Here are some photos of very old ceramics. They are perfect pre-Columbian pieces from a private collection, in a clothing store, near the market in Bahia.

I ask to see and photograph some pieces and then give the owner a dollar. We discuss many things with my primitive Spanish. He is happy. I bring other tourists to see and photograph his pieces.

The figure in the center and on the right are both wearing a typical headdress from Ecuador's past, where no hair is shown. It is all tucked inside the beehive hat making the wearer look like ET or an alien to modern eyes.

The man in the loin cloth shows the effect of head binding as an infant. It was the custom here on the coast in the past, maybe only for high status families as for the Maya in Mexico-Guatamala.

We do not know the material used to make these hats but I suspect it was palm fiber like the so-called Panama hats of Ecuador.

The water pot on the left has the image of a possum (Americans say opossum), a marsupial, formed on the front and back. This gives life to functional objects. This nocturnal animal is common in Ecuador but disliked.

The soil of Ecuador is loaded with ceramics and many wonderful pieces can be seen in the museums in big cities and along the coast, Salinas, Valdivia, Salango, Manta, Bahia.

Pedernales does not have a museum but private collectors will sometimes open their house. Ask taxi drivers where to go.

If you are interested in doing an archeological dig or cataloguing finds, help me this autumn and winter. I will be in the coastal Jama & Bahia region, so write me.

Will also be going further north past Esmarelda city to see more gold and ceramic collections.

Ancient Tolita had one of the best gold figurine collections in the world but much of the site has been plundered for the value of the gold. Some pieces survive in museums and are reproduced in art and archaeology magazines.

Note: In Canada perfect pieces are rare as we have winter frost in the soil.

Robin Day
cowboy4444@hotmail.com