152 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 11
T h e Puerto Hormiga Phase of North Coastal Colombia
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, p. 168) compare Puerto Hormiga ceramics to those of Valdivia and find a number of traits in common. Reichel-Dolma- toff (1965, pp. 50-51) concludes that the differences make relationship improbable. Since the final reports of both complexes were published in the same year, and were consequently not avaUable to these authors, the evidence may be usefully reevaluated here.
Fiber and Sand Tempering
Forty to fifty percent of the Puerto Hormiga pottery is heavUy tempered with vegetable fiber, has poor surface finish, and lacks decoration. Twenty to thirty percent has a smaller fiber content and shares decora- tion with the remaining pottery which is tempered with sand. T h e use of fiber tempering has not been observed in Valdivia ceramics, all of which contain fine or coarse sand.
Parenthetically it seems worthwhUe to quote J . E.
Kidder (1957, p. 7) in reference to the Jomon ceram- ics of J a p a n : " T h e pottery is always hand-made, often by the coding process, and is at first baked in an open fire at a temperature between 400° and 500° c T h e tempering material in the early periods is fiber, and later may be sand usually strongly micaceous in content. T h e sand varies from extremely coarse to fine; small quartz crystals are often clearly visible."
Vessel Shapes
Shapes of Puerto Hormiga vessels are limited. Most common are semiglobular bowls up to 30 cm. in diameter and 15 cm. deep, which have vertical or slightly incurved lips. Lips are simple and often thinner than vessel walls (fig. 8a). This form is very simUar to a popular Valdivia bowl form (fig. 8^;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, fig. 54, 3-5) that runs through the sequence. T h e oval- or boat- shaped vessels with modeled adornos on the ends that are a minor feature of Puerto Hormiga (fig. 8b), are not present in the Valdivia complex. It has already been suggested that this may be an imitation of a wooden form.
Scallop-shell Stamping
In comparing features, Reichel-Dolmatoff's discussion wUl be followed (1965, pp. 28-30). Additional data and Ulustrations are provided by Reichel-Dolmatoff (1961, pis. 1-2; 1965, fig. 3, pis. 3-5), and Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, pi. 188). ScaUop-sheU stamping is zoned by broad incised lines in Puerto Hormiga (fig. 8c). These impressions are parallel,
not rocked. Except for the curious and early fine-line incising, zoning is absent in Valdivia A-C decorations.
The rare sand-tempered type Valdivia Shell Stamped (fig. 8h; op. cit., p. 84, pi. I l 3 a - k ) usuaUy has the parallel scallop-shell impressions placed in panels like the arrangement of incised designs. This type dates 3000-2000 B.C.
Horizontal Incised Lines
Reichel-Dolmatoff (1925, p. 28) describes but does not Ulustrate the simple decoration of two or three parallel lines that encircle the rim just below the lip.
Lines are broad, round-bottom, and irregular, 3 to 5 mm. wide. This decoration has a frequency of about 25 percent of decorated sherds. An Ulustration is furnished (fig. 8d) based on the description. Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, pp. 47-51, pis. 30-31) list this design, usually on the rims of globular bowls with slighdy incurving rims as Motif 1 of Valdivia Broad-line Incised (fig. 8i). One to three lines occur, but a single line is most frequent. Although the type increased from fractional percentage to about 6 percent from 3000-1500 B . C , this motif declines from an initial popularity of around 50 percent within the type during Periods A-B to a minority occurrence in Period c (Meggers, Evans and Estrada, 1965, Appendix table 7).
Punctated Decoration
Reichel-Dolmatoff (1965, pp. 28-29) describes three varieties of punctated decorations. One has puncta- tions, which are usually comma-shaped and made with the instrument held at an angle, zoned by broad incised lines and sometimes used in conjunction with the modeled adornos (fig. 8^). Punctations, including a few comma-shaped examples, occur in minor frequency in Valdivia (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada,
1965, pp. 80-81, pis. 100-101), but usually are arranged in panels not bordered by incised lines.
Valdivia Red Zoned Punctate (fig. 8y; op. cit., pp.
81-82, pi. 105) has very simple rectUinear or curving undulating broad lines bounding areas of punctation on the cambered rims of bowls.
