Ladd] PARITA AND SANTA MARIA ARCEIEOLOGY, PANAMA 129 



on the rim exterior. Interiors and exteriors of these vessels are red- 

 slipped. 



CniRiQuf Alligator Ware 



Five sherds of Alligator ware were recovered from Trench 7, Level 1, 

 from a closed vessel of unknown rim or base characteristics. In addi- 

 tion, a small number of gray to gray-buff Chiriqul tripod legs were 



recovered. 



CocLfi Polychromes 

 (108 sherds) 



As mentioned earlier, Late Code Polychrome and Azuero styles 

 are often difficult to distinguish between, especially in sherd form, 

 where only minute portions of design may be present. Both styles 

 share design colors, often share cream to white ground slip color, and 

 numerous elements such as claws and coral snake lips on plates. 

 In sorting, a definite attempt was made to be conservative in assigning 

 sherds to the Cocl6 group, and it was done only when the sherds showed 

 typical Code design, distinctive lip shape, or the light gray paste 

 color (Munsell Hue lOYR 8/1 to 7/1-2), which apparently never 

 occurs with unmistakable Azuero-style designs, but does occur 

 frequently with Code-style designs. A category labeled "Code-like" 

 was set up for the sorting process. That is, sherds with the typical 

 brick-red paste of the Azuero polychromes, but with, for example, 

 clawed elements, which could be either Late Code or fragments of 

 an Higo variety design. This category was later included in the 

 Azuero style count and percentage determination on the basis, 

 again, that only those sherds which were clearly Code should be 

 assigned to that classification. In all cases except one, the design 

 was too fragmentary to permit a distinction between Early and Late 

 Code, in this case a large fragment of an Early Cocl6 "turtle" design. 

 Most of the 108 Code-style sherds feU into the "indeterminate" 

 category, although many of these are undoubtedly Late since a number 

 of them have rounded lips. A number of plate sherds with the 

 characteristic "drooping lip" were recovered, but this distinctive 

 lip shape, while occurring very frequently in the Early Period at 

 Sitio Conte, is also present in three out of the four classes of Late 

 Period Polychrome plates at that site (Lothrop, 1942, p. 76), albeit 

 common only in the beginning of the Late Period. In Trench 1, 

 3 out of 7 Code polychrome sherds had drooping lips; in Trench 2, 

 1 out of 6; in Trench 8, 5 out of 30; in Trench 10, 1 out of 4; and in 

 Trench 7, 1 sherd with an Early design (mentioned above) out of 8 

 Code Polychrome sherds. No carafe or spouted jar sherds were 

 recovered, but some closed shapes were indicated and sherds of a 

 Paneled red ware vessel similar to a bowl from Grave 43, Late Period, 

 at Sitio Conte (Lothrop, 1942, fig. 300, b) were recovered from Trench 

 7, Level 3 and Level 1. Out of a total of 43 Cocle-style sherds in 



