Ladd] PARITA AND SANTA MARIA ARCHEOLOGY, PANAMA 69 



fairly tall in proportion to the total vessel and have a distinct flare or 

 outward curve as they descend from place of attachment to base rim. 

 The basic shape described above was varied at the El Hatillo site on 

 two occasions; once by the addition of a second head close to the first, 

 and a second time by the addition of a spout (missing in this instance, 

 but indicated by the jagged rim condition) or some type of constricted 

 opening converting the vessel into a bottle. 



Appendage and construction notes. — The method of construction is 

 not apparent. Wall thickness ranges from 4-8 mm., with the average 

 about 6 mm. Heads of all vessels clearly assignable to this variety 

 are hollow in contrast to those of the El Hatillo Polychrome, and the 

 practice of roughening or gouging the surface of the bowl with a stick 

 or reed (not with shell as occurred at Venado Beach) before applying 

 tails and wings was generally followed. Eyes and crops occasionally 

 may be slightly flattened. 



Surface. — Design colors are red, black, and pm-ple applied to a 

 ground color ranging from cream to an orange or light-red brown. The 

 recovery of some entirely cream, presumably unfinished, vessels 

 suggests that the entire exterior surface was first covered with the 

 cream slip. Design colors were then applied and the design area alone 

 was polished after firing, a process which tends to deepen the ground 

 color in the polished areas, sometimes giving it a light brownish hue. 

 Actually, it is not clear whether the high gloss attained was produced 

 by polishing or by the application of a varnish, since the extension of 

 the glossed area beyond the design in some cases gives the appearance 

 of having been accomplished by a polishing stone, and in others as 

 if by brushing. Interiors below the lip are undecorated and unslipped. 



The vessel lips are almost always red slipped and bordered on the 

 shoulder by one or two black bands encu-cling the orifice. Various 

 polychrome elements, generally bars and ellipses (figs. 18, a-f; 19, b, c), 

 are arranged along the shoulder between the lip band and the wing 

 design. Occasional filler elements characteristic of the Yampi and 

 Ortiga varieties also occur (fig. 18, a-h). Wings, for the most part, 

 are decorated in a highly conventional manner with either straight or 

 chevronlike bands running out from the body to the outer wing edge 

 and presumably indicating feathers (fig. 19, d, e). Tail elements show 

 somewhat more variation and are usually of rectangular pattern 

 (fig. 18,i,i). 



On either side of the head a painted black leg extends down below 

 the neck and wing level to terminate in a claw. It is in the depiction 

 of the claws, often extremely graceful and complex curvilinear designs, 

 that the greatest individuality of design expression is demonstrated. 

 Figure 19, f-h, gives a necessarily meager indication of the range of 



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