PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Volume 1 OCTOBER 15, 1915 Number 10 
THE OCTOPUS MOTIVE IN ANCIENT CHIRIQUIAN ART 
By George Grant MacCurdy 
PEABODY MUSEUM. YALE UNIVERSITY 
Presented to the Academy, June 23, 1915 
The ancient art of the one small province of Chiriqui in the diminu- 
tive Republic of Panama is perhaps better known than that of any region 
of like size in the New World. The material for study is abundant, 
consisting largely of ceramic products, both painted and unpainted. 
These have become more or less familiar to students of archeology 
through two large monographs, one by Professor W. H. Holmes^ and the 
other by myself 
It was found that the pottery could be readily divided into about 
a dozen rather distinct groups, depending largely on the nature of the 
paste and other materials used as well as the method of producing the 
dominant decorative features. For example, symbolism and orna- 
ment in the unpainted ware find expression in plastic forms and incised 
patterns. Both are traceable to zoomorphic originals, as are the plastic 
and painted motives in the painted ware. The motive may represent 
the entire animal in fairly realistic fashion or it may consist of almost 
any part of the animal, as for example the head, foot, tail, eye, appendage, 
or some characteristic body marking. Certain animal motives are 
always represented in the round or in relief ; others appear only as incised 
patterns and still others predominantly as painted forms. 
Thus we find the plastic armadillo dominating the great group that 
might appropriately bear that name; the incised serpent goes with a 
distinctive group of black ware; the plastic fish in the guise of tripod 
supports runs through another group; while the painted alligator is 
supreme in two closely related groups of painted ware. 
One soon learns by experience to associate a given motive with a given 
paste, slip, quality of modeling, and the character and number of the 
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