Ladd] PARITA AND SANTA MARIA ARCHEOLOGY, PANAMA 75 



PARITA polychrome; An6n VARIETY 



Sample. — 41 vessels or large fragments and 331 sherds (pi. 3, c). 



Paste. — Same as the Nispero variety. 



Shape. — ShaUow incm-ving bowl on a pedestal base, thus the same 

 shape as the Nispero variety shorn of its wings, tail, and head (fig. 

 17, h). As with the latter variety, variations occm- in the shallowness 

 or globularity of the bowls and occasionally the lip of a vessel will be 

 slightly flanged upward. Pedestals and overall vessel dimensions are 

 also similar to those of the preceding variety. Shallow open bowl 

 rim sherds with typical Andn decorations were recovered in Trench 1 

 and Trench 7, but no complete vessels of this shape were found 

 (fig. 21, m). 



Appendages and construction. — Method of construction not appar- 

 ent and no appendages noted for this variety. Scoring of the under 

 surface of the bowl for the attachment of the pedestal bases takes 

 place fairly frequently as with the Nispero variety. 



Surface. — Design colors are primarily black with an occasional use 

 of red fill between the black bands. No purple was noted for this 

 variety at the El Hatillo site. Ground color ranges from cream 

 through orange to a reddish brown. Again, only the decorated area 

 is polished and it therefore has a darker hue than the remaining vessel 

 surface even though the slip is the same. One vessel was extensively 

 scratched on the exterior wall in a manner similar to the Calabaza 

 variety bottles or rattles and may have been used as a rattle. 



The primary area of decoration is restricted generally to the upper 

 exterior half of the bowl (sometimes decoration extends somewhat 

 below this point) and to the pedestal base. The lower half of the bowl 

 remains unpolished in the solid ground color. Interiors are not 

 decorated below the lip, nor are they slipped. The lip is almost 

 always red slipped, and the shoulder below is decorated in a series of 

 horizontal concentric black bands of varying width to which may be 

 appended a number of elements such as dots, ''T's," perpendicular 

 dashes, hemispherical blobs, and rectangular elements (fig. 21). 

 Although there is considerable variation between vessels in the use of 

 these elements, the total impression of the type is one of great con- 

 sistency and similarity of overall appearance. Pedestal bases are 

 decorated in a fashion similar to those of the preceding variety; 

 that is, with either horizontal bands or the pointer motif. 



This variety, while being clearly allied to the Nispero variety in 

 shape and surface treatment, also shows some aflJinity to the Ortiga 

 variety discussed below by its occasional use of the same decorative 

 elements (fig. 21,^,^). 



