Z BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BulL 177 
devote more attention to British Guiana. Flowever, the past decade 
has brought an increased interest in the lowlands, with the result that 
the Guiana coast has shifted from a marginal to a strategic position 
for the solution of problems of South American prehistory. The 
work of Rouse, Cruxent, and Goggin in eastern Venezuela and Trini- 
dad has permitted the construction of a detailed cultural sequence to 
the northwest. Similar investigations by Meggers and Evans have 
established a chronological framework at the mouth of the Amazon. 
Several hypotheses about cultural development in the Guiana area 
have resulted from these new data, and knowledge of the archeology 
in the intervening area is important for their evaluation. This was 
the primary consideration behind our decision to undertake fieldwork 
in the Guianas. 
The selection of British Guiana rather than one of the other two 
European colonies was motivated by two principal factors. Although 
archeological research should not be limited by artificial boundaries, 
the formalization of international relations in modern times makes it 
practical to remain within one country. British Guiana, being the 
largest of the three Guianas, provided the maximum areal coverage. 
In addition, it presented the most promising topographic characteris- 
tics. The Essequibo River and its tributaries constitute a ready route 
of access to the center of the Guianas, and it is only a short distance 
from their headwaters to the sources of major tributaries of the Ama- 
zon. During the rainy season, it is possible to pass from the 
Rupununi River in the center of British Guiana to the Takutu on the 
border with Brazil in a canoe across the flooded savanna. If evidence 
of prehistoric communication between the coast and the interior was 
to be found, British Guiana seemed to be a logical place to look for it. 
Our itinerary was planned to include parts of the colony where 
evidence of migration or diffusion might be expected to show up if it 
existed: the Rupununi savanna, spanning one part of the watershed 
between the Atlantic and Amazonian drainage systems; and the 
upper Essequibo, which forms part of a similar intersection somewhat 
to the southeast. Survey of each of these regions was continued until 
more than 80 sites had been investigated, and the results made it ap- 
parent that neither had been occupied until very recently by pottery- 
making groups. The final portion of the survey was devoted to the 
coast, in the effort to trace movements from west to east, and to secure 
chronological information that would help to establish the relative 
antiquity of settlement of the coastal and interior portions of the 
colony by sedentary peoples. 
ITINERARY AND FIDLD CONDITIONS 
Among the more interesting aspects of an archeological field trip 
is the story that is seldom told except in informal gatherings of 
