64 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



mon. Again, the associated designs are complicated and 

 developed far beyond the point reached in the truly 

 archaic of the northern stratigraphic series. The 

 figurines belong to what has been called " alligator 

 ware," because the alligator or crocodile is the subject 

 of many of the designs. A safer classification is made 

 on the basis of the clay and pigments. The archaic 

 technique is also presented in much of the relief decora- 

 tion of still other kinds of pottery from the Isthmian 

 area. In the beautiful yellow ware of Chiriqui small 

 human figures in the ancient style serve to decorate 

 handles, knobs, and legs. 



In stone art as well as in pottery there are local devel- 

 opments out of the archaic mode in Costa Rica and 

 Panama. Crude figures with the parts carved in low 

 relief around oval boulders seem to give away to more 

 conventionalized sculptures made on slabs of sandstone. 

 For this second type the limbs are partly freed from 

 the torso, while in still later sculptures they are freed 

 entirely. 



The ancient gold work of Costa Rica and Panama also 

 reflects the technique of archaic art although most of it, 

 to judge by the religious significance of many of the sub- 

 jects and designs, was made long after the Archaic 

 Period. Just as the pottery figurines were built up by 

 the addition of ribbons and buttons of clay to a general- 

 ized form so the patterns for gold castings were made by 

 adding details in rolled wax or resin to a simple under- 

 lying form of the same material. This art will be dis- 

 cussed more fully in another place, the mention here 

 being made simply to emphasize the general connection 

 between the art of the Archaic Period and that of later 

 periods. 



Summary. In concluding this section let us sum 

 up the general facts of ancient American history as 



