Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 3-188Holmes, William Henry
History
Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 3-188
Holmes, William Henry
Chiriquí (Panama : Province) -- Antiquities; Indian pottery -- Panama; Indians of Central America -- Panama
From the foregoing account it is apparent that our knowledge of the art
of ancient Chiriqui must for the present be derived almost entirely from
the contents of the tombs. The inhabitants were skillful in the
employment and the manipulation of stone, clay, gold, and copper; and
the perfection of their work in these materials, taken in connection
with the construction of their remarkable tombs, indicates a culture of
long standing and a capacity of no mean order.
Of their architecture, agriculture, or textile art we can learn little
or nothing.
The relics represented in the collection of the National Museum consist
chiefly of articles of stone, gold, copper, and clay.
STONE.[8]
Works executed in stone, excluding the tombs, may be arranged in the
following classes: Pictured rocks, sculptured columns, images, mealing
stones, stools, celts, arrowpoints, spearpoints (?), polishing stones,
and ornaments.
_Pictured rocks._--Our accounts of these objects are very meager. The
only one definitely described is the “_piedra pintal_.” A few of the
figures engraved upon it are given by Seemann, from whom I quote the
following paragraph:
At Caldera, a few leagues [north] from the town of David, lies a
granite block known to the country people as the piedra pintal, or
painted stone. It is 15 feet high, nearly 50 feet in circumference,
and flat on the top. Every part, especially the eastern side, is
covered with figures. One represents a radiant sun; it is followed
by a series of heads, all, with some variation, scorpions and
fantastic figures. The top and the other side have signs of a
circular and oval form, crossed by lines. The sculpture is ascribed
to the Dorachos (or Dorasques), but to what purpose the stone was
applied no historical account or tradition reveals.[9]
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Southwest face of the pictured stone.]
These inscriptions are irregularly placed and much scattered. They are
thought to have been originally nearly an inch deep, but in places are
almost effaced by weathering, thus giving a suggestion of great
antiquity. I have seen tracings of these figures made recently by Mr.
A. L. Pinart which show decided differences in detail, and Mr. McNiel
gives still another transcript. I present in Fig. 5 Mr. McNiel’s sketch
of the southwest face of the rock, as he has given considerably more
detail than any other visitor. Mr. McNiel’s sketches show seventeen
figures on the opposite side of the rock. Seemann gives only twelve,
while Mr. Pinart’s tracings show upwards of forty upon the same face.
These three copies would not be recognized as referring to the same
original. That of Mr. Pinart seems to show the most careful study and is
probably accurate. Good photographs would be of service in eliminating
the inconvenient personal equation always present in the delineation of
such subjects. These figures bear little resemblance to those painted
upon the vases of this region.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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