The exterior of this vessel is divided into two bands. The upper band is painted with glyphs in the form of a head repeated six times. One can clearly discern...
The exterior of this vessel is divided into two bands. The upper band is painted with glyphs in the form of a head repeated six times. One can clearly discern the eyes and the mouth and nose in the contours of the profiles. This figure might also wear an ear ornament seen to the left of the eye. The symbol is connected to another glyph. This symbol is a red horseshoe curve on its side with a red dot in the center. Thinner arching lines extend from the dot to the edges of the curve. The lower band of the bowl depicts two contorted and elongated figure squeezed into the narrow space. Stretched out along the bottom, these emaciated “swimmers” appear to support the upper glyphs with their hands and feet. Might these figures be contorted gods or shaman supporting the message inscribed above them? The glyph on the outside reappears on the inside. Here is another band of glyphs among a series of concentric black and red rings. Two more glyphs, one in the form of a breaking wave and the other in the form of an orange ring encircling a red dot broken at the top by another orange semicircle, can be seen. The decoration of this vessel is a very precise and significant symbolic language. Unfortunately, the vocabulary has been lost to us. However, the beauty of this pictorial statement can still be easily appreciated.