Ladd] PARITA AND SANTA MARIA ARCHEOLOGY, PANAMA 223 



LATE COCLfi PHASE 



The Late Cocle Phase, Hke its predecessor, was first outlined by 

 Lothrop as the Late Code Period at Sitio Conte, and typical Late 

 Code polychromes have since been recovered at both He-4 and He-1 . 

 Red Line and Smoked ware types continued into this phase, although 

 different varieties such as the Aromo and Sangre become popular 

 within the Smoked ware type. Aristide group pottery ceases, but 

 the Azuero group, represented in polychrome by the Macaracas 

 type, first appears in this phase, both at He-4 and at Sitio Conte 

 where it was known as Foreign Style A or the Fine Line Style of 

 Grave 5. Miniature vessels are common in the Late Code and 

 Azuero style polychromes. Typical Delgado Red collared and collar- 

 less jars occur in association with both Macaracas and Late Code 

 polychrome vessels at He-1 and He-4. Macaracas sherds were also 

 found at Co-2 and were the dominant polychrome at He-8. Outside 

 of the Code region the phase is represented by Late Code style poly- 

 chromes and, especially, Macaracas type vessels. The latter occur 

 fairly frequently in Veraguas graves, have been reported for Chiriqui 

 and the islands off the Chiriqui coast, but so far have not been un- 

 earthed east of Code Province. Data for absolute dating is absent 

 for this phase. 



The funerary evidence at Sitio Conte and He-1 indicates that the 

 phase is culturally much like its predecessor, but with greater elabora- 

 tion. The crafts continued to be of very high quality in ceramics, 

 metal, stone, and bone. The earliest burial mounds at He-4 with 

 Macaracas type grave vessels probably belong to this phase and the 

 occupation of Verrill's Rio Cano site is apparently still active. Mass 

 burials occur at Sitio Conte with the principal occupant seated under 

 a canopy (Grave 5) surrounded by his wealth. Evidence of fire in the 

 burial ceremony is more frequent both at Sitio Conte and He-1 

 where Late Code burials were characterized by circular clay-lined pits. 

 Two graves (Graves 9 and 19) at Sitio Conte with Late Code pottery 

 contained possible urn burials as well, and at least one urn burial at 

 He-4 was associated with Macaracas pottery. 



HERRERA PHASE 



The Herrera Phase follows the Late Code Phase but is present in 

 force only at the He-4 site, although a few sherds of the Parita type 

 were also present at He-1, He-8, and Co-2. As indicated in the dis- 

 cussion for He-4, the later chronological position assigned to the 

 Parita and El Hatillo types is based, in part, on the stratigraphy at 

 that site (reversed at He-1) and, in part, on the lack of association of 

 these two types with either the Macaracas or the Late Code poly- 

 chrome style. Stylistic interpretation also suggests the development 



