Rim sherd of a heavily fragmented bowl. The object was smoothed, slurried, primed and painted on both sides. The primer and paint are partially eroded. The ceramic has a white-yellowish base colour, which was painted red, orange, blue-grey and black. The outer rim is decorated with a red band. Below this is a vertical, horizontal black band. Two central, horizontal, orange bands appear on the wall. On the inside of the shard is a red band around the edge. Below this is a horizontal frieze with geometric motifs (triangles) on the lower edge. It is separated from a central frieze by several vertical lines. The visible panel shows a black scorpion, red dots, lines and spirals as well as a black dotted disc. The frieze is bordered by two horizontal black bands decorated with a wavy line. Their blue-grey colouring is probably due to weathering. There are two surrounding (?) orange bands at the bottom. Cultural significance: the objects of the Papagayo Policromo group represent the beginning of polychrome painting on a white-yellowish background in the Gran Nicoya region. The tradition lasted until the Policromo Tardío (1350-1520d.C.). Its decoration shows a strong Mesoamerican influence. This manifests itself in the replacement of lizard and bat themes with depictions of cats of prey and snakes. The variant is known both from burials and from settlement contexts. It is considered a diagnostic indicator for the second half of the Policromo Medio (1350-800d.C.). The object comes from a cemetery consisting of around 30 tumuli. (Künne 2004)