Finger-made Dimples
Sixty-one Puerto Hormiga sherds have oval areas pushed into the vessel surface with the finger, which are generally surrounded by incised decoration and are sometimes fiUed with red pigment (fig. 8/). This seems to be a late feature at Puerto Hormiga. Areas punched out with the finger are more common in Valdivia ceramics (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada,
1965, pi. 78) than are pushed-in areas, but the latter do occur. In Valdivia Punctate (op. cit., pi. 100 d, r)
elongated areas are pushed in, apparently with the fingers (fig. 8k). Short grooves of this type are charac- teristic of Valdivia Finger Grooved (op. cit., pp.
61-62, pi. 65). No incised decoration accompanies this latter treatment; neither was red pigment applied. However, both decoration by punching in the vessel wall with the fingers, and the use of post- fired red pigment are shared by Puerto Hormiga and Valdivia.
Adornos
Rather sophisticated modeled and incised adornos, apparently heads of reptiles or rodents, are a feature of Puerto Hormiga ceramics (fig. 9a). This is clearly an ancestral form of the modeling in the Barrancoid ceramics of later date in Colombia (Malambo Phase, 1000-700 B.C.) and Venezuela. Incised lines ending in punctations, circle and dot, small elevated clay buttons with centered punctation, small excised areas, and brushing are all features of Puerto Hormiga modeling.
The Valdivia adornos also appear to represent animals but are much cruder and simpler (fig. 9d;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp. 69-70, pi. 89).
Modeling is careless, eyes and mouths are indicated by short slashes, and the vessel body is covered with crude parallel hatching or crosshatching.
Drag-and-jab Incising
Drag-and-jab incising is a minor feature in Puerto Hormiga (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1965, p. 29). A pointed tool was used and impressed at intervals to make teardrop-shaped impressions arranged around the rims of bowls (fig. 9b). The broad-line, double-point, drag-and-jab Valdivia decoration runs horizontally encircling the vessels and may be interrupted to form panels (fig. 9e).
Circle and Dot
Two sherds from Puerto Hormiga are decorated with small circle and dot designs placed between straight incised lines running parallel to the vessel lip (fig. 9c). At least one (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1965, fig. 3-5) appears to have the background excised.
These two decorations are identical to a treatment included in the Valdivia Red Incised type of Val- divia Periods A and B, 3000-2000 B . C (fig. 9/;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, p. 81, pi. 104).
In Valdivia an interiocking fret design is often placed below the row of circle and dot; in Puerto Hormiga this is missing.
154 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 11
Puerto Hormiga Valdivia
FIGURE 9.—Resemblances between pottery decorations of the Puerto Hormiga Phase, Colombia and the Valdivia Phase, Ecua- dor, a, d, Adornos. b, e, Drag and j a b . c,f. Circle and dot. {a-c, after Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1965: a, pi. 4 - 5 ; b, pi. 3-7; c, fig. 3-5.
d-f, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: d, pi. 89f; e, pi. 80i;
/ , pi. 104 l^c)
S u m m a r y
FEATURES PROMINENT in Puerto Hormiga ceramics and lacking in Valdivia.
Fiber tempering.
Boat-shaped vessels.
Use of dots at the ends of lines.
Zoning of shell stamping, parallel hachure, or punctations by broad-line incising.
FEATURES SHARED.
1. Sand-tempered pottery.
2. Common bowl shape with slightly incurving rim.
4.
5.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11
Prominent use of one to three incised lines drawn parallel to bowl rim.
Use of wide round-bottom incised lines.
Scallop-shell impressions placed parallel, not rocked (although motifs are different).
Red slip; often polished in Valdivia; more crudely finished in Puerto Hormiga.
Loose red pigment rubbed into decoration.
Depressions in vessel surface as decoration.
Adornos on vessel surface; elaborate in Puerto Hormiga, crude in Valdivia.
Drag-and-jab incising (limited use and narrower lines in Puerto Hormiga).
Circle and dot in horizontal panels with excised background; rare in Puerto Hormiga, but al- most identical to Valdivia execution.
It is a curious fact that the features present at Puerto Hormiga but missing from Valdivia ceramics nearly all tend toward the Barrancoid complex of Venezuela, which was to have a profound effect on the later ceramic traditions of the Orinoco Basin, the Antilles, and the eastern flank of the Andes as far south as Peru.
