310 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY ‘[Bull. 177 
Texture: Sandy or gritty; temper particles not always evenly distributed. 
Thicker sherds have irregularly shaped air pockets. 
Color: Rupununi Plain is distinguished from Kanuku Plain by the presence 
of a gray core. A typical cross section has a light to medium-gray core 
bordered by light tan 1-2 mm. ‘in from both surfaces. In some sherds 
the gray band is along one surface, in others the entire cross section 
is medium-gray or grayish orange. 
Firing: Incomplete oxidizing. 
SURFACE: 
Color: Irregular and variable. Range from gray through grayish tan, 
brown, tan, and reddish tan to bright orange, with both extremes not 
normally found on the same specimen. Irregularly shaped, medium- 
gray fire clouds of all sizes relatively frequent. 
Treatment: Poorly smoothed in general, leaving pits, scars and visible 
temper grains. Exterior of bases and of griddles unsmoothed and very 
uneven. Broad smoothing tracks on uneroded surfaces indicate use of 
a nut or stone polishing tool when the clay was fairly dry. Smoothing 
otherwise by hand, sometimes incompletely erasing coil junctions; some- 
times the coils of jar necks are unerased (pl. 63, g, h). Thinner walled 
sherds have best smoothing. Coarse, deep crackle lines sometimes present. 
Hardness: 4. 
Form: 
Rim, base, and vessel shapes: Same as Kanuku Plain (fig. 122); see that 
pottery type description for details. 
Appendages (pl. 63) : 
Handles: Vertical loop handles with oval (1.6 by 1.1 cm.) or circular 
(diameter 1.7 cm.) cross section. Only two examples, both from 
R-6, showing clean break at point of attachment to body wall. ” 
Broad, horizontal loop attached to deep bowl below rim. Hori- 
zontal length 4.1 em.; projection from wall 2.8 em.; width of loop 
(top to bottom) 2.5 em. At the center of the outer edge there is 
a small flat-topped nubbin 8 mm. high. One example from R-19. 
Applique: Horizontal rim lug projecting from rim of shallow bowl of 
Vessel Shape 1. The lug is 5.5 cm. long, projecting 3.0 cm., and has 
a nicked edge. This example from R-382 is very similar to a Kanuku 
Plain specimen from the same site. 
OcCASIONAL DECORATION: Rarely, incisions (pl. 63, j) or fingertip punctations 
(pl. 68, 7, k) appear on the lips of vessels. 
TEMPORAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE TYPE: Vessel Shape 6 tends to be more fre- 
quent in the latter half of the sequence. Base Form B seems to be most com- 
mon in the earlier half. (Appendix, table 39.) ! 
CHRONOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE TYPE: Rupununi Plain shows a steady increase 
from 11.6 percent at the earliest site to become the dominant ware in the latter 
half of the Rupununi Phase (fig. 125). 
UNCLASSIFIED CARIAPE-TEMPERED 
A few sherds with the cariapé added to the paste were found at four sites. 
Because the sample is small and may be'the result of trade, it was not broken 
down into named pottery types. 
PASTE: 
‘Method of manufacture: No evidence. 
Temper: Whitish, fibrous structure of ecariapé relatively abundant. About 
half the sherds also have a large amount of medium-eoarse granitic sand. 
