58 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 146 
style of decoration reaches its maximum development. Comparison 
of Malambo materials with various of the styles comprising the Bar- 
rancoid Series of Venezuela, such as El Palito, La Cabrera, and Bar- 
rancas, shows similarities suggesting that toward the end of Period 
II the first cultural contacts were established between northern Co- 
lombia and Venezuela. The carbon-14 date for Malambo (derived 
from charcoal) is 3070 d= 200 years (Angulo Valdes, 1962), making 
it slightly older than Barrancas with a date of 2820 ± 80 (Cruxent 
and Rouse, 1958, p. 15). The extent of the refuse deposits, their 
proximity to the banks of the Rio Magdalena, and the abundance of 
griddle fragments permit the conclusion that this phase corresponds 
to a sedentary village life based on the cultivation of manioc and 
probably other plants. Although there must have been a secondary 
dependence on hunting and on fishing from the rivers and lakes, 
shellfish were no longer exploited. Some burials have been encoun- 
tered in the refuse, but they provide no evidence of religious beliefs. 
Period III (1000 b.c.-a.d. 500).— On the Caribbean coast, this 
period includes the Momil Phase, and phases belonging to the First 
Painted Horizon, a designation proposed by Reichel-Dolmatoff 
(1954, p. 365) to characterize the ceramic complexes of Loma and 
Horno in northeastern Colombia. 
The Momil Phase is represented by sites in the region between the 
lower Rio Magdalena and the lower Rio Sinu. The cultural complex 
has been correlated with Mesoamerica and the Central Andes, with the 
result that it has been looked upon as a link between the Formative cul- 
tures of these two parts of Nuclear America (Strong, Kidder, and 
Paul, 1938; Canby, 1951; Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. and A., 1956). As- 
sociated with these elements are others that can be derived from the 
latter part of the Malambo Phase. Sites indicate relatively large seden- 
tary populations, depending primarily on the cultivation of manioc 
and secondarily on hunting and fishing. Although there is no evidence 
of institutionalized religion, the abundance of anthropomorphic figu- 
rines has been interpretated as reflecting formalized religious con- 
cepts. Primary burials without offerings are frequently encountered in 
refuse deposits. 
Certain ceramic traits of the Momil Phase diffused toward the 
northeast of Colombia, where they appear in the same chronological 
order but at a later date than at Momil. These include painting in red 
and black on white utilizing curvilinear motifs, and conical supports 
followed by solid or hollow mammiform supports. The Tocuyano 
style, with a carbon-14 date of 2100 ± 300 years, reflects the diffu- 
sion of these traits as far as western Venezuela. The result of this 
