NO. 1 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA 
75 
tion of ceremonial elements occurs in the western phases of Dabajuro, 
Guadalupe, and Carache (States of Falcon, Lara, and Trujillo). 
Stylistically related complexes are found in the mountains farther to 
the south, along the coast from Falcon eastward, and on the central 
llanos, although in the latter areas the diagnostic traits are much 
diluted. 
In general, the complexes representing western Venezuela during 
this period show stylistic affiliations with the pottery of Code in 
Panama, and more particularly with the complexes belonging to the 
Second Painted Horizon of Colombia (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1951). 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 
At the present state of our knowledge, Venezuelan archeology pre- 
sents a two-part picture. The life of the Preceramic hunters and 
gatherers of shellfish who occupied the area at least as early as 5000 
B.C. was interrupted about 1000 B.C. by the introduction of well- 
made pottery, there being no transitional or developmental stage be- 
tween Preceramic and Ceramic. 
In general terms, two different ceramic traditions appear to be rep- 
resented in Venezuela: an eastern one based principally on plastic 
techniques of decoration (modeling, incision, punctation, excision, ap- 
plique), and a western one emphasizing painting. These define two 
contemporary centers of parallel cultural development, the former 
centering on the middle and lower Orinoco and the latter in the west- 
ern mountains. In later times these two traditions met and inter- 
mingled in the area around Lake Valencia on the central coast, giving 
rise to what is possibly the highest cultural development attained in 
the area. 
A variety of cultural influences appear to have coalesced in Vene- 
zuela. In the Preceramic, the lithic industries resemble early forms of 
projectile points from both North and South America. The shellfish 
gatherers possess a series of shell and stone tool types resembling 
artifacts from shell middens in Panama, the Antilles, and Florida. 
The Ceramic phases have morphological and decorative characteris- 
tics suggesting affiliations with complexes in northern Colombia, the 
Amazon Basin, and the Antilles. 
In respect to cultural development, there can be observed a tend- 
ency toward increasing complexity in coastal and western Venezuela. 
Agricultural technology, social stratification, the formation of in- 
cipient urban centers associated with structures (mounds, causeways, 
etc.), and ceremonialism, although probably present in the initial 
