16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



taper without evidence of secondary elaboration. Dry weight of the 

 urns often runs as much as 30 pounds. There are no lugs or handles. 

 There was insufficient evidence to corroborate prior burning of the 

 bones, but the size of the vessel mouths would favor secondary burial. 



LIDS 



Several urns were capped with large fragments of other broken 

 vessels but most were covered by shallow bowls with a flaring rim. 

 These are generally about 40 cm. in diameter, 15 cm. in depth, and 

 modeled of the same paste as the urns. Like the urns, they frequently 

 were plain and given a red to orange-brown smooth slip. Unlike 

 the urns, however, the lids were of thinner construction and hence 

 somewhat better fired. A typical lid is shown (reconstructed) in 

 plate 3. At first they might seem to be utilitarian basins, but their 

 close fit, exact size, and absence from other parts of the site make it 

 probable that they were constructed specifically for this purpose. 



Fragments indicate that perhaps from 5-10 percent of the lids 

 bore a white rim with overpainting of black geometric designs, con- 

 trasting sharply with the red-brown slip. A particularly good example 

 is shown as the frontispiece. Several of the designs are shown in 

 figure 1 . The black-on-white coloration has been found on the inside 

 and outside rims, but never on both rims on the same vessel. The 

 inner rim is more commonly painted. In no case did the design 

 extend onto the slipped surface of the vessel proper. Hence it is 

 not a true polychrome since the design itself is in black on white 

 bichrome. It is termed herein a "black-on-white-rimmed red ware" 

 and may be stylistically related to the paneled red ware of Code. 

 This coloration has not been found on vessels other than burial urn 

 lids and represents not only the only painted ware found in any 

 quantity on the site, but the only one which could be considered to 

 be distinctive. 



DECORATED URNS 



One decorated urn was recovered with a raised serpent design on 

 opposite sides of the vessel mouth. The head is applique, the re- 

 mainder "raised." It is shown in situ in plate 2, and reconstructed 

 in plate 3. A schematic drawing of the serpent itself is given in 

 figure 2. This design is unusual both in size and in style and, to 

 my knowledge, has not been encountered previously in Central 

 America, though it may be related to the serpent design of Veraguas 

 polychrome. It appears to be a stylized sea creature. Sherds of 

 similar designs, all incomplete, are discussed under "Ceramics." The 

 vessel contained a very poorly preserved fragmentary adult skeleton 

 and a single plain plate of utility ware as described below, and it was 



