Evans and r = 
Meggers] ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 325 
according to Farabee (loc. cit.).. Im Thurn (18838, pp. 261-262) says, 
Howeeen | that iron griddles had Leite replaced the aboriginal 
form by the time of his visit in 1878. 
In the collections of the University Museum, Philadelphia, there 
are several pottery vessels collected by Farabee and cataloged as 
made by the Wapisiana Indians. They include a ‘pottery griddle 
70 to 71 em. in diameter, cat. No. SA 271 (pl. 67, a), and two small 
globular jars of Vessel Form 5c, cat. No.SA 276. One jar (pl. 66, ¢) 
measures 19.5 cm: in diameter and 9.5 em. high, and the other jar 
(pl. 66, d) 23:5 cm. in diameter and 12.0 cm. high. 
Spindle whorls—The' only other artifacts mentioned by Farabee 
that might be found archeologically are spindle whorls in the form 
of a disk of stone, shell, or pottery 2 inches in diameter (1918, p. 30; 
1924, p. 27). These were used by both tribes. 
Disposal of the dead.—Both Macusi and Wapisiana are reported 
to inter the body in the ground. A Macusi is usually buried at a 
distance from the village, but an old man may be buried beneath the 
floor and the house abandoned (Farabee, 1924, p. 81). Schomburgk 
(1836, p. 238) reports coming upon a’ Macusi village abandoned 
because of the death of one of the chief’s wives and finding “the cas- 
sava field in good cultivation, the huts well built, and some newly 
thatched, earthenware pots, balls of cotton, a hammock half- 
finished . . .” 
Wapisiana practice differed slightly according to the sex of the 
deceased. A man was buried beneath the floor, in a shallow grave 
dug under his hammock. His possessions were piled over the grave 
and the house was burned. A woman might be buried in the house 
or in a grave a considerable distance away as was done with children. 
Persona] ornaments and her hammock were buried with her, but 
cooking utensils were inherited by her family (Farabee, 1918, p. 
100). Farabee reports a tradition among the Wapisiana that the 
dead were formerly cremated (loc. cit.). 
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF THE RUPUNUN I PHASE 
On the basis of 29 habitation sites represented in the survey, vil- 
lages of the Rupununi Phase can be characterized as typically less 
than 5,000 square meters, with the refuse distributed over a circular 
or ovoid area. Almost one-third of the sites covered less than 1,000 
square meters. At the other extreme are three very large sites of the 
order of 100,000 square meters. All three (R-6, R-7, and R-36) be- 
long in the upper half of the seriated sequence. Whatever their ex- 
planation, such extensive sites are not usual or typical of the Ru- 
pununi Phase. In no instance did the refuse deposit extend more 
than 3 cm. below the ground surface, indicating a very short period 
