a, BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 177 
Conversely, all of the sites in the upper half of the sequence are in the 
northern savanna with one exception, R-36, which is in the southern 
Kanuku Mountains. <A similar geographical distinction is also evi- 
dent in the cemetery and ceremonial site locations. The two cere- 
monial sites are both in the south savanna, although since they are 
relatively inconspicuous there is a possibility that they might exist in 
the north savanna also and not have been reported as yet. The two 
rock shelters with multiple urn burials and offertory vessels are both 
in the south savanna. Burials in the north savanna, although also 
typically placed in rock shelters, differ in three respects: (1) the 
urns are often not interred but placed instead either on a rock shelf 
or directly on the ground; (2) the urns are not provided with lids; 
and (3) associated offerings are rare. In the south savanna, form 2 
and form 6 were most often employed for burial urns, and form 3 was 
used for the lid or for the associated small vessels. In the north 
savanna, all the burial urns are form 8. This difference parallels 
the temporal distribution of the habitation sites, if it may be assumed 
that since the earlier habitation sites are in the south savanna, the 
cemeteries in the south savanna are also the earlier. Form 3 appears 
to have an increasing popularity in the habitation sites and the same 
trend is evident in the cemeteries. The decreasing elaborateness of 
the burial pattern that this sequence shows probably can be explained 
as a reflection of the increasing Christianization of the Indians, which 
tends to break down aboriginal patterns of disposal of the dead. 
The distributional evidence leads to the conclusion that the Ru- 
pununi Phase first occupied the south savanna, later expanding to the 
north. This expansion was accompanied by increasing acculturation, 
leading to the loss or simplification of the aboriginal ceremonial 
practices and methods of disposal of the dead. | Distinctive artifacts 
were also abandoned, such as stone axes and pottery griddles for bak- 
ing cassava bread. Increasing amounts of European materials at the 
later sites leave no. doubt as to the increasing acculturation of the 
population, a process that is still continuing today. 
If the conclusion is justified that the.south savanna burials belong 
to the earlier part of the Rupununi Phase, then the colonial coin 
from R-34, Shelter 1, Jar A takes on added significance. It is not 
only pertinent to the age of the cemetery in which it was found, 
but to the introduction of the Phase into the south savanna. The 
coin’s date, 1809, gives a maximum antiquity for R-34, Shelter 1, and 
the amount of wear on both surfaces of the coin makes a somewhat 
later date for the burial mandatory. The presence of European mate- 
rials in this burial urn is suggestive of considerable value attached to 
them by the owner, and this attitude probably resulted from the rela- 
tive scarcity of such things. Such a.conclusion is in accord with the 
