Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

The Ceramic Art of Agricultural Groups in the Antilles / 153
8.4. Batrachiform designs on burenes or clay
griddles (right column) and other artifacts (left
column) (after Arrom 1975: Figure 60; Godo
and Celaya 1990:170–172; Harrington 1975:
Figure 86).
In the past few years, I have identi¤ed new designs in burenes where the
image of the frog is simpli¤ed into motifs or geometric expressions through a
process of schematization of the batrachian elements (Figure 8.6). Petitjean’s
(1978) study helps us understand the central motif of the back legs and its
derived representations, including the most complex one that constitutes a
double spiral, presumed to combine four distinct elements (Figure 8.7).
If the motif of the back leg evokes the whole animal, then its duplications
indicate multiple individuals in numbers of two and four. These groupings I
interpret as twin-frogs. The zoomorphic trans¤guration of the twins is very
evident in mythical references. In one version, Shikie’ mona and Ivreke were
born from two ¤sh spawns and raised by Kawao, the woman-frog, who at
the end of the story is transformed into a ¤sh (López Baralt 1977). In addition,
Oliver (1998) has convincingly identi¤ed the twin-frogs in the iconogra-