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developmental period terms applying separately to Panama or Costa 
Rica is given on appendix table 1. 
Isolated finds of fluted points are the only indication of a Paleo- 
Indian occupation. Two are reported from northwestern Costa Rica, 
and two others from Madden Lake (Panama Canal Zone). These 
artifacts may be the earliest evidence of the presence of man in 
lower Central America, but proof of their antiquity is far from con- 
clusive. 
Evidence for Periods I and II comes exclusively from the Parita 
Bay region. Period I is preceramic and the only data we have come 
from the Cerro Mangote site (fig. 3; McGimsey, 1956). With a car- 
bon-14 date of 4850 dz 100 B.C., it is the earliest reliable evidence of 
man in the entire area. The community pattern is of the semipermanent 
sedentary type. The food sources consist of shellfish and game, no 
evidence for agriculture having been found. The artifacts consist 
mainly of pebble tools. Primary extended and flexed burials, as well 
as secondary bundle burials, are reported. 
Period II is unfortunately rather vaguely defined. It includes the 
earliest phases of the Monagrillo site, Monagrillo and Sarigua (Wil- 
ley and McGimsey, 1954). The date of 2130 b.c. for the Monagrillo 
Phase is one of the earliest for pottery in Latin America. Settlement 
pattern and subsistence sources look the same as in Cerro Mangote ; 
if agriculture exists, it is unimportant. Fish and shellfish are basic. 
Among the ceramics, simple curvilinear and scroll-patterned inci- 
sions and red-on-natural painting are characteristic. The stone tools 
are very similar to those of Cerro Mangote. On the same site, another 
phase called Sarigua has been recognized. The main differences are in 
the pottery, characterized by a thin monochrome with decorative 
techniques such as applique ridges, stampings, punctations, and in- 
cisions. On the basis of comparison with ceramics of other areas, 
this phase has been dated at about 1000 B.C. 
Period III (300 b.c. to a.d. 300) consists of the following phases : 
Scarified Guacamayo Phase — Veraguas Province (Lothrop, 1960) with a car- 
bon date of 230 ± 60 b.c. 
Scarified Phase — Chiriqui Province (Haberland, 1959; McGimsey, 1961). 
Early Diquis Phase (pottery from the deepest levels in Lothrop's excavation 
in the Diquis region in southwestern Costa Rica) . 
Zoned Bichrome Period — northwestern Costa Rica (Coe and Baudez, 1961) 
with dates of a.d. 90 ± 200 and a.d. 260 ± 70. 
Aviles and San Jorge Phases — Isthmus of Rivas (Norweb, 1961). 
In spite of a date of a.d. 227 ± 60 for the Venado Beach Culture, 
it is not included in our Period III. We agree with Lothrop (1960) 
in believing this date too early because the pottery and other traits 
