E d 
Eranean ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 179 
12.3 percent and then fades out. Its seriated position suggests that it 
may represent an experimental effort to find a vegetable substitute for 
cariapé, a search that was not deemed successful. 
The decorated sherds of the Abary Phase constitute less than 1 per- 
cent of the total ceramic remains. The majority have incised lines 
or small modeled nubbins; a few have red paint allover or in bands 
and one has a thick white slip. The modeled sherds show the greatest 
consistency of execution and are most abundant during the first half 
of the seriated sequence (fig. 77). Incision occurs throughout in small 
amounts fluctuating from 0 to 2.5 percent, but little can be said about 
it except that it is very crude in technique and simple in motif 
(fig. 71). 
The most typical vessel shapes in all the plain wares are open bowls 
and constricted-mouth jars with direct rims. These are the only forms 
present in Abary Plain, which is characteristic of the late part of the 
Phase (fig. 77). Bowls and jars with exteriorly thickened rims occur 
in Taurakuli Plain and in Tiger Island Plain, but are almost exclu- 
sively confined to the earliest site. Broad, flange rims are rare, but 
their appearance is also typically early. One form, interesting be- 
cause of its rarity, is the large, flat griddle. Only a few sherds of 
griddles (Taurakuli Plain, Rare Form 1) were found, and these are 
all from the earliest site. Of the three base forms (flat, rounded, and 
annular), annular bases are rare and, with one exception, early; flat 
bases occur throughout the sequence, and rounded bases appear to be 
increasingly frequent in the late sites. 
Stone tools associated with the Abary Phase include polished celts 
and axes, adzes, hammerstones, manos, metates, and rubbing stones. 
None is abundant, and several are represented by a single fragment, 
making it impossible to detect any trends even in terms of presence or 
absence. A single cylindrical stone bead and one crude pottery bead 
are the only ornaments found. 
The characteristics of the habitation sites and their seriated sequence 
suggest a few interpretations about settlement pattern. Since the 
survey was limited to the riverbank, nothing is known of possible sites 
farther inland. All three sites are on land high enough to escape flood- 
ing in the rainy season. Two have an area of less than 2,500 square 
meters, and one (B-1) has more than 10,000 square meters. If the 
largest site had been B-3, which is located on the edge of a ridge, it 
might be concluded that the small size of the available land limited 
the village size. However, the largest site is the earliest one, which 
occupies a small elevation that becomes an island in the flooded savanna 
for several months of the year. The only suggestion of house construc- 
tion comes from a few fragments of clay in the refuse that show twig 
and cane impressions (fig. 78), suggestive of wattle and daub. The 
