Ocarina
Not on view
Although numerous types of instruments survive from pre-conquest South and Central America, little is known of how they were used. Whistles, trumpets, and rattles in animal or human form probably had ceremonial functions or served as playthings. Smaller whistles in animal shapes, perhaps worn suspended from the neck, frequently have fingerholes that allow variation of pitch.
Description: Conical, shell-shaped black-on-red ceramic vessel pointed at one end with two fingerholes, blowhole on upper side of globular section with thumbhole in back and monkey final crowning globular section; produces four tones; incised area of red in circumferential lines and geometric designs.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
