Archaeological investigations between Cayenne Island and the Maroni river : a cultural sequence of western coastal French Guiana from 5000 BP to present

Abstract

This study entitled Archeological Investigation between Cayenne Island and the Maroni River is not a history of Amerindian life in French Guiana from c.5000 BP to the present-day. Rather, it presents us with an anthology of archaeological materials with which this history has to contend, extracting from them and reconstructing with them not only a hypothetical view of the Amerindian prehistory but also a history of French Guiana. This study is primarily based on a large number of archaeological data, gathered from excavations in the western coastal zone of French Guiana. The outcome hereof served to construct a cultural chronology for this region in an attempt to insert this information into the already existing chronology, as is usually the case in archaeology.