Eva d 3 
es ARCHEOLOGY IN BRITISH GUIANA 347 
in some condition constant through time and directly related to ex- 
ploitation of the region by man. The most obvious factor is the en- 
vironment, and since agriculture is generally acknowledged to be the 
foundation of cultural development, the agricultural potential of the 
environment would seem to be particularly significant. It has been 
argued (Meggers, 1954, 1957) that the combination of temperature 
and rainfall characteristics of the tropical lowlands of South America 
is unfavorable to intensive agricultural exploitation. In the case of 
British Guiana, it has been shown further (Hvans, 1939) that the 
soils found in most parts of the colony are of low initial fertility, 
making intensive agricultural exploitation even more difficult. These 
data strongly suggest that the environment is crucial in explaining 
the secondary role of the Guianas throughout their occupation by man. 
The main purpose of this report has been the reconstruction of pre- 
history in a small portion of northeastern South America, rather than 
the solution of a complex theoretical problem like the interrelationship 
between environmental potential and cultural development. How- 
ever, the effort to explain the cultural complexes that were found 
forces us to consider it. It is important to recognize that archeology 
can make a major contribution to the solution of this kind of problem 
by providing time perspective in which the current ecological picture 
can be compared with others previously existing in the same area so 
that the variables can be sorted out and the constant factors isolated 
for investigation. For such a comparison to be made, the archeologi- 
cal data must be supplied in a form that geographers and other inter- 
ested scientists can use. Unfortunately, archeologists have not always 
done their best to supplement detailed description of sites and arti- 
facts with synthesis and interpretation of the kind that nonspecialists 
require. The contribution that our science is in a position to make is 
clear. We might take as our motto a statement once made by Patrick 
Henry, who pointed out that “I have but one lamp by which my feet 
are guided and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of 
judging the future but by the past.” | 
513186—60——24 
