CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA: 
AN INTERPRETATIVE OVERVIEW 
By BETTY J. MEGGERS 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 
In addition to preparing the exciting interpretative analyses of their 
areas, the participants in this symposium were requested to supply in- 
formation on the earliest occurrence of a long Hst of traits (Ap- 
pendix, table 2). These data provide a basis for interareal compari- 
sons of the rate of cultural development, and conclusions about the 
origin and spread of traits and complexes. At least, this was the 
theoretical justification for our request that the data be supplied. 
When it came to distilling conclusions from this mass of informa- 
tion, it became evident that the traits in the list were not of equal 
value for showing diffusion, or even for estimating relative degree 
of cultural development. Key elements, such as the introduction of 
maize agriculture, are rarely directly attested, and the indirect evi- 
dence may be susceptible of more than one interpretation. Important 
innovations in social organization are often of a functional nature that 
may cause them to evolve independently. Dating is tentative, not only 
because of the incompleteness of fieldwork, which may turn up earlier 
occurrences of many traits than are now known, but also because of 
the wide margin of error implicit in carbon-14 dates, which makes 
comparison of areal chronologies somewhat hazardous. However, al- 
though the evidence is incomplete and difficult to interpret, it is never- 
theless suggestive, and it would not become me to be less daring than 
some of my colleagues in trying to assess and interpret the facts we 
now possess. Although the following presentation is in positive terms, 
its speculative nature should be constantly borne in mind. 
Of the hunting and gathering cultures that reflect the peopling of 
the New World, little new can be said. Sites have been found in 
many regions where they were previously unknown, and some of the 
cultural remains show correlations of continental scope. Although 
many of the data are still unpublished, it seems improbable that our 
general conception of the peopHng of Central and South America is 
likely to be fundamentally altered, with the exception that the antiq- 
uity of the movement is apparently greater than we have hitherto 
believed. 
The people who discovered the New W orld were probably unaware 
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