^°N™72f^^' ARCHEOLOGY, ALMIRANTE BAY, PANAMA — STIRLING 275 



The neck of a small jar was of rather thin dark-biiff ware. It was 

 encircled by two parallel rounded ridges decorated with crude incising 

 (pi. 32, b). 



Part of the neck of a small vessel of hard medium-tempered ware 

 was decorated with lunate punctations in parallel rows between double 

 incised lines. This decorated area is separated by a rounded ridge 

 between incised lines from a smooth-zoned red band. The interior 

 is definitely painted red on one half, probably the neck. The other 

 half is buff. The exterior design was zoned red on buff (pi. 32, c). 



One sherd of rather thick, hard ware has a polished dark buff 

 (carbonized almost black) exterior with part of a raised design 

 (pi. 32, d). 



Among other miscellaneous pieces was a flat base of dark-buff 

 ware (pi. 32, a). 



The cave site (Boc-2) was probably a burial place, in which had 

 been placed offerings of shell, stone, and pottery. There was no 

 evidence of fires having been made in the cave. Furthermore, the 

 lowness of the ceiling would not have made it a suitable dwelling 

 site, nor would its location near the summit of a high steep mountain. 

 The presence of fragments of human bones would seem to make its 

 burial function certain. The pottery shows a connection on the one 

 hand with that from Boc-3 and on the other hand with Chiriqui 

 ware from the vicinity of Boquete. The lowest point, for some 

 distance, in the Continental Divide lies directly south of Almirante 

 Bay in direct line with Boquete. An old trail which is still in use 

 crosses this pass from the northern part of the Chiriqui Lagoon. 

 It is probable that this natural route was in use in aboriginal times. 



BOCA DEL DRAGO (BOC-3) 



At the extreme northwestern corner of Almirante Bay the Boca 

 del Drago is a narrow pass separating the mainland from Colon 

 Island. On Colon Island, on the east side of the pass, just below 

 Cauro Point, there is a cove with a crescent-shaped sand beach. 

 At a point toward the south end of the beach there was formerly 

 an aboriginal site, which has been largely destroyed in recent years 

 by wave action from storms. Several native fishermen living on the 

 cove told of large urns being exposed on the beach after these storms. 

 As described, these urns were as much as 3 feet in height, with wide 

 mouths and high outflaring collars or rims. 



We conducted excavations on the beach in the area indicated 

 and found numerous sherds of such urns as well as fragments of 

 smaller vessels. There were also a few nondescript fragments of 

 human bones, suggesting that the large vessels were burial urns. 



