78 A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



place they do not overlap. The work of the sculptor is confined to handles. 

 These are never painted. The engraver has chosen the shoulder and neck or 

 collar for his field of operations. The incised areas are never painted. 



A study of the handle ornaments of this group reveals the fact that the arma- 

 dillo motive is one of the principal threads that bind together practically all 



Fig. 123. Vase with same life form on handles as in Fig. 124. Vase with carapace symbol decorating 



preceding example. Painted handled ware. '/ the handles. Painted handled ware. '/ 



classes of Chiriquian pottery, serving an important ornamental role full of symbolic 

 and mythologic meaning. It demonstrates, also, that many purely decorative 

 motives had their origin in some life form or in elements thereof. In Egypt this 



Fig. 125. Fig. 126. Fig. 127. 



Fig 125. Vase with twisted handles composed of two strands. Painted handled ware. '' 



Fig. 126. Detail of shoulder ornamentation on vase shown in Plate XXI, figure h. Painted handled ware. 'I* 



Fig. 127. Vase with life forms, probably human, serving as handles. Painted handled ware. '/> 



form seems to have been the lotus ; in Chiriqui it was the" armadillo and, as we 

 shall see later, the alligator. 



The familiar carapace symbol appears in figure 121. The life forms in figures 122 

 and 123 are probably identical, although the nodes may be fin motives instead 

 of carapace motives. The vase reproduced in the latter figure is one of the 

 largest vessels of the handled group, having a capacity of three liters. An un- 



