Catalog sheets provide detailed descriptions of specific artifacts recovered from particular collection units (lots). The lot number is recorded on each catalog sheet. Beginning in the 1990s, we began describing the pastes of ceramic, non-pottery objects using a series of categories designated by letters. These are described in the folder entitled “PVN and PVC CAT Paste Descriptions” that can be found in the Analysis Sheets partition of the collection. While the pastes were originally defined based on our study of artifacts from the Naco valley, the classification was extended to include examples from the lower Cacaulapa valley. The descriptions provided on catalog sheets are accompanied by drawings when the item is sufficiently large or well enough preserved to warrant including such an illustration.
For guidance on how to search for a particular kind of artifact, see the guide to navigating the collection. The following abbreviations are used to describe the different types of artifacts in the collection:
- ANTWRKD – Worked antler
- BDS – Beads
- BJART – Bajareque artifacts, some vitrified bajareque (wattle and daub fragment)
- BONE - Bone fragments and tools
- BRKBTR - Bark beater (stone artifact used to beat and soften bark as material for paper and clothes)
- CAND - Candelero (ceramic artifact with one or more chambers in which smoldering fires were maintained)
- CHST: Chipped stone
- CLYBAL - Ceramic or clay ball
- CNCMP - Complex censer lid (top of a cylindrical ceramic incense burner)
- CNCMPB - Complex censer bowl (bottom part of a cylindrical ceramic incense burner)
- CNCMPS - Complex censer support (support for censer lid and bowl)
- CNCMPBMDL – Complex censer bowl with modeled elements
- CNLP (or CNCMPS) - Censer prong (cylindrically shaped ceramic object tapering to a point that projected from the top on a complex incense burner)
- CNMDL - Ceramic modeled incense burner (pottery container decorated through the addition or shaping of clay on its exterior)
- CNSPK (or SPKCN) - Spiked Censer.
- DNUTS (or GSDNUTS) - Donut stone (rock with a hole drilled in it).
- ECO: Ecofacts, floral or faunal remains.
- ECOB – Obsidian eccentric
- ECTC – Insect housing
- EFLR - Earspool
- ENIG (or ENIGBC) - Enigmatic baked clay.
- ENIGST (or GSENIG) - Enigmatic ground stone.
- FLT - Flute
- FWO - Ceramic figurine, whistle, or ocarina. It was often difficult to separate members of these categories from their fragmentary remains. We, therefore, included all such pieces under this heading, distinguishing among them on the catalog sheets when there was sufficient information to do so.
- GSB – Ground stone ball
- GSUV: Vesicular basalt, ground stone, uncertain artifact status
- HACHA (or GSHACHA) - Hacha (celt).
- HMRST - Hammerstone
- JWLRY - Jewelry
- LCSH - Ladle censer strap handle
- LCTH – Ladle censer tube handle
- LWTS – Ceramic net or loom weights
- MANO (or GSMANO) - Mano (stones used to grind materials atop a metate [MTE]).
- MANOR: Incomplete mano; roughout that was never completed. Some examples are included under MANO.
- MBLV-Marble vessel
- MDRNP - Modern piece of melted plastic
- MDRNRT - Modern ceramic roof tile
- MINVES – Fragment of a small, or mini, ceramic vessel
- MLDBWO – Bowl mold
- MLDFWO – Figurine, whistle, or ocarina mold
- MODPOT – Historic era pottery
- MRTPST – Ground stone mortar or pestle
- MTE (or GSMTE) - Metate (surface of a grinding stone).
- MTER (or METR): Metate rough-out; a metate that was never completed. Some examples are included under MTE.
- OSTN – Ground stone
- PEND - Pendent
- PIGST - Pigment stone. These are soft rocks, usually yellow or red, that we infer might have been used in making paint.
- PLCN (or LC)- Pierced ladle censer (ceramic bowl with holes cut completely through its base).
- POLST (or GSPOLST)- Smoother/Polisher (a stone, purposely shaped or not, with clear signs of smoothing due to human use on one or more of its facets).
- PRPT- Stone projectile point
- PTSTD (or PTSTND or VSM) – Potstand. These are ceramic supports, many of which were used to support vessels during the shaping and firing process.
- RSTA – Bone rasp (possible musical instrument) and stone abrader. These different types of artifacts are distinguished on their respective catalog sheets.
- SCNL - Scored censer lid (shallow ceramic plate with lines incised on its convex side; often shows evidence of smudging from prolonged exposure to smoke on that side)
- SCULP – Stone sculpture
- SHDSK - Sherd disk
- SHELL - Marine shell
- SPNWHL (or SPWL)- Spindle whorl.
