The Mabaruma Phase: A Return to the More Probable Interpretation

Abstract

In a recent publication Evans and Meggers have accused me of reinterpreting their work in an erroneous manner on two separate occasions (Evans and Meggers 1964). In one instance (Lathrap 1963a), I suggested that the Machalilla complex of Coastal Ecuador might be a member of the same ceramic tradition which also gave rise to Early Tutishcainyo and Late Tutishcainyo in the central Ucayali Basin in Peru. In the other case (Lathrap 1964), I offered what appeared to me to be a more reasonable seriation of the excavated levels of the Mabaruma phase of northwestern British Guiana and suggested that the age of the Mabaruma phase had been underestimated by a large factor.