There are basically two types of funerary urns: anthropomorphic, representing a human figure seated erect on a bench, and zoomorphic, representing a quadruped animal standing upright. Among the urns collected by Guedes in 1896 are some that represent neither human figures nor animals. They are cylindrical urns with a lid in the form of a disk. The cylindrical form and manufacturing techniques are the same as the body of the anthropomorphic urns and the lid is similar to the lid on the zoomorphic urns (Figure 50.6).
Anthropomorphic urns are the most frequent. They range in height from 20 to 85 cm. They have three distinct parts: the head (lid), the body (container that holds the bones), and the bench (base) (Figure 50.7).
The head corresponds to the lid, which is removable and takes the form of a flat-topped cone terminating in a clay disk (Figure 50.8). Head lids are almost always decorated with high relief or incisions and sometimes have small orifices. Besides these decorations, some lids have a modeled applique “T” attached to their posterior. The height of heads or lids varies from 9 to 22 cm. The diameter of the tops ranges from 6 to 16 cm, while the bottoms vary from 9 to 27 cm in diameter.
The face on anthropomorphic head lids is well defined displaying eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and nose. Clay fillets are applied to the sides of the lid to define the face and back of the head. The fillets outlining the face usually connect with the apphque forming the nose; eyebrows, eyes, and mouth are represented by additional fillets. An incision separating the upper and lower lips forms the mouth. Teeth may be represented by incisions. In most cases eyes are rectangular, and only rarely represented as circular. Although ears are not clearly depicted, two lids have orifices on both sides in the fillets defining the edge of the face. Besides plastic decoration of the surface, some lids are painted with white, black, and yeUow. On three lids, an applique on the lower front may represent a protruding chin or an adornment.
At the bottom of the lid, where it rests on the body, small orifices circle it at regular intervals. Similar orifices are found on the rim of the body where the lid rests and remains of resin are commonly found on this surface. The resin could have been used as a sealant, combined with the orifices through which a cord was probably passed, firmly tying the two together.
Urn bodies take the form of a cylinder that is attached to the top of the bench. Height varies from 11 to 54 cm and diameter from 12 to 26 cm. Nipples, navel, and sexual organs are represented on the lower part and the proportion of male to female urns is almost equal in the caves investigated. Bodies always have a vertical applique with broad-line incisions on the back, probably representing vertebra. Small fillets are applied to the sides of the body close to the arms and the legs. Some also have a fillet circling the body at waist height and another in the form of a U on the chest. Painting in black, white, red, and yellow may appear along with the plastic decoration.
Figure 50.6. Plate published by Emilio Goeldi (1900) showing urns found by Aureliano Lima Guedes. Numbers 12 and 13 are examples of cylindrical urns.
Figure 50.8. Yellow painted lid from an anthropomorphic urn. (photo by Janduari Simoes)
Figure 50.7. Anthropomorphic urn representing a seated male figure. (Photo by Janduari Simoes)
Arms are presented in an unusual position with the elbows forward. They are attached to the body immediately below its rim. The hands rest on each knee with fingers represented by modeling or incisions. Clay fillets circling the arm around the wrist or upper arm represent adornments. The number of fingers varies with some urns having up to seven fingers on a hand. On six urns orifices were found near the elbows and knees. The legs are flexed and fixed to the body near its base. The calves are thick in relation to the thigh and some have fillets circling the leg below the knee, probably suggesting ligatures of cotton or other fiber to thicken the calves, a practice still employed by some indigenous Amazonians. There are also rounded appliques on the back part of the knee and anklebone. The feet are flat and rest squarely on the ground. Toes are flat and represented by incisions, and the number varies as with the fingers.