- STBL - Ball stone
- STBWLS – Stone bowl
- STMP - Stamp (ceramic artifact with a deeply engraved design on one side; likely used to apply pigment in that design to skin or cloth)
- STNDSK- Stone Disk
- UHSD - Used sherd. A ceramic fragment with signs of being worn down on one or more edges due to use.
- UNWRKDR – Stone of uncertain function, possibly worked.
- USCNL – Unscored censer lid.
- VES – Whole ceramic vessel or large fragment of a container.
- WKDS (or WKSHD) - Worked sherd
- WKST (or GSUV) - Worked stone.
Submissions from 1984
PSB CAT 52E-002-001 SHDSK, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 52F-001-001 SCNL, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5C-007-001 SCNL, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5C-010-001 SHDSK, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5C-045-002 LCTH, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5F-002-002 LCSH, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5F-002-003 LCSH, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5F-002-004 SCNL, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5H-011-001 SCNL, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5H-014-001 PLCN, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5H-033-002 PLCN, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5H-059-001 CNCMPBMDL, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 5H-073-001 STMP, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-008-001 SHDSK, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-014-001 MTE, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-015-001 LCSH, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-017-001 MANO, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-023-002 MANO, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-030-001 Plaster, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 6A-031-001 MANO, Alec Harris
PSN CAT 6A-023-003 MANO, Alec Harris
PSB CAT 26C-024-001 Biface, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 27D-001-001 Biface, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 2B-012-001 Biface, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 322A-001-001 Obsidian core, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 322A-001-002 Obsidian Core, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 323A-001-001 Biface, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 323A-001-002 Projectile Point, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 323A-001-003 Obsidian Core, Jeffrey Hendricks
PSB CAT 4A-024-002 MTE, Katherine Loomis
PSB CAT 100A-002-001 MTE, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 103A-001-001 WKST, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 27D-005-001 SCNL, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 27D-005-002 SCNL, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 27D-005-003 SCNL, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 3C-006-006 MTE, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 3C-009-001 SCNL, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 7A-009-001 MANO 02, Maria Masucci
PSB CAT 26A-002-001 PLCN, Kathleen Mclaren
PSB CAT 26A-002-002 LCSH, Kathleen Mclaren
PSB CAT 31E-003-001 PLCN, Kathleen Mclaren
PSB CAT 52E-009-001 Rock Crystal Structure 7, Jullia Miller
PSB CAT 4A-002-001 CAND, Jullie Miller
PSB CAT 27B-008-001 Biface, Alexander Pezatti
PSB CAT 31E-006-001 CAND, Alexander Pezatti
PSB CAT 31E-006-002 CAND-, Alexander Pezatti
PSB CAT 25B-002-001 CNCMPBMDL, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 26D-016-002 CNCMPBMDL, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 26D-016-003 CNCMPBMDL, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 26D-016-004 CNCMPBMDL, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 27C-006-001 Bajareque.tif, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 3C-016-006 LCSH, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 3C-016-007 PLCN, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 5C-002-001 PLCN, Brenda Ratini
PSB CAT 25B-003-001 LCSH, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26A-022-005 CAND, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26C-023-001 PLCN, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-001 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-005 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-006 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-007 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-008 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-009 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-010 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-011 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26D-016-012 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 26G-004-001 LCSH, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 35A-001-001 CNCMPBMDL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 3C-016-002 LCSH, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 5C-035-001 SCNL, Colleen Siders
PSB CAT 5C-012-001 STMP, Earl Sissell
PSB CAT 26B-043-001 LCSH, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 26D-012-001 PLCN, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 26E-008-001 LCSH, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 27D-009-001 SCNL, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 27D-009-002 SCNL, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 27D-009-003 SCNL, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 2A-030-002 PLCN, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 3C-014-001 LCSH, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 4A-005-001 Plaster, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 5C-017-001 CAND, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 6A-003-002 Biface, Sylvia Smith
PSB CAT 5C-022-001 SCNL, Sylvia Smith and Amy Chenoweth
PSB CAT 26B-029-001 LCSH, unknown unknown
PSB CAT 3C-020-001 Painted Earth, unknown unknown
PSB CAT 5H-058-002 SCNL, unknown unknown
PSB CAT 5H-063-003 SHDSK, unknown unknown
PSB CAT 5H-063-003 SHDSK_001, unknown unknown
PSB Subop 25E Section Structure 1, Patricia A. Urban
Submissions from 1983
PSB CAT 2A-001-001 MTE, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 2A-002-001 SCNL, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 2A-002-002 CNCMP, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 2A-005-001 MTE, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 2B-008-001 MTE, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 2B-009-001 MTE, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 2B-009-002 MANO, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 58A-001-001 Stone Smoother General Surface, Wendy Ashmore
PSB CAT 5A-002-001 PLCN, Wendy Ashmore
PSB-LOT-002-A-003, Wendy Ashmore
PSB Operation Card 10A, Wendy Ashmore