A Bat Dish?

The Penn Museum has a fantastic, searchable online collection of objects, including 4134 that correspond to the keyword “Amazonia.” This one is a dish from Marajó Island, and is dated by the Museum to 1000-1500 AD. Marajoara culture is one of the best known archaeological cultures of South America, and is particularly well known for elaborate ceramic art. The piece was also featured in a 2011 exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. In the book accompanying that exhibition, the curators suggest that the figure on the bottom of the vessel represents a bat. Marajó pottery is known for elaborate and stylized representations of people and animals.