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THE ALLIGATOR GROUP. 



One of the most interesting classes of Chiriquian pottery is that appropriately 

 named by Holmes, the alligator group. In point of numbers, it is inferior to the 

 lost color group. It is like the latter in that a majority of the vessels may be 

 classed as bottle-shaped vases with globular bodies ; and in the comparative rarity 

 of features in relief, such as handles, legs and plastic shoulder decorations. The 

 average size is also about the same in the two groups. On the other hand, there 

 are striking differences to be noted. The line of demarcation between neck and 

 shoulder is not so sharp and the width of neck is proportionately greater. The 

 interiors are more carefully finished, although much inferior in this respect to the 

 armadillo group. The forms are usually pleasing and are perhaps more varied 

 than in the lost color group. 



The chief distinction between the two groups lies in the processes of orna- 

 mentation in color; for, while telling its story, each depends primarily on color 

 to attract the attention. The lost color process has already been described. The 

 original ground was usually in two colors, a red pigment and a light cream slip 

 in alternating zones. Frequently the entire original ground was red, sometimes 

 light cream to salmon. The designs were always in one or both of these colors. 

 In the alligator group the designs are always on a pale yellow slip, which is 

 almost always applied to the entire surface. The lip is often red and in a 

 number of cases the same pigment covers the bottom, but designs are never 

 worked out upon the red surfaces. Both red and black are delineating colors, 

 the black playing perhaps the more important role. The black is a fast color in 

 comparison to the black of the lost color group. 



The motives are either distinctly life forms or else derivatives that are traceable 

 to such forms. The alligator is the favorite subject : hence the name given to the 

 group. Among the bottle-shaped vases, the decorative motives are confined to 

 the shoulder and are not always set in panels. Frequently the shoulder zone is 

 divided into two or three arched panels, calling to mind the arched panels of the 

 lost color group. In the latter there are generally but two such panels ; on the 

 other hand, in the alligator group, the prevailing number is three. Again, the 

 motives are not always set in a delimited zone or in panels, but are often painted 

 on the shoulder without a setting. 



The motives derived from the armadillo as well as from the fish, the frog, the 

 bird and the jaguar are almost always plastic. Plastic forms of the alligator are 

 not often met with except among gold ornaments. Painted forms of the alligator 

 and derivatives therefrom are on the contrary very abundant, especially in two 

 of the groups of pottery. 



While these painted figures of some saurian were referred by Holmes to the 

 alligator, it is by no means certain whether the ancient Chiriquian artist may not 

 have had in mind the crocodile instead. Both are found in Chiriquian waters. 

 According to Sumichrast * the alligator (Alligator punctulatus) is nocturnal and 

 solitary, never inhabiting running or brackish water, but only the bottom of shallow 



1 Quoted by A. Giinther in Biologia Centrali- Americana, reptilia and batrachia, 18, 1885-1902. 



