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Meccers| ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 335 
River, where the various species. of shellfish that provided the main 
food supply are found (fig. 58). At the time of this writing, no 
carbon 14 dates or other means are available for estimating the antiq- 
uity of this way of life in British Guiana. Shell middens occur in 
many places on the South American coasts, but few have been studied 
carefully or dated. Some have artifact assemblages similar to that of 
the Alaka Phase, others do not. These differences may be chronologi- 
cal or geographical or both. | Until information is more specific, all 
that can be said is that the Alaka Phase represents a general subsistence 
adaptation that was widespread along the coasts of the New World 
before the introduction of agriculture. 
During the period of its existence, the Alaka Phase underwent sev- 
eral important changes. The preceramic complex is characterized 
by the presence of percussion-made tools and the absence of pottery. 
Into this assemblage pottery was introduced, but its good quality as 
well as its sparsity suggest that the first examples were acquired by 
trade rather than made by the people of the Alaka Phase. A later 
innovation was the use of abrasion in the manufacture of stone tools. 
Finally, a new kind of plain pottery tempered with crushed shell 
(Wanaina Plain) appears in increasing abundance, associated with 
trade sherds of Mabaruma Phase origin (see table A). This sequence 
of changes has been interpreted as reflecting gradual acculturation, 
in which plant domestication replaced shellfishing as the focal point 
of subsistence, and pottery making, polished stone tools, and probably 
other traits not detectable by archeology were acquired. This con- 
clusion is supported by the fact that all of these traits are known to 
be much earlier on the coast of Venezuela and farther to the west, and 
must have diffused into British Guiana from that direction (fig. 127). 
The presence of trade sherds of Mabaruma Phase pottery types at 
a late Alaka Phase site implies that the migration of the first pottery- 
making group into the Northwest District came at about the time the 
Alaka Phase had completed its transition from food gathering to 
agriculture (fig. 126). The modeled and incised decoration (Aruka 
Incised, Akawabi Incised and Modeled, Kaituma Incised and Punc- 
tate, Mabaruma Incised), as well as vessel shapes and other distinctive 
ceramic features, leaves no doubt about the affiliation of the Mabaruma 
Phase with the Barrancoid style centering on the mouth of the Ori- 
noco. A number of carbon 14 dates have been derived for this ances- 
tral Barrancoid style, making it possible to place its expansion into 
British-Guiana at around A.D. 500. Contact with the Alaka Phase 
appears to have been peaceful, but the earlier culture was ultimately 
overwhelmed by the newcomers without leaving any visible effect on 
the latter. yt 
