NO. 1 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA 71 
of the Apostadero Phase. The modeled adorno style closely resem- 
bles that developed in neighboring British Guiana, suggesting the pos- 
sibility of influence from that direction. 
In contrast to the situation in western Venezuela, the Orinoco cul- 
tures of the late period seem to represent a decline in complexity 
rather than a climax of cultural development. Sites are smaller and 
refuse deposits shallower than in earlier periods, and the pottery is 
simpler in form and less frequently and less ornately decorated. The 
lessened developmental continuity on the lower Orinoco in contrast 
with the great stability of Ceramic Periods I and II may reflect a les- 
sened permanence of settlement on the part of groups throughout the 
entire area. More frequently moved villages might result in bringing 
people with slightly different traditions into closer contact, thus fa- 
cilitating trade and other kinds of influence. The disrupting effects 
of European contact, which were felt in this area earlier than in 
western Venezuela, brought an end to this trend toward simplifica- 
tion. 
ANDEAN AND COASTAL AREA 
Ceramic Period I. — Around 200 B.C., almost 800 years later than the 
introduction of pottery making into the lower Orinoco, a ceramic 
tradition incorporating well-developed painted decoration appears in 
western Venezuela. This is the Tocuyano Phase, occupying the valley 
of Quibor, in the Andean foothills. In addition to black-on-white 
painting in linear motifs, the pottery of this phase is characterized 
by plastic forms of decoration including broad incision in curvilinear 
patterns, undulating applique fillets, and biomorphic adornos, and 
certain distinctive vessel shapes with tripod, tetrapod, annular, and 
ring-and-leg bases. Some of these traits occur earlier in northwestern 
Colombia, implying an introduction from that direction. 
In the Quibor Valley the Tocuyanoids must have found land well 
suited to agriculture. Although the region is today extremely arid, 
different climatic conditions probably existed in the past, when it was 
watered by a large number of streams that today flow only during 
the rainy season. The absence of griddles has led Cruxent and Rouse 
(1958, p. 263) to infer that manioc was not cultivated in this part of 
Venezuela, although this evidence cannot be considered conclusive. 
Manos and metates, usually equated with maize, are also absent in the 
Quibor Valley, although associated on the coast with ceramic com- 
plexes related to the Tocuyano Phase. Some form of crop must have 
been planted, however, and by analogy with the situation existing at 
the present time we may infer that the temperate slopes were used 
