^°No^°68r^^' PREHISTORY OF PANAMA VIE JO BIESE 15 



Skeletal preservation was erratic, but in general exceedingly poor. 

 A single section of femur might be well preserved, hard, and dense, 

 while fragments a few feet away were little more than dust and could 

 not be cleaned. Most of the harder fragments were in areas of high 

 shell content, while bone material in the urns was uniformly un- 

 salvageable. Tooth remains followed the general pattern of poor 

 preservation and indicate a considerable antemortum wear of grinding 

 surfaces, but they were not otherwise diagnostic. 



Fom: open burials were found undisturbed. All skeletons were 

 fully extended, face up, and oriented north-south. All were adults; 

 three male and one unidentified. No flexed or secondary burials 

 were found. None of the open burials were in clear association with 

 funerary offerings. In the absence of distinctive soil markings there 

 was no indication of the exact size or shape of the orginal graves. 



The most remarkable bm"ials, both in preservation and attitude, 

 were two parallel skeletons found in a sheU lens. Both of these 

 demonstrated the wide-open mouth and had the head in hyper- 

 extension with the occiput touching the cervical spine (pi. 1). Pres- 

 ervation did not aUow demonstration of a possible cervical fracture. 

 Six additional open burials were present in wide random distribution as 

 indicated by surface collections of skeletal fragments without urn 

 sherds. None of these were identifiable as to sex or orientation, 

 but all were adults. 



BURIAL URNS 



Almost aU of the urns are plain; only two complete ones were 

 recovered, both with raised designs. One incomplete set of sherds 

 from a painted urn was also found. A large number of decorated 

 fragments, however, indicated this type of urn to be by no means 

 rare. The typical urn is globular with a rounded bottom. On the 

 average they measure 50 cm. in height and 60 cm. in maximum 

 diameter with a 30-cm. opening. The inflection point is about half- 

 way up the vessel. 



The urns are constructed of well-fired, coarse, granular clay tem- 

 pered with coarse grit. In some cases this is a sand containing 

 microscopic bits of silica and bearing minute gold particles which are 

 visible under 10 X magnification. The sherds are very strong and 

 difficult to break by hand. The paste color is a medium brown with 

 mottled black-to-green areas indicating irregular firing. There is 

 often a reddish brown smooth surface exactly like that on the smaller 

 utility vessels. Only the thicker areas show a central underfired zone. 

 Thickness is greatest at the bottom (1.2 cm.) but is maintained fairly 

 regularly up the vessel waUs well above the inflection point. At the 

 lip, thickness is approximately 0.7 cm. All lips have a plaiu, smooth 



