

54 ANCIENT AKT OP THE PROVINCE OF CHIRIQCI. 



the progress of art in pre-Columbian times are obtained through these 

 exhumed relics, and in no case have we a view more clear and compre- 

 hensive than that furnished in the series here presented. The graves 

 of Chiriqui have yielded to a single explorer upwards of 10,000 pieces 

 of pottery, and this chiefly from an area perhaps not more than fifty 

 miles square. These ve.ssi'ls ccnistitutc ;it least !i(i ].w eeut. of the 

 known art of the ancient (.(cuiiaiils nf llii. i,r<>viiice. and. although 

 not so eloquent of the past as are the inscribed taljlets of Assyria or 

 the pictured vases of Greece, they tell a story of art and of peoples 

 that without their aid would remain untold to the end of time. 



A careful study of the earthenware of this province leads to the 

 conclusion that for Ameri(M it repivsents a very high stage of devel- 

 opment, and its history is tlierefoi-e full of interest to the student of 

 art. Its advanced development as compared with other American 

 fictile products is shown in the perfection of its technique, in the high 

 specialization of form, and in its conventional use of a wide range of 

 decorative motives. There is no family of American ware that bears 

 evidence of higher skill in the manipulation of clay or that indicates 

 a more subtile appreciation of beauty of form, and no other that pre- 

 sents so many marked analogies to the classic forms of the Mediter- 

 ranean. Strangely enough, too, notwithstanding the well established 

 fact that only primitive methods of manufacture were known, there 

 is a parallelism with wheel made ware that cannot but strike the 

 student with amazement. 



In s|ieakin,i; thus of the whole body of ceramic products, I would 

 not cun\ey tlie impression that there is perfect homogeneity through- 

 out, as if all were the work of a single people developed from within, 

 and therefore free from the eccentricities that come from exotic in- 

 fluence. On the cnntrary. there is strong evidence of mixed conditions 

 of races and dt arts, tlie analysis of which, with our present imperfect 

 data, will be extremely ditlicult. These evidences of mixed conditions 

 are found in the marked diversity and individuality of character of 

 the various groups of ware. 



It is impossible, without the aid of careful observations in the 

 field, to arrive at any conclusion as to the relative age of the difl'er- 

 ent varieties of ware. Appearances of age are deceptive; the newer 

 lo(jking varieties may be the older and those executed in the most 

 primitive style may belong to the later period, for grades in culture 

 are not chronologic. 



With reference to the principal groups of relics, we cannot do bet- 

 ter than accept the statements of collectors that all are buried in like 

 ways and in siniilai- tombs, diffei-t/nt varieties in many cases occurring 

 in till' sami' toinli. Tlii'ic aic Imwever, in a few minor groups such 

 marked dist iiiet ions in woikniansliij) an<l .style that we are compelled 

 to attriliute them to dilfei'ent periods oi- 1o distinct eomnmnities. 



