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A Fertility Vase from the Old Line, Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Carlos Balser
Carlos Balser*
Affiliation:
San José, Costa Rica
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Extract

The rectangular clay bowl with a ring base shown in Figure 108 was unearthed in the area of the Old Line (Linea Vieja) in Costa Rica. It is 8.5 cm. high, 13.0 cm. wide, with an overall length of 18.5 cm., and is made of a well-fired clay painted in red. We consider this find most important as it appears to confirm the influence of foreign cultures in the area of the Old Line on the Atlantic side of the Republic of Costa Rica.

The receptacle of this bowl has lateral ornamentation consisting of 2 distinct groups. The first group, at the lower part of Figure 108 a, depicts the legs of a man with calves and feet in an upright position. This peculiar detail was probably used in order to secure the esthetic arrangement of the border decoration. We see the male genitals and on the thigh of each leg the figure of a bird.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 20 , Issue 4Part1 , April 1955 , pp. 384 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1955

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References

Balser, Carlos 1953 El Jade Pre-Colombino en Costa Rica. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San José.Google Scholar
DIAZ NIESE, RAFAEL 1945 La Alfarería Indigena Dominicana. Ciudad Trujillo.Google Scholar
FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO, GONZALO 1950 Sumario de la Natural Historia de las Indias. Mexico.Google Scholar
JOYCE, THOMAS A. 1916 Central American and West Indian Archaeology. Warner, London.Google Scholar
KROEBER, A. L. 1949 Esthetic and Recreational Activities. In “Handbook of South American Indians,” edited by Steward, Julian H., Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143, Vol. 5, pp. 411–92. Washington.Google Scholar
MáRTIR, DE ANGLERí PEDRó, A. 1944 Décadas del Nuevo Mundo. Buenos Aires.Google Scholar