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The Glazed Ware of Central America, 
 with Special Reference to a Whistling 
 Jar from Honduras ^ 
 
 By 
 
 Marshall H. Saville 
 
 (Extract from the Holmes Anniversary Volume) 
 
 Washington 
 1916 
 
The Glazed Ware of Central America, 
 
 with Special Reference to a Whistling 
 
 Jar from Honduras 
 
 By Marshall H. Saville 
 
 |HE type of Central American pottery designated as 
 glazed ware has long been known; indeed Professor 
 Holmes made it a subject of study twenty-five years 
 ago. The specimens of this peculiar class of American 
 ceramics are easily recognized wherever found, being 
 distinguished by a surface luster more nearly approaching a true 
 glaze than that foimd on any pottery hitherto discovered in ancient 
 America. The vessels are nearly all of a grayish-blue or greenish 
 shade, mottled in places with spots or patches of darker hue; some 
 are mottled with dull-red spots, while others are almost wholly of a 
 brick-red color. Many of the vessels are decorated with the represen- 
 tation of a bird, an animal, or a human figure, modeled on the sides 
 of the jar in relief; and these figures are hollow as a rule, being made 
 separately and put on after the body of the vessel had been finished. 
 In January, 1892, while in charge of the scientific work of the 
 first Honduras Expedition sent out by the Peabody Museum of 
 Harvard University, the writer explored an important tomb (No. i) 
 near the southern slope of the Main Structure of Copan. In the 
 tomb were uncovered, besides the skeletons, two beautiful peccary 
 skulls engraved with figures and hieroglyphs, and five pottery vessels, 
 four of which bear the glaze-like luster. One was broken into many 
 fragments and was of reddish color; the others are of a steel-blue 
 shade. The three unbroken specimens are shown in our plate i. 
 Numbers i and 2 are now among the collections of the Peabody 
 Museum; number 3 became the property of Honduras in the division 
 of material under the terms of the concession, which granted to the 
 Museum half of the objects found during the work of the expedition: 
 it was placed in a small structure built by the expedition as a museum 
 building, but it later disappeared with nearly all the collection 
 retained by the representative of the Honduras government for the 
 local museum. These vessels were the only ones found during the 
 continued excavations made by the Peabody Museum in its several 
 
 [421] 
 
HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 
 
 years of work; and among the many thousands of potsherds en- 
 countered, not a fragment of this ware was found, attesting to its 
 rarity and pointing to the fact of its introduction into Copan by 
 trade from some other district. 
 
 The discovery of these vessels aroused the interest of the writer, 
 who forthwith made a study of the geographical distribution of the 
 type represented by them, and a list of the examples to be found in 
 different museums both in America and in Europe, but the results of 
 this study were not published. Since that time, more than twenty years 
 ago, knowledge of the number of specimens of this class of pottery 
 has increased to a considerable extent, but the geographical range of 
 the objects has not been extended. The writer at that time was of 
 the opinion that this class of ceramics had originated in the region 
 of Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala. 
 
 In 1895, Dr Eduard Seler, of the Ethnographical Museum of 
 Berlin, published his essay on the Antiquities of Guatemala, Mn which 
 he described and illustrated several examples of this ware from the 
 Department of Alta Vera Paz, which he calls enameled ware. Seler 
 draws attention to a vessel of this class found near Progreso, Yucatan, 
 which was first illustrated and described by the learned Archbishop 
 of Yucatan, Crescendo Carrillo y Ancona," in Anales del Museo 
 Nacional de Mixico in 1885, and it is the first specimen of this type 
 to be brought to the attention of the student, so far as the writer is 
 aware. Carrillo y Ancona recognized the peculiar character of the 
 ware, describing it as a "fine enameled pottery". 
 
 In his study of the Guatemala examples in the Berlin Museum, 
 Seler writes: 
 
 These vessels are distinguished from the well-known ancient American 
 pottery by apparently having an actual glaze. ... I have hitherto been unable 
 to determine what kind of glaze is on these vessels, as rare and beautiful pieces 
 were always concerned which could not be sacrificed to chemical investigation. 
 However, there is hope that Mr Holmes, of Chicago, ^ who at present is making a 
 special study of these vessels, will throw light on this question. The broad geo- 
 graphic area within which these pieces are found proves that in them we have to 
 deal with ware which was distributed by trade. 
 
 About the same time Dr Carl Lumholtz obtained for the Ameri- 
 can Museum of Natural History one of the most remarkable speci- 
 
 ' Alterthtimer aus Guatemala, Veroffetitlichungen aus dem Koniglichen Museum fUr Volker- 
 kunde, Band iv, Heft i ; translation published in Bulletin 28, Bureau of American Ethnoloev 
 1904, pp. 106-109. 
 
 » Tomo ni, entrega 7, "Los Cabezas-Chatas," p. 276, three views of vessel on the plate. The 
 study was written in 188 1. 
 