The bench is made up of two parts, the seat and the legs. Height ranges from 7 to 10.5 cm. The seat of the bench is rectangular, with the body welded to the top. Most benches are zoomorphic with the head and tail represented by appliques attached to opposite sides. Generally they depict the head of the animal on the right side and the tail on the left. Tails are always similar to one another, a clay fillet 4 to 5 cm long, thicker at the end attached to the bench. The thinner end of the tail is and always pointed upward as if it were rolling up. The head can be circular, triangular, or square. One of the benches had two heads side by side. Mouth, nose, eyes, and eyebrows are represented. Some faces have a human appearance while others look like animals with vertical triangular ears. One of the benches has the head of a bird. The legs of the benches are formed by two rectangular slabs fixed perpendicularly to the bottom of the seat that can be continuous or divided by a gap.
The zoomorphic urns (Figure 50.9), ranging in height from 19 to 34 cm, represent a standing quadruped animal. The head can be circular or triangular and have a well defined face with eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth, giving it a human appearance. These urns resemble benches of anthropomorphic urns in some ways. The body is generally ovalshaped and was closed by a removable cover. Legs are cylindrical and hollow with nails or claws represented on the feet.
The processes of coiling and modeling were used to manufacture Urns. The body, arms, and legs of the anthropomorphic urns are generally hollow cylinders and made by coiling, like the paws of the zoomorphic benches. The facial elements of both types of urns were made by coiling. Adornments were formed by adding coils as applique fillets, modeling and painting. Benches were constructed with molded slabs.
The clay used to make the urns was mixed with crushed rock or grog. This mixture is similar to that found in ceramics from open sites. Surface finish of the urns is irregular, giving them a rough aspect. The underside of the benches is not smoothed or polished and almost always shows circular marks, probably the result of an object or objects used to support the clay while it was shaped. Paste with a different texture can be observed in restoring cracks that occurred later in the urns. The same type of resin that was used around the rim, apparently to seal the urns, was found on some appendices, probably to attach them to the body.
Analysis indicates that all urns, both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic, were covered with painting on the surface although few examples of this type of decoration have preserved (Figure 50.10). As mentioned before, colors were white, black, yellow, and red. Some motifs in white and black were executed with fine lines, approximately 3 to 4 mm wide, and were probably made with a fine pointed, flexible object to execute the curves. Yellow was used for painting entire area, and must have been done with a wide instrument or with the fingers. Some urns give the impression that the yellow paint was applied almost like a slip, although always irregularly.
The decorative motifs on the Maraca urns, as with those found on some other archaeological traditions in the Amazon (Gomes 2001; Schaan 2001), may represent body painting, that is often practiced among indigenous groups today, for special occasions as well as everyday life (Muller 1992; Silva and Farias 1992; Velthem 2003; Vidal 1992) (Figure 50.10). Painting is found on both the body and the head of the urns, with analysis revealing four component elements in the designs; horizontal line, vertical line, sinuous line, and lozenge. Supplementing these elements is the filling in of large areas with yellow and, rarely, with black.
There are decorative motifs on the face and the back of the head. Only yellow painting is used on the face, which never passes the sides delimited by the applique fillets. Figure 50.11
Figure 50.11. Five types of yellow painting on the faces of the urn lids. Type 1: Nasal region is painted with the sides of the face unpainted.
Type 2: Nasal region is unpainted and sides of the face are partially painted. Type 3: Entire face is painted. Type 4: Nasal region is unpainted and the mouth and sides of face are painted. Type 5: Center part of face is unpainted and the sides are completely painted. (drawn by Carlos Barbosa)
Shows the five types of facial painting identified so far. Motifs on the back of the head are lozenges and sinuous lines (Figure 50.12). The combination of these minimal elements results in sixteen decorative motifs presented in horizontal bands (Figure 50.13) around the rim and base of the urn and vertical bands (Figure 50.14) on the middle of the back and chest, defining two large panels that are filled with sinuous lines. Figure 50.15 shows the full distribution of painting on an anthropomorphic urn.
Figure 50.14. Vertical decorative motifs. (drawn by Carlos Barbosa)
The orderly and patterned distribution of design spaces, elements and motifs on the mortuary urns suggest a deeper meaning in “body painting” than just the desire to decorate an object. Most probably, they participated in a semiotic system that communicated shared information among members of the community.
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