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Bvensian ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 27 
A sample of shells from the various levels was identified? with the 
species listed generally in their order of most frequent occurrence: 
Neritina zebra Bruguitre—a common brackish-water, intertidal snail, herbiv- 
orous, ranging along the north coast of South America from Honduras to 
Brazil. 
Phacoides pectinatus Gmelin—a common intertidal clam preferring warm, 
sandy mud, usually not far from mangroves. Although a marine species, it 
can tolerate intermittent fresh water. 
Mytilus falcatus Orbigny—a common mussel of brackish water. 
Melongena melongena Linné—a common conch of the West Indies living in 
marine to slightly brackish water not far from mangroves; carnivorous, likes 
sandy mud. 
N-8: ALAKA CREEK 
The Morebo River drains into the left bank of the Waini River a 
few kilometers upstream from the junction of the latter with the 
Warapoco River. Alaka Creek is a small tributary on the north (left) 
bank of the Morebo River. On the right bank of Alaka Creek, near 
its headwaters, are two large shell middens. Although the sites can 
be reached by water, they are also accessible overland from the 
Warapoco River. 
This site came to the attention of Brett in 1866, and he sent his 
representative, Mr. D. Campbell, to investigate it. He described it as 
“about sixteen feet in height, with a base of 400 feet in circumference. 
It stands hard by a small stream, called after it ‘Alaka,’ the 
shells . . .” (Brett, 1868, p. 485). The site was visited by Vincent 
Roth (MS., pp. 184-135) on September 21, 1920, and his general de- 
scription coincides with ours except that during testing he uncovered 
fragments of human skeletal material intermixed in the midden refuse. 
The Alaka Creek shell middens are located at the edge of a long ridge 
3 meters in elevation, which extends from the Warapoco River to 
Alaka Creek. There are two distinct knolls (fig. 5), the margins of 
which overlap slightly giving a continuous deposit. Mound 1, the 
smaller of the two, is 8.0 meters in diameter at the base and 4.5 meters 
high. It rises at the edge of the slope, where the land drops down to 
the Alaka Creek, 5 meters away. The opposite side of the creek is 
swamp. Mound 2, 12 meters in base diameter and 6 meters high, is 
farther back from the edge and separated from the slope by Mound 
1. It has a flattened top 4 meters in diameter, perhaps leveled by 
agricultural activity, since the high land including the site was under 
cultivation by the modern inhabitants. Several tests were made to 
determine the limits of the refuse deposit, and these produced a variety 
2 All identifications of the shells and statements about their habitat throughout the 
entire section on the Alaka Phase were made by Dr. Harald Rehder, curator of the 
Division of Mollusks, U.S. National Museum, and Dr. Tucker Abbott, Philadelphia Academy 
of Sciences, formerly on the staff of the U.S. National Museum. 
513186—60———4 