 ' At that time Professor Holmes was Curator of Anthropology in the Field Museum of Natural 
 History. 
 
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SAVILLE— GLAZED WARE 
 
 mens of ancient American ceramics thus far brought to light. It is of 
 this same glazed ware, and was found in a tomb in the vicinity of 
 Tepic in western Mexico, the northernmost limit of the area in which 
 the ware has been found. This veritable treasure, which has been 
 illustrated in colors by Lumholtz, is "designed and decorated in 
 imitation of a turkey," and is further embellished by the addition of 
 gold-leaf applied over a thin coating of white stucco. This sizing is 
 placed on surfaces where the "glazed" surface has been ground off. 
 This application of gold-leaf was probably accomplished after the 
 vessel was brought to this part of ancient Mexico by trade; gilded beads 
 and potsherds have been found in the region of the present state of 
 Michoacan by Plancarte, and this type of decoration of pottery 
 artifacts seems to be unique in this culture area. 
 
 Lumholtz had an analysis made of several small pieces of the 
 base of this jar by Prof. Morris Loeb, of New York University, who 
 found "that the smooth, glistening surface was not a glaze. . . . 
 The analysis did not convince Professor Loeb that the 'glaze' and the 
 body are of widely different material; nor that the glaze is more 
 fusible than the body — rather the reverse. The body, although grey, 
 contains very little carbon, whereas the glaze contains a large amount 
 of it."^ 
 
 In 1900 the writer obtained two magnificently mottled specimens 
 from the ruins of Teotihuacan, in the valley of Mexico, and these are 
 now in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History. 
 Several years later a number were found in a tomb in the same ruins, 
 and are figured by Batres in his report on Teotihuacan published in 
 1906.^ He describes one specimen as having "reflections of bronzed 
 metal, color of Barbedienne patina." In various other publications, 
 which we need not cite here, vessels of this type have been illus- 
 trated and it is safe to say that more than a hundred vessels of this 
 ware exist either in private hands or in public museums. They have 
 been found in the region embraced between the republic of Salvador 
 in Central America and the territory of Tepic in Mexico. 
 
 More recently, in 191 5, Spinden published his "Notes on the 
 Archeology of Salvador,"* in which he has attempted to classify 
 the antiquities of that region by his system of art development, 
 under "Archaic", "Transition between Archaic and Maya", "Maya", 
 and "Post-Maya" periods. Dr Spinden assigns this "glazed-ware" 
 pottery to the "Post-Maya" period, and illustrates several vessels of 
 
 ' Unknown Mexico, vol. ii, pp. 295-299, pi. vii. 
 
 ' Plates i-vin. 
 
 'American Anlhropohgist, n. s., vol. xvil, no. 3, pp. 446-491. 
 
 [423] 
 
HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 
 
 this type in private collections in Salvador. His description of the 
 character of this ware is interesting and suggestive: 
 
 Without regard to the character of the decoration it may be classified at 
 once by a semi-vitreous glaze. The ware is hard, thin, and fine-grained. The 
 surface has a slight but unmistakable gloss, varying in hue from dull green to 
 dull orange. The greenish variety predominates and it is likely that the orange- 
 colored specimens were subjected to a reducing flame. In no one of the many 
 examples that have come to the attention of the writer does the surface appear to 
 have become actually liquid. Instead a slight suffusion seems to have taken place 
 when the pottery was being fired. This may have been due to the presence of 
 lead in the clay. . . . The suffused surface of this ware would not carry sizing 
 or painted designs and as a result we find the ware decorated, first, by incised 
 designs, second, by plastic designs. (Pages 470-471.) 
 
 Regarding Spinden's system of classification of this "glazed 
 ware" in Salvador as belonging to his "Post-Maya" period, we must 
 differ. He states that "there is good evidence that the great Maya 
 cities of the south were abandoned soon after 600 a.d. and that the 
 Maya tribe proper moved northward toward central and northern 
 Yucatan. This left Salvador free from the pressure of Maya culture. 
 The rise of the Toltec civilization in Mexico gave a new source of 
 inspiration and influence." He further remarks that "although the 
 finest examples of this ware probably antedate the Spanish epoch by 
 several centuries, still it is worthy of note that the same greenish 
 and semi-vitreous surface is seen on post-Spanish products." 
 
 This late origin for the "glazed ware" in Copan is of course 
 impossible if the generalization of Spinden regarding the abandon- 
 ment of the Maya cities about 600 a.d. is correct. The pieces found 
 by the writer in the Copan tomb, with the carved peccary skull and 
 the painted vessels, must be attributed to the best period of Copan 
 development. In this case, at least, the ware is of respectable anti- 
 quity, so far as remoteness from the Spanish period of occupancy is 
 concerned. We have never seen any specimens that in any way are to 
 be regarded as resembling a Spanish type of decoration. 
 
