Ladd] PARITA AND SANTA MARIA ARCHEOLOGY, PANAMA 



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Figure 22. — Parita type, Cairaito variety, design elements, a, d, e, Find 348-2; 

 b, Mound III sherd; c, P-3; /, Mound III miscellaneous. Horizontal lines 

 indicate red; diagonal lines indicate purple. 



ments of dotted circles on a black ground (fig. 22, e,f) combined with 

 barbed feathers (see fig. 40, I), an element frequently found in the 

 Higo variety, Macaracas Polychrome. A white ground circle and 

 dot motif (fig. 22, a), common in the Cuipo variety, is present on the 

 shoulder, and the body of the vessel exhibits a mouth motif (fig. 22, d). 

 The photograph of the Panamanian example (Find 334) shows the 

 scale or turtle shell elements of figure 23, a, interspersed in the undula- 

 tions of a red-filled black-bordered band combined with what appears 

 to be a wing element. 



One of the handle fragments (fig. 22, b) combines the black ground 

 circle and dot element with a barbed feather. The other (fig. 23, d) 

 exhibits the black ground circle and dot element alone. The plate 

 sherds are decorated with the hammerhead shark motif and the 

 undulating line turtle element. 



Variations from other sites. — The Museum of the American Indian 

 possesses three vessels which may be assigned to this variety. One 

 (cat. No. 22/9455) from Veraguas is a "double rimmed" type bowl 

 on a pedestal base generally similar in overall shape to the unpainted 

 vessels illustrated by Lothrop (1950, pp. 41-43) as typical of Veraguas. 

 It is decorated with a hammerhead shark motif, a stingray or barbed 

 tail, a mouth, and the fish scale element described above (fig. 22,/), 

 The base is banded. Another vessel (cat. No. 22/9450), from the 

 Finca Calderon, Parita, is a small rendition of the vessel described 



