THE MABARUMA PHASE 
DESCRIPTION OF SITES AND EXCAVATIONS 
Fourteen sites in the Northwest District produced pottery that has 
been classified as belonging to the Mabaruma Phase. All are on the 
Aruka River except one, which is on the Barima River. All are habi- 
tations. Six had refuse deposits of sufficient depth for stratigraphic 
excavation. 
N-1: MABARUMA HEADQUARTERS 
This large habitation site on the summit of Kumaka hill (pl. 9, a) 
is one of the best known in the Northwest District (figs. 4,22). It has 
been occupied in recent years by the District Government Headquar- 
ters (pl. 14), and during building construction, road grading, drainage 
ditches, and other improvements, many specimens have been recovered. 
Asa result of its accessibility, the site has been visited by a number of 
people interested in the archeology. Walter E. Roth (MS.) made 
a collection and described some of the materials. Verrill (1918 a, p. 
16) “obtained a very large collection of heads, many fine pieces of 
decorated pottery and a number of stone implements,” in 1917. In 
1944 Osgood (1946, pp. 44-48) made a stratigraphic excavation by the 
flagpole between the District Commissioner’s house and office, but the 
results were destroyed by the Georgetown fire in 1945. To avoid 
future confusion with other sites on Kumaka Hill, Osgood called the 
site “Mabaruma Headquarters,” and we have followed suit. 
In spite of the modern occupation, many parts of the site remain 
undisturbed below the surface. Limits of the refuse accumulation are 
readily perceived by examining the profile of the drainage ditches. 
These show the deposit to be approximately coterminous with the level 
top of the hill, an area 251 meters east-west by 70 meters north-south. 
Beyond the north and south limits the land slopes rapidly, dropping 
2 meters in a distance of 15 meters. The slope is considerably steeper 
at the east and west sides, dropping precipitously some 265 meters to 
the swamp bordering the Aruka River (Osgood, 1946, p. 44). There 
is no fresh water supply on the hilltop. Today the inhabitants collect 
rainwater for domestic use. 
At the time of our visit a new sewage ditch had been dug in back 
of the District Commissioner’s Headquarters to a depth of 1.00 to 1.50 
meters, exposing a good profile of the soil conditions. The lateritic 
clay in the upper 20 cm. was a darker grayish red due to the presence 
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