 The writer is of the opinion that the ware should be considered as 
 the product of some local tribe or clan which developed this particu- 
 lar type of ceramic art. Whether the place of origin is Salvador or 
 Guatemala is at present undetermined, but future research in this 
 important part of Central America should elucidate the problem. 
 
 During the summer of 191 5 the writer was engaged in an arch- 
 eological reconnoissance in the Department of Cortes, Honduras, for 
 the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, during which 
 he was able to bring together an interesting collection from the region 
 of the valleys of the Ulua and Chamelicon rivers, supplemented by 
 
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SAVILLE— GLAZED WARE 
 
 an important collection gathered by the late Dr J. E. Austin, for 
 many years a resident of Puerto Cortes. In the Austin collection 
 was the glazed-ware whistling vessel that affords the special reason 
 for the preparation of this paper. 
 
 The vessel (pi. ii) is io>^ inches high and has an extreme length of 
 9^ inches from the back of the figure to the front of the bowl. It is of 
 a dark steel-blue color, with but little mottling or change of shade as 
 in many examples of this class of ancient American ceramics, an 
 exception being a small section of light-orange tint on the bowl and 
 faint traces of the same color on the back of the figure. In the 
 modeling of the seated human figure which the vessel represents, 
 slight attention has been paid to proportion, the lower part being 
 almost without semblance to that of a human figure. The legs are 
 represented only in the mass, and there is an incised oval where 
 each knee should be. The head is upraised and hollow in front. The 
 mouth is open and teeth are shown. Typical plugs are in the large 
 ears. The forehead is low and is covered almost entirely by a band 
 which winds backward down behind the ears. Extending from the 
 base of the head downward well on the back is a flap like an elongated 
 visor of a cap, which may be intended to represent a head covering. 
 On the chest is an ornament like a long pendant bead with a longi- 
 tudinally grooved cross-piece projecting through it; this pendant is 
 attached to a band with diagonal lines evidently depicting a heavy 
 cord, which is tied with a large knot on the back of the figure just 
 below the flap-like head covering. The ends of the cord are fringed. 
 A loin-cloth is shown tied with a large knot in the back. 
 
 On the lap is an oUa-shaped vessel held in place by each crudely 
 shaped hand. This oUa is of the typical form that characterizes the 
 majority of specimens of this "glazed -ware" class of pottery vessels. 
 On the front of the bowl was formerly a projecting animal or bird head ; 
 in the hole is a hemispherical nodule of copal, probably placed there 
 by the modern finder of the vase. The back of the head contains the 
 vent of a whistle, the mouth or blowing end being concealed in the 
 front of the human figure below the waist at a point slightly below 
 the median line of and inside the body of the olla. The arms are 
 hollow and there are openings on the shoulders and elbows undoubt- 
 edly to allow the insertion of cords for the suspension of the vessel. 
 Thus suspended, and the bowl filled almost to the base of the neck 
 with water, a slight swinging movement to and fro, even that caused 
 by a gentle breeze, will result in forming a vacuum and the expulsion 
 of air through the whistle, emitting a clear and sustained note. It 
 was doubtless used in temple ceremonies, possibly either hung up at 
 
 [425] 
 
■ ■ ^ v\ 
 
 HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 
 
 the entrance of a chamber or carried by a priest, and the whistling 
 produced by the mere movement of the water in the vessel, while 
 walking. 
 
 This specimen is unique in mechanism in ancient American 
 ceramics, so far as the writer is aware. Moreover, whistling jars 
 are practically unknown in Central America and Mexico. The 
 principle of the whistling jar is relatively common in the ceramic art 
 of the pre-Quichua inhabitants of the Peruvian coast, and the writer 
 has described and figured^ an example from the coast of Manabi, 
 Ecuador, slightly different from the general specimens of this class 
 from Peru. In this well-known type the note is given out only when 
 the water is poured from the jar. Specimens have been described so 
 often and are found in so many Peruvian collections that further 
 description would be superfluous. 
 
 The specimen just brought to the attention of students is but 
 another proof of the richness of the archeological field of Central 
 America, where so little intensive exploration has been undertaken 
 and indeed large portions of the country have as yet not even been 
 visited by the explorer. The same is true of Mexico, and it cannot be 
 too urgently insisted that our museums should consider cooperative 
 plans for systematic and long-continued investigations in these 
 important areas. The writer firmly believes, after considerable 
 experience in Latin America, that the Middle American governments 
 would be extremely favorable to concerted action by our scientific 
 institutions if definite plans were formulated by them for the pros- 
 ecution of such work. 
 
 Columbia University 
 New York City 
 
 > Antiquities of Manabi— Final Report; Contributions to South American Archeoloey vol n 
 y pp. 223-224, pi. c, 6, New Yorlc, 1910. "' ' ' 
 
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