hep ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 57 
Treatment: Smoothed with hand, but remaining very uneven and irregular 
causing the body wall thickness to vary considerably on a single sherd. 
Hardness: 2-2.5, easily scratched. 
Form: 
Rim: Direct, with tapering, rounded or slightly flattened lip. General 
crudity of manufacture is reflected in the variation of the rim profile on 
a single sherd. 
Body wall thickness: 4-14 mm. ; majority 5-7 mm. 
Base: Rounded or slightly flattened, but not sufficiently sharply demarcated 
from the side wall for reliable measurement of diameter. Thickness 
slightly greater than adjacent side walls. 
Vessel shapes reconstructed from sherds: All rim sherds represent deep 
bowls, with a variation in rim angle from slightly outsloping to slightly 
incurving; the majority are incurved. Mouth diameter 14-80 cm.; ma- 
jority 14-22 cm. (fig. 20-1, bottom). 
TEMPORAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE Type: None evident in the small time span 
represented. 
CHRONOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE TYPE: The most abundant pottery type at the 
end of the Alaka Phase (table A). 
UNCLASSIFIED CARIAPE-TEMPERED PLAIN 
Only one sherd from Alaka Phase sites can be definitely recognized as 
cariapé tempered. It has a dark-gray core in which white flecks of finely ground 
eariapé stand out clearly. Surface color of the exterior and interior is light tan 
to cream tan. Parts of the exterior have a reddish color as if rubbed with a 
piece of red ocher, Body wall thickness is 5mm. 
UNCLASSIFIED CLAY-TEMPERED PLAIN 
PASTE: 
Method of manufacture: Coiling. 
Temper: Particles of bright-orange, light-orange, or light-tan clay, typically 
under 1 mm., but occasionally 2 mm. in diameter, stand out sharply in 
the gray paste. Microscopic examination of the sherds suggests these 
might be natural inclusions and impurities in the raw material rather 
than intentional tempering. 
Texture: Clayey; no sand, mica, or other gritty components. Tendency to 
layering; occasional irregularly shaped air pockets. Breaks with a very 
irregular, jagged edge. 
Color: Typically a medium- to dark-gray core, fired orange or tan only on 
the surfaces or to a depth of 3 mm. from the exterior. Color of the temper 
makes strong contrast with the paste. 
Firing: Oxidizing, incomplete and unevenly controlled. 
SURFACE: 
Color: Exterior and interior are typically the same, ranging from gray to 
light tan to pinkish orange. <A few sherds have a gray interior and tan 
or orange exterior. 
Treatment: Superficially smoothed, leaving unevenness and depressions. 
Some of the excessive unevenness may be the result of differential erosion 
of soft surfaces. 
Hardness: 2.5-3. 
ForM: 
Rim: Direct with slightly tapered, rounded lip. 
Body wall thickness: Majority 7 mm. 
