146 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 177 
consequently only the better finished ones were saved, it was con- 
sidered preferable not to attempt to subdivide the preceramic horizon 
at the present time. 
The origin of the Alaka Phase should be readily identifiable, in 
view of the widespread occurrence of shell middens along the coasts 
of Central and South America. However, artifact complexes of 
equal crudity have rarely been described. The closest sites geo- 
graphically are on the east coast of Venezuela. Here, the best known 
complex is the Maniquaroid series (Cruxent and Rouse, 1959, pp. 
240-241), the diagnostic artifacts of which are said to be shell 
gouges and bone projectile points. Neither of these artifact types 
was encountered in the Alaka Phase excavations, but this may be a 
function of the relatively small amount of digging here as compared 
to that at the Maniquaroid sites, where rocks and chips that might 
be crude artifacts of the type associated with the Alaka Phase were 
apparently not brought into the laboratory for more detailed exami- 
nation. Cruxent and Rouse (op. cit., p. 243) equate the Alaka 
Phase with the sites of I] Pefion and El Conchero, on the east-central 
coast of Venezuela, but these sites are represented only by small 
surface collections of chips and flakes so that the resemblance is 
difficult to evaluate. The carbon 14 dating that the authors accept 
for these sites is between 2,760+180 and 2,450+90 years ago, which 
may be slightly early for the equivalent horizon in British Guiana, 
if it represents an intrusion from the Venezuelan coast. 
A complex of stone artifacts resembling those of the Alaka Phase 
in crudity and also in form has been reported from the site of Araujo II 
on the coast of Parana, Brazil (Orssich and Orssich, 1956, figs. 111-112, 
114). The picks, choppers, hammerstones, knives, scrapers, and other 
percussion-chipped artifacts characteristic of this deposit are very 
similar to those of the Alaka Phase, but in view of the great distance 
between the two areas and the absence of shell middens on large 
stretches of the intervening east coast of South America, it is a ques- 
tion whether this resemblance implies cultural connections or simply 
comparable adaptation to a similar subsistence pattern. 
During its latter part, the Alaka Phase shows unmistakable indica- 
tions of contact with pottery making and presumably agricultural 
groups. Alterations in subsistence and in techniques of stone tool 
manufacture, together with the appearance of pottery, combine to 
support this inference. The first pottery was apparently acquired by 
trade, since it is very rare and too well made to represent a first attempt 
at anew craft. Later, a crude, shell-tempered ware occurs in increas- 
ing abundance, and this has been interpreted as of late Alaka Phase 
manufacture. About the same time, the appearance of trade sherds of 
Mabaruma Phase decorated types implies the arrival of the Mabaruma 
