Evans and 
Mearecat ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 9289 
1.50 meters at an elevation 30 cm. above the lowest level, where the 
floor rises to form a bench or shelf along the left half. Height on the 
right side, where the floor is lowest and the ceiling is highest, is 1.80 
meters. A complete vessel of Rupununi Plain Form 3 a was upright 
on the shelf, its base surrounded by slabs of granite to keep it from 
falling over (fig. 116). Its top was not flush with the ceiling and no 
ege 
° 20 40 CM 
GRANITE OUTCROP 
GRANITE 
OUTCROP 
SLABS PROPPING 
VESSEL 
Ficure 116.—Profile sketch showing the position of the burial urn at the Rupununi Phase 
cemetery site of R-18: Lower Karakara Cemetery. 
sherds in the vicinity suggested the former existence of a lid. Human 
bones inside included the shafts of long bones and a few fragments 
of the skull, but the teeth, jaw, and diagnostic parts of the pelvis were 
missing. The sutures showed no closure and all the bones were grac- 
ile, suggesting the individual may have been a young female. The 
remoteness of the spot and the difficulties of transportation necessi- 
tated leaving this vessel in situ. It is a typica] representative of 
Rupununi Plain, the neck better smoothed and more symmetrical than 
the body, which was irregular and showed faint indications of coils 
3 cm. thick. Rim and shoulder diameters are 46 to 47 em.; height 
38 cm.; neck height 10 cm. 
Along the front of the outcrop was a pile of rubble and small 
boulders. The large sloping rock that forms the roof of the cave 
overhangs so that the ground is sheltered for about a meter out from 
the base. In this region a second vessel was found, broken and scat- 
