136 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



panels or horizontal bands (PL XXXVII, with the exception of fig. a). The 

 rosettes are usually composed of triangles, spots, and a cross, in varying combination, 

 all of which may be referred to elements of a life form, presumably the alligator. 

 The painted designs are placed on slightly raised nodes apparently produced by 

 pressure from within of the middle finger tip. 



In a small vase from Bugativa (fig. i), the outer circle of the design is red ; 

 the inner, black. Within are two spotted triangular fields, separated by a spool- 

 shaped space in red. On the lip, directly above each rosette, is an alligator 

 motive consisting of the body device of curved and red bands accompanied by spots 

 on the concave side only. This style of lip decoration is confined to the smaller 

 vases. The rosettes of figure c are each bounded by three circles, the middle 

 one only being red. The field within is almost completely filled by three triangles 



Fig. 235. Vase with alligator motives on lip and 

 multiple body-line as a panel decoration. Alli- 

 gator ware. */ 



Fig. 236. Vase with simple body-line motives on 

 shoulder and lip. Alligator ware. ! / 



bearing spots (the scale-group symbol). The triangles are disengaged from the 

 inner circle in figure d, and the interspace is marked by a cross. The nodes are 

 scarcely perceptible in figure e, and the number of concentric rings is reduced 

 to two, the inner one enclosing a cross surrounded by four triangles. The nodes 

 are very much exaggerated in figure /, and are not produced by pressure from 

 within, but are applied to the outer surface. The inner circle is again marked 

 by a cross and the intervening spaces by triangles. The various stages in the 

 transition from the rosette to the cross are represented in the collection. In one 

 vase the cross alone remains, a typical Greek cross with foundation in red and 

 outlines in black. The same disposition of the two colors has already been noted 

 in the more elaborate representations of the alligator. 



Plastic features applied to the shoulders of vases belonging to the alligator 

 group are comparatively rare. A representative series is given in Plate XXXVIII. 

 Painted ornament accompanies the relief, but the two do not necessarily refer to 

 the same animal. The plastic elements in figure a, a vase from Divala, consist 

 of a head frankly human, balanced on the opposite side by a short upturned 

 animal tail. Alternating with these features on either side is the painted representa- 



