48 A STUDY OK CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



example, is always unpainted, and alligator ware is always painted. It is worthy 

 of mention that the largest group of unpainted ware probably served ceremonial 

 purposes, while vessels of one group of painted ware were especially employed 

 in ways utilitarian. 



THE ARMADILLO GROUP. 



This is the large group called by Holmes " terra cotta " or " biscuit " ware. It 

 includes " only the pale grayish yellow and reddish tints of the burned clay." 

 This group is represented in the Yale collection by over sixteen hundred pieces. 

 A majority of the specimens are tripods. Almost as many are round-bottomed 

 vases. Sixteen have annular bases. The handled and tripod groups combined 

 number but six hundred and sixty- three, only two hundred and seventy-three of 

 these being tripods. If the collection as a whole may be considered a represen- 

 tative one, and there is reason to believe that such is the case, then the tripod 

 variety of the armadillo group has the first claim to consideration as the tripod 

 group, since its numbers are far greater, both absolutely and relatively, than those 

 of the tripod variety of the handled group. 



In beauty of form and ornament, the specimens of the armadillo group are 

 inferior to none. Perhaps better than any other class they typify the plastic skill 

 and unerring taste of the ancient Chiriquian potter. There are only a few generic 

 forms, but an almost bewildering number of individual variations. In point of 

 size, also, much latitude was allowed. The smallest vessels are to be found among 

 the cups. The vases average the largest, while the tripods occupy an inter- 

 mediate place. The smallest cup in the collection has a capacity of but six cubic 

 centimeters; the tripods vary in capacity from twenty cubic centimers to about two 

 liters (2000 «); and the largest vase holds 6.6 liters (6600 cc). The walls are care- 

 fully finished, both inside and outside, and are of uniform thickness. The walls 

 even of the largest vases are quite thin, averaging not more than four-tenths of a 

 centimeter in thickness. Flat bottoms are practically wanting. Handles are com- 

 paratively rare, being either single or paired and of the vertical loop type. 



The paste used in the armadillo group may be likened to that of our modern 

 porous flower pot, but in color it is not quite so pronounced a red. A cup- 

 shaped vessel with legs, holding 335 cubic centimeters, was filled with water and 

 left in a room at a temperature of seventy degrees Fahrenheit. It was emptied 

 by combined evaporation and filtration in seventy-two hours. 



A question arises as to the function of these artistic vessels. Holmes thinks 

 that it could not have been of a domestic nature, " as they show no evidences 

 of discoloration or wear." This is not strictly true of the specimens in the Yale 

 collection. Out of a total of 1620 pieces, eighty-one or exactly five per cent 

 bear marks of having seen service. These marks generally consist of a greasy 

 smoky surface over both the exterior and interior. The use, however, was not 

 necessarily domestic ; it may have been ceremonial. A probable key to the nature 

 of such ceremonial use may possibly be found in Seemann's J description of the 

 rites attending the death of a chief among the Indians of Panama at the time of 



1 Op. cit, I, 316. 