Both Puerto Hormiga and Valdivia were in ex- istence for about 1000 years following 3000 B.C.
Both groups of people were coastal dwellers and subsisted primarily on sea products. Puerto Hormiga was a circular village; one Valdivia vUlage appears to have a similar shape. Both complexes share the crude South American coastal chipped stone industry.
T h e reader is now faced with the classic dilemma of American archeology: either both complexes were independent inventions of ceramics, or one derived from the other. Those who choose the first conclusion should stop reading here and head for the roulette wheel and dice table. Obviously they have a superior faith in, and perhaps mastery of, the laws of probabil- ity and coincidence than does the writer.
T h e ground rules rather arbitrarily laid down at the beginning of this discussion favor the derivation of Puerto Hormiga ceram.ics from Valdivia. A major part of Puerto Hormiga ceramics can be derived from Valdivia, but the reverse is far from true. The new features in Puerto Hormiga tend toward the Barrancoid ceram.ics along the Caribbean coast;
they are not reflected back down the Pacific coast.
The Monagrillo Phase of Panama Willey and McGimsey (1954, p . 58) have character- ized the Monagrillo ceramic complex of the Parita Peninsula, south coast Panama, as simpler and cruder than any other known for Middle America or the Andean region. Both the appearance of the
155 pottery and a radiocarbon date of 2140 B . C certainly
justify considering this complex as Colonial Formative.
Moderately tempered with sand, including white quartz grains, the MonagrUlo pottery was coUed, crudely finished by scraping, carelessly polished, and predominantly undecorated.
As crude as is MonagrUlo Plain to begin with, it degenerates with time, a condition so notable that at the Zapotal site, WUley and McGimsey (op. cit., pp.
94-95) set up a separate late plain type, Zapotal Plain. This has larger temper particles, is less dense and compact, and the surfaces have holes and scars from loss of temper particles and some surface crackling. In the lower levels of the midden, there were concentrated 200 to 300 sherds of a thin yellow ware that had the best smoothed finish.
Bowl Shapes
Moderately deep to deep bowls, 10 to 15 cm. in diameter, are described as the most com.mon form (fig. 10a; WUley and McGimsey, 1954, p. 61). Rims are vertical or incurving and are direct; lips are rounded, thickened, or flattened. Bases are rounded, and whUe sometimes slightly flattened, are never truly flat. Folded rims on these bowls (op. cit., rim 4, p. 61, fig. 9m-v) are late at Monagrillo. This deep bowl is also the dominant Puerto Hormiga form (fig. 10/), and is popular in the Valdivia ceramics, as was noted above.
Shallow bowls (op. cit., p. 61, fig. lOq-t) found at Monagrillo (fig. lOb) are not described from Puerto Hormiga, but are common at Valdivia (fig. 10^) where they run through the sequence (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, fig. 54, 6-7).
Tecomate-shaped Jars
WUley and McGimsey (1954, p. 61, fig. 9a-k, form 2) state that " O t h e r characteristic MonagrUlo Plain forms are a subglobular bowl or jar with a markedly incurved rim and relatively small orifice.
. . ." Sizes of these vessels are not indicated, but rim profile illustrations show a few examples of lips reinforced on the interior in the characteristic
"comma-shaped lip," making it seem fairly certain that these are fragments of large neckless jars or
"tecomates" (fig. lOc).
The history of the tecomate has been traced (see pp.
92-95). This form, absent from Valdivia-MachalUla and from Puerto Hormiga, began to be manufactured in substantial frequencies shortly before 2000 B . C with the first appearance of ceramics in MacNeish's (1961) Tehuacan sequence in central highland Mex- ico (fig. lOh). It is also an important form in Brush's (1965) Puerto Marquez complex in Guerrero, Mexico.
Puerto Hormiga
Valdivia
Monagrillo Machalilla
FIGURE 10.—Resemblances between vessel shapes and decorations of the Monagrillo Phase of Panama and the Puerto Hormiga Phase of Colombia, the early part of the Tehuacan sequence in Me.xico, and the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases of Ecuador, a, f, Deep bowls, b, g, Shallow bowls, r, h, Tecomates. d-e, i-j, Red banding.
