handle, but there were often added marginal 

 grooves with adjacent elevations. The loop handle is sometimes 

 broad and flat, at other times narrow and round. A conventionalized 

 figurine type of lug has two or three knobs on the rim. Perforations 

 may occur just below the knobs. The edges of the handles of many 

 vessels are pinched into ridges that may be corrugated, notched, or 

 serrated. 



Modeled clay heads have much in common, eye, ear, nose, and 

 mouth appearing in conventionalized design, together with charac- 

 teristic fillets over the forehead, scrolled, fluted, and circular coro- 

 nets, and are also characterized by deeply incised lines. The general 

 cast of many of the specimens suggests monkey heads, but this 

 resemblance is unintentional, and it is possible to identify a great 

 majority of these figurines as representations of local fauna. 



In decorative design a tendency toward a conventionalized treat- 

 ment of realistic models of animal and bird heads, also of human 



