114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 193 



the zone of decoration is limited to the upper two-thirds of the body 

 and thus extends somewhat below the shoulder on both miniature and 

 larger examples of the shape. 



The three other whole vessels of this variety but not from the same 

 Find Unit do not share the subdued coloring described above but make 

 extensive use of a light cream gTound color, thus providing a contrasting 

 background to the design colors and a brighter appearance. That the 

 subdued coloring of the Find 374 vessels is not due to the earth of that 

 particular grave is suggested by the occurrence of similar sherds in 

 three different trenches. Colors in both groups of vessels are black, 

 red, and purple, the latter two used only as fiU. 



One of the striking characteristics of the Find 374 Unit is the use of 

 negative design presentation in which the design is carried by the 

 ground color. In the He-4 collection, the only motif executed in this 

 negative technique is a dragon or crocodile element (fig. 43, j). Other 

 elements occurring on the vessels with the negative dragon are the 

 diamond-in-a-ribbon motif (fig. 40, e, g) shared by the Higo variety, 

 and "seed pod" elements, usually enclosing circle and dash filler or 

 other fine fine designs (fig. 44, a, h, g) . 



In the case of the lighter-hued jars of other Find Units, all three 

 examples combine various design elements (described below) on the 

 shoulder with representations of turtle heads, tails, and feet on the 

 body just below the shoulder (fig. 44, d,f). On two of the vessels 

 (Finds 373-3 and 369-1) the area between these head and tail motifs on 

 opposite sides of the vessel is decorated by a band of what may be 

 turtle plastron motifs (fig. 43, c). Shoulder elements vary. One 

 vessel (Find 373-3) combines circle and dot seed pods (fig. 44, g) 

 with the color-filled spindle of the Higo variety. Another (Find 

 351-1) combines dot-filled seed pods with crosshatched square panels 

 (fig. 44, c). The third (Find 369-1) is decorated in a series of color- 

 filled triangles and ellipses each enclosing a circle or a series of con- 

 centric circles (fig. 43, h) and the turtle head is embellished with a 

 Crosshatch element. These concentric circle elements are somewhat 

 similar to a "pointed eye" motif (fig. 43, d-g) which appeared on 

 sherds in combination with the plastron element described above. 

 On all three of the vessels, the lips and collars are banded in the 

 fashion described for the Pica-pica variety. 



Pedestal bases of this variety (represented at the El HatiUo site 

 by the Find 374 vessels only) were decorated with the pointer motif or 

 with two horizontal bands separated by crosshatching (fig. 43, b). 

 Jar bases were either unslipped or red-slipped. 



Variations from other sites. — Examples from other sites include at 

 least two additional shapes, a shallow open bowl and a flat plate, and 

 a number of instances in which typical Higo or Pica-pica elements are 



