Mortuary rites and ceramic depositions at AM 41 and La Pointe de Balaté: rethinking the Late Ceramic Age of the Western Coastal Plain of French Guiana

For over 20 years the Late Ceramic Age (AD 900-1500) of the Western Coastal Plain of French Guiana and Eastern Suriname has been considered as dominated by the Barbakoeba ceramic complex as defined by the Dutch archaeologist Arie Boomert (1993). Recently, however, various excavations permit to emphasize numerous regional differences based on ceramic analysis and funerary depositions. This paper tries to go beyond general ceramic characteristics of the Barbakoeba ceramic complex in order to acknowledge regional diversity within this widely distributed complex.