Around AD 1200, the Koriabo culture appeared in many places in Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The origin of this culture is still unknown and it could be from the middle Amazon or even the center of the Guianas Shield. The Koriabo groups spread from the south to the north up to the Atlantic coast where they met the Arauquinoid people. The available data permit the differentiation of inland Koriabo sites, dated between AD 1200 and 1350, from coastal Koriabo sites, dated between AD 1350 and 1600 (Versteeg and Bubberman 1992). Koriabo trade ware and vessel shape imitations in Kwatta and Barba-koeba sites suggest contemporaneity, at least partial, of the three cultures. The inland sites
Are mainly located on the river banks. However, Koriabo groups often settled on previously inhabited locations so, most of their sites are two-component (Versteeg 2003).
The Koriabo culture is unique because it is the only truly Guianas cultural style that is not found out of this area. The homogeneity of this pottery style in decoration and shapes is striking through their enormous territory between the mouth of the Orinoco and the Oyapock River. There are variations in the paste according to the availability of the local raw materials, but specific vessel shapes and features incised and applique decoration are very similar in all the sites. Koriabo decoration includes fine incisions, very wide and shallow incisions, modelled applique ridges and nubbins representing animals (frog, turtle, etc.) or human faces, zoomorphic adornos (Figure 16.10), white and red and black painting.
Archaeological dates reveal Koriabo migrations from the interior to the coast, in which groups travelled from the watershed in the south along the main rivers to the sea:
Oyapock, Approuague, Comte, Sinnamary in French Guiana, Tapanahony plus Maroni,
Sipaliwini plus Corantijn in Suriname and Essequibo, Barima in Guyana. Occupations
Figure 16.10. Koriabo pottery. Characteristic vessel shape with elaborate incisions and anthropomorphic or zoomorphic appliques. (Stephen Rostain)
With Koriabo artifacts bear silent witnesses to these travels, and demonstrate that some of the rivers were important cultural highways.
In this way Koriabo became established in some coastal areas between the Appr-ouague and Barima rivers. The latest mainland Koriabo settlements are located along the coast of the Guianas and in the lower river reaches. Coastal sites of the Barbakoeba, Kwatta, Themire and Mabaruma cultures have Koriabo ceramics, and it seems that contacts were particularly close with the Kwatta and Barbakoeba cultures.
Kwatta pottery has been found in several coastal Koriabo sites, while Koriabo pottery is found in Kwatta sites. The large number of Koriabo carinated bowls with everted lip, which seems to be a ceremonial vessel, found in several Barbakoeba and Kwatta sites, would be the result of inter-tribal trade (Boomert 1993). Moreover, there are frequently imitations of Koriabo vessel forms by the Kwatta, the Barbakoeba and the Themire people (Rostain 1994a). In contrast, no Arauquinoid ceramic imitations are seen in the Koriabo pottery repertoire. After its appearance in the coastal area of the Guianas, the Koriabo culture was integrated in inter-tribal dynamics and participated in regional trade networks.
Although seemingly powerful, Koriabo culture did not disperse uniformly along the coast of the Guianas. It met resistance from some communities. Areas under the domination of the Hertenrits culture in west Suriname (Rostain and Versteeg 2004) and the Ariste culture in eastern French Guiana and Amapa were never inhabited by Koriabo groups (Rostain 1994a). The complete absence of Koriabo ceramics in these areas also suggests that no trade existed between these groups and Koriabo people. A Koriabo pot found in the Ti-Jarre cavity in the Ouanary Hills is the only Koriabo artefact in the Ariste territory.
In French Guiana, the Koriabo site of Mapaou in the lower Approuague is dated between AD 1744 and 1801 (Rostain 1994a). Moreover, Dessingy’s map of the lower Approuague, drawn in 1764, shows an Akokwa abandoned village located exactly at the location of the Mapaou site. This absolute dating is the only one in the Guianas that places the Koriabo culture in colonial times, and it is important for understanding the latest part of the culture. Mapaou was probably one of the last Koriabo villages in French Guiana. After the sixteenth century, the Koriabo culture had lost its powerful position and was probably only represented by rare settlements, especially in Guyana and French Guiana. Some migrations back toward the inland may have taken place under those conditions.
World History
