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MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



bent downward at the end. All the open spaces are 

 treated with scallops or fringes of short lines. 



There is also in Chorotegan art a crocodilian motive 

 that may be peculiar to the Isthmian region although 

 it has Mayan affinities. The jaguar is also important 

 in this ancient art. Among the most interesting vases 



Fig. 60. Front View and Profile View Serpent Heads in Chorote- 

 gan Art. Although derived from Mayan models they have under- 

 gone great changes and have become highly conventionalized. 



are those that have a modeled head projecting from one 

 side (jaguar, monkey, or bird) and two of the three 

 legs of the vessel modified into animal legs. On these 

 elaborate vessels there are bands of painted decoration 

 mostly concerned with the crocodile. 



The extremely elaborate metates (stones upon which 

 maize was ground) from southern Nicaragua and north- 

 ern Costa Rica probably were made by the producers of 