(a-e, after Willey and McGimsey, 1954: «, fig. 8o; b, fig. lOt; c, fig.
9a, i; d, fig. 12g; e, fig. 1 2 j . / , after Reichel-Dolmatoff", 1965, fig. 6.
g, i-j, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: g, fig. 54, 6-7;
) , pi. 150c;>, pi. 150g; h, after Byers, ed., 1967-, vol. 3, fig. 7)
156 SMITHSONIAN C O N T R I B U T I O N S T O A N T H R O P O L O G Y VOLUME 11
By the start of the Barlovento Phase (1900 B.C.), it is popular on the north coast of Colombia, and it reached highland Peru by 1800 B . C in the earliest Kotosh ceramics. T h a t this form reached Panama from the northwest about 2000 B . C appears probable.
Red Slip on Bowls
MonagrUlo Red (WUley and McGimsey, 1954^ pp.
65-67, fig. I2e-j, 4 7 d - l ) consists of "Medium-deep bowls, probably 20-30 cm. in diameter, and sub- globular bowls," to which red slip has been applied either to cover the outside, inside, or both surfaces, or to restricted portions of the surface, usually bands about the lip (fig. lOd-e). Other simple arrange- ments include horizontal bands encircling vessels, pendant triangles, semicircles attached to rim bands, and vertical panels. Incised line zoning was not practiced.
Red slip was sometimes applied to the sand- tempered pottery of Puerto Hormiga, but it was evidently of poor quality and motifs cannot be determined. Overall red slip, frequently well pol- ished (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp. 76-80), runs through the Valdivia sequence. Red bands or areas are rare and restricted to Period A. Arched bands of painted lines begin in Machalilla at 2000 B.C. (fig. lOz^'), but bands are somewhat more narrow than those of MonagrUlo Red.
Engraved Decoration
About 18 percent of the sherds from the Valdivia deposits were decorated (Meggers, Evans, and Es- trada, 1965, p. 42). This ratio ran 6.2 percent in Puerto Hormiga (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1965, p. 28).
Of the approximately 20,000 sherds from MonagrUlo, about 70 were incised and several hundred sherds had red slip. This is a propordon substantially below 1 percent.
T h e 70 sherds of MonagrUlo Incised ware tend to
"average somewhat finer temper particles, the ex- terior surfaces are almost always well-smoothed, and the ware is somewhat thinner (6-7 m m . ) " (WUley and McGimsey, 1954, p. 65). Decoration forms a band below the lip, as is usual in Puerto Hormiga and much of early Valdivia.
T h e technique of MonagrUlo Incised (op. cit., p p . 63-65, figs. I2a-d, 46, 47a-c, 48a-d) is the scratching of lines into the hard dry vessel surface, probably before firing. I am using the term "engraving" for this treatment. Motifs are predominandy curvUinear scrolls, meanders, and keys (fig. I la), but rectilinear elements are also present. Dot punctations at the ends of lines are common (fig. 11^), triangular areas
are excised where lines meet, and some examples have red pigment rubbed into incisions.
T h e new discoveries of early ceramics since WUley and McGimsey (op. cit., pp. 128-132) wrote their comparative section on MonagrUlo have provided no potential direct ancestor for MonagrUlo Incised.
Most of the essential elements however, existed in northern South America before 2000 B . C , with the possible exception of the curvilinear scroll motif with roughened background. CurvUinear motifs in general are late and rare in the Valdivia-MachalUla sequence. They are present in Puerto Hormiga, with shell stamping used to roughen line-zoned areas, but sherds are too small to determine the decorative patterns.
Engraved lines, the excision of triangular areas where lines meet, and red pigment rubbed into the depressed areas are present in Puerto Hormiga (fig.
1 Id) and frequent in Valdivia. R o u n d punctations at the ends of lines were common in Puerto Hormiga, where the lines were broad incisions (Reichel- Dolmatoff, 1965, pis. 3, 8-9; 4 ; 5, 5-6, 8-9); they are less common in Valdivia, where excised lines often end in broad triangular-shaped excised areas (fig. 111?; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pis.
56n, 59h-k).
