ee . 1 ALS 
suc BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
ome 8 
———- HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CAMBRIDGE, Massacuusetts, DecemBer 31, 1965 VoL. 21, No. 4 
EARLY ARCHAEOLOGICAL MAIZE 
FROM VENEZUELA 
BY 
Pau. C. ManGELSpoRF AND Mario Sanosa O.* 
DvRING the field work season of 1968 in the valley of 
Quibor, State of Lara, Venezuela, excavation of a site, 
under the direction of Mario Sanoja O., uncovered sev- 
eral maize cobs at the bottom of a cut. The valley, lo- 
‘cated in the vicinity of the city of Barquisimeto at an 
altitude of about 500 meters, is a dry region with a xero- 
phytic vegetation. It has a long archaeological sequence 
beginning at least 200 B.C. and lasting until post- 
Conquest times. This area is one of the key points of 
the Andean Archaeological Project under the auspices of 
the Universidad de los Andes. 
The last aboriginal settlement of the valley, known as 
the Guadalupe phase, was characterized by mound dwell- 
ings associated with polychrome pottery, bone artifacts, 
and zoological and botanical remains. The most impor- 
tant mound complex is the FE] Tiestal site designated as 
L-1. Hlere mounds are arranged in a more or less cireu- 
lar fashion with a central plaza and two smaller mounds 
externally placed on an axis corresponding to the diame- 
ter of the circle. It was in one of these, designated E-1, 
* Head, Departamento de Antropologia, Universidad de los Andes, 
Merida, Venezuela, and Director of the University’s Andean Archae- 
ological Project. 
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