152 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull, 177 
represents the western limit of the penetration. Interestingly, there 
have been no sites with similar ceramic traits reported in the region 
between Paramaribo and the Northwest District. 
Both the Mabaruma Phase and the Koriabo Phase include in their 
ceramic complexes a small percentage of sherds with cariapé temper. 
The highest frequency occurs in the Koriabo Phase, and in view of 
the postulated origin of this Phase, its presence here can be interpreted 
as the residue of what was once a major ware. However, the case of 
the Mabaruma Phase is more complex. The sherds here are too rare 
to suggest anything but a trade origin, and this conclusion is strength- 
ened by the fact that cariapé tempering does not exist in the Barran- 
coid style from which the Mabaruma Phase is derived. It would be 
easy to conclude that the Mabaruma Phase cariapé-tempered sherds 
were acquired from the Koriabo Phase by trade except for two 
factors: (1) Barima Plain is not a major Koriabo Phase ware at the 
sites identified in the Northwest District, and (2) decorated sherds 
known to have originated in the Koriabo Phase are limited to late 
Mabaruma Phase sites, whereas cariapé-tempered plain sherds occur 
throughout the sequence (fig. 48). Since pottery complexes in which 
cariapé temper is characteristic are not reported from the lower 
Orinoco, coastal Venezuela, or the coast of the Guianas during the 
period represented by the early part of the Mabaruma Phase sequence, 
the only apparent conclusion is that these sherds reflect contact with 
an unidentified interior group. Cariapé is the dominant form of 
temper used in the Nericagua Phase of the middle Orinoco, and 
carbon 14 dating gives this Phase an antiquity comparable to that of 
the Mabaruma Phase. In view of the probable later influence on 
Mabaruma Phase modeling stemming from this area, this interpreta- 
tion seems possible. 
The termination of the aboriginal occupation of the Northwest 
District is assumed to correlate with the initiation of European settle- 
ment around the beginning of the 17th century. The survival of 
either the Mabaruma Phase or the Koriabo Phase into the post- 
European period cannot be proved since no trade items were 
encountered. However, the fact that many of the Rupununi Phase 
sites lacked such objects in spite of their 19th or even 20th century 
date suggests that the absence of this kind of evidence cannot be taken 
as reliable indication of pre-European dating. European china is 
reported by Cruxent and Rouse (1959, pp. 286-237) in association 
with the Apostadero style at the mouth of the Orinoco. This site 
also produced a Koriabo Phase trade sherd, implying the survival 
of both Mabaruma and Koriabo Phases into the post-European period 
in that region. Whether these Phases continued to exist as long in 
the Northwest District of British Guiana cannot be determined on 
