124 A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



the black has so completely disappeared as to leave no traces of it. The outer 

 surface, including legs and bottom, is all decorated ; the sides with black on light 

 cream, the legs and bottom with black on red. The sides are divided into four 

 panels by means of four groups of vertical bands, two of these groups being 

 themselves subdivided into three groups, the outer ones differing from the inner 

 in such a manner at to suggest the anterior, middle, and posterior regions of 

 the carapace. In the four panels are figures, apparently representing rolled-up 

 animals. 



A deviation from both the bottle-shaped vase and the shallow tripod bowl is 

 noted in figure g. The sloping, flattened upper half of the body and the collar 

 rising sharply above produce a new type of vase. The bottom and tripod supports 

 are red ; the upper stories, light cream. The design on the bottom is the modified 

 trefoil. The legs are marked by horizontal bands. 



With figure h, we drop back to the plain primitive calabash type for the body 

 of the tripod bowl. The rim and interior, being easily visible, are painted red 

 but were not otherwise decorated so far as can be detected at present. The 

 outer surface of the body is divided into two zones, an upper in the light color 

 of the slip and a lower in red. Both were decorated, faint traces of the black 

 paint being still visible. The legs are of special interest. They are rather long 

 and provided with wide lateral slits. Near the attachment of each tripod support 

 are two protuberances for eyes, the representation being further accentuated by 

 a circle of black paint surrounding a black spot. Between the eyes is the spool- 

 shaped figure, also in black, and completing the head symbol, as shown in previous 

 illustrations (see figs, a, c and d). The identity of the head motive, therefore, is 

 established beyond the shadow of a doubt. Below the head are three black 

 horizontal bands (the carapace motive) so that each tripod support is a life form, 

 evidently the armadillo. 



Another interesting feature about this specimen is that, from the view-point of 

 the technique involved in the decoration, it serves as a connecting link between 

 the lost color group and the so-called alligator group that succeeds it. The lost 

 color technique is everywhere followed in ornamenting the body of the vessel, 

 as regards both exterior and interior. The interior, for instance, of shallow bowls 

 of this type is always painted red, while in the alligator group it is coated with 

 a light cream slip. The exterior was treated to the usual coat of non-adhesive 

 black over a waxed pattern the very essence of the lost color process. On 

 the other hand, the design on the tripod supports is produced directly by the 

 application of black paint, the black being the design, instead of the interspace, 

 and also being a much more permanent black than that employed in the lost 

 color process. It is apparently the same black that is used as a delineating color 

 in the alligator group. This is another evidence of the homogeneity of Chiriquian 

 art, although the various groups may be quite distinct as a whole. 



A number of small figurines, whistles, needle-cases and rattles, belonging to the 

 lost color group will be described in a subsequent chapter. 



