Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (291 page)

A rock-shelter in the eastern part of the Valley of Oaxaca which was discovered in 1964 and subsequently excavated from 1966 onwards by an interdisciplinary team led by Kent Flannery . The site is one of the most completely investigated rock-shelters in Mesoamerica and was found to contain a good sequence of Archaic Stage deposits spanning the period
c.
8750–6670 bc and therefore contemporary with the Ajuereado Phase of the Tehuacán Valley.
The later deposits in the shelter, dating to the period after 7400 bc, show some evidence of incipient agriculture.
[Rep.: K. Flannery (ed.), 1986,
Guila Naquitz: Archaic foraging and early agriculture in Oaxaca, Mexico
. New York. Academic Press]

 
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A plaited or cable motif used as a decorative device in a range of applications comprising two or more interwoven strands or bands, sometimes continuous and sometimes broken.

 
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Small rodent with a sturdy body and vestigial tail (Cavia porcellus). Native to the lowland valleys of the Andean zone of South America. Domesticated as a food source by
c.
2000 bc, although prior to this they had been tamed and managed for several millennia. Following domestication their body size increased and they became widely dispersed over much of South America, reaching Ecuador by about ad 700.

 
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Occupied cave at the base of the Cordillera Negra in northern Peru excavated by Thomas Lynch in 1968. Two main horizons have been recognized, both within the Archaic Stage.
Guitarrero I dates to about 10000 bc and includes a lithic assemblage comprising flaked tools of the Ayacucho Complex and Tagua-Tagua Complex. Stemmed points were also found. Human bones, including a mandible, represent the earliest human remains found to date in South America.
Guitarrero II dates to the period 8500–5700 bc and contained bone and wood artefacts as well as basketry and woven textiles. The lithic assemblage included willow-leaf projectile points. Domesticated beans from Guitarrero II represent the earliest known examples to date. Throughout both main phases the cave was probably a wet-season camp occupied as part of a transhumance regime by hunter-gatherer communities.
[Rep.: F. T. Lynch , 1980,
Guitarrero cave: early man in the Andes
. New York: Academic Press]

 
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Late Neolithic and Copper Age communities of the period 3800 bc to 3000 bc in the eastern Balkans and lower Danube. Contemporary with
VIN
A
D and level VI at
KARANOVO
. Their settlements were often of
TELLS
situated in low-lying areas, as at the type-site itself. Others are flat sites enclosed by a square-shaped earthwork. In all cases the houses are characteristically rectangular houses in plan, sometimes with an anteroom at one end. They are close-set with passageways between. Pottery includes a variety of coarse-gritted fabrics as well as fine graphite-painted wares. Ceramic anthropomorphic figurines are also represented. Metal objects include copper chisels and axe-hammers. There is evidence for emerging social differentiation, particularly visible in the diversity of grave goods and the fact that in cemeteries such as that at Varna some graves contain exceptionally high levels of wealth in terms of the artefacts represented.

 
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