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| Many of these images are of pre-Columbian artifacts found throughout Honduras and housed in the Roatan Museum. Roatan is one of the Bay Islands in the Caribbean off the coast of Honduras. | ||||||||||||
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| The manufacture of ceramics began in the Americas about 3000 BC. Honduran artifacts reveal a wide diversity in innovation and regional variations in terms of their form and decorative methods. | ||||||||||||
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The imagery on this ceramic vessel was painted before it was fired. The pre-Columbians used many methods of ornamentation. | |||||||||||
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To the left is another example of
"painted on" pictograms and imagery.
The vessel on the right contains pictograms that tell a story of a tribal dignitary who is expecting a child. The shapes of the two vessels below are based on a popular form of squash that is still used as a dietary staple today in Honduras. The use of these forms is indirect evidence of plant domestication by the pre-Columbians. |
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| "Yaba Ding Ding" is a colorful term which may be unique to the Bay Islands. Some islanders use it to signify any pre-Columbian artifact, but the term is usually reserved for the great quantity of detached supports or adornments which have broken off the ceramic vessels. | ||||||||||||
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These "Yaba Ding Dings" were most likely used as "handles" or perhaps "feet" for ceramic vessels.
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| Remains of great Myan "City-States" can be found on the mainland of Honduras. But, there is very little evidence of towns or villages from the pre-Columbian era of the Bay Island region. Yet many ceramic artifacts of the period abound. The speculation is that the islands held a ceremonial significance for the pre-Columbian Hondurans. | ||||||||||||
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| Special thanks to the Roatan Museum for allowing us to photograph their artifacts. | ||||||||||||