T h a t scroll motifs were developing in the north Colombian coastal region at this time is further indi- cated by the frequency of this arrangement in the Barlovento Phase (1900-1500 B . C ) , which features broad-line incising, scroll and undulating band motifs with background roughened by punctations or paraUel lines, and red pigment in incisions. Neckless jars or tecomates are the dominant vessel form (Reichel- Dolmatoff, 1955, pis. 3-5).
Excised Rectilinear Designs
MonagrUlo sherds with rectUinear undulating bands combined with excised areas (fig. \lc; Willey and McGimsey, 1954, figs. 12c, 48a) have paraUels in Valdivia Excised (fig. 11/), which dates prior to 2000 B.C. (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pi.
59a).
Willey and McGimsey (1954, p. 131) cite re- semblances between MonagrUlo incised and the engraved black-brown ware of the Ar6valo to Mira- flores Phases (800 B . C - A . D . 100) of highland Guate- mala. It may be noted that the same elements are also found along the Gulf coast of North America in the Weeden Island Phase (A.D. 400-600). Possibly this reflects the northwestern diffusion of a decorative family featuring a curving scroll motif with the back- ground hatched or punctated, and punctations at ends of lines. T h e eastern branch, which also features
broad-line incising, adornos, etc., is represented by the Barrancoid ceramics of Colombia, Venezuela, and the AntUles.
as having been composed of a selection from this background, brought to the south coast of Panama by early seafarers.
Puerto Hormiga
Monagrillo Valdivia
FIGURE 11 .—Resemblances between pottery decorations of the Monagrillo Phase of P a n a m a , the Puerto Hormiga Phase of Colombia, and the Valdivia Phase of Ecuador, a, d. Curvilinear scrolls, b, e, Enlarged termination of incisions, c, f, Undulatmg bands combined with excision, (a-c, after Willey and McGimsey, 1954: a, fig. 46c; b, fig. 47a; c, fig. 12c. d, after Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1965, pi. 5-3. e-f, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: e, pi.
59 1;/, pi. 59a)
Summary
Since the elements of MonagrUlo Phase ceramics were in existence in northwestern South America and Middle America (the tecomate form) at 2000 B . C , the most economical theory is to regard the complex
The Sarigua Phase of Panama
WUley and McGimsey (1954, pp. 105-110) have described a single site of the Sarigua Phase, a small shell midden located in a filled-in marsh in Parita Bay, Panama. The pottery is simple, and bears no resemblance to MonagrUlo or any other known com- plex in lower Middle America or Colombia.
It seems clear that the Sarigua complex precedes the painted ware pottery assemblages in Panama, and WUley and McGimsey argue that it probably follows MonagrUlo. As the latter has an approximate age of 2000 B . C , Sarigua probably dates around 1500 B.C. It seems appropriate then to search for compara- tive traits on this general time level.
Composite Silhouette Bowls
Fifty-four percent of the 275 sherds found are plain, tempered with quartz sand and quite thin (4-8 m m . with an average of 5 mm.). Surfaces are well smoothed and polished. The most common shape is a medium deep bowl with rounded base. Rims are outcurved and some show the marked shoulder angle of the composite sUhouette bowl (fig. 12a), but whether this was the only bowl form or not, is uncertain. T h e history of composite sUhouette bowls is shown on chart 13. They first appear in the MachalUla Phase (2000-1500 B.C.) on coastal Ecuador (fig. 12/;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, fig. 90, 9-10).
Jars with Collars
The authors thought that some of the rims from Sarigua represented "globular jars with restricted orifices and short collars" (fig. 12^). Globular jars with wide mouths reached a popularity of 30-40 percent about 1400 B . C toward the end of the Val- divia Phase and are also found in MachalUla (fig. 12^;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, fig. 54-17).
Sarigua Plain shares the features of sandy paste, unusual thinness (4-8 mm. Sarigua; 3-6 mm. Punta Arenas), folded rims, and most vessel shapes with the Valdivia type Punta Arenas Plain. Range of firing color, dark gray to light tan, is also simUar (op. cit., pp. 4 3 ^ 5 ) . Punta Arenas Plain appears in the Val- divia sequence between 2000 and 1500 B.C., and became the dominant type with a maximum fre- quency of about 55 percent after 1500 B . C (op. cit., fig. 52).