ABSTRACT
Until 1976, knowledge of the culture of the early hunter, gatherer and fishing groups of eastern Venezuela was based on the data obtained by Cruxent and Rouse (1961) in their excavations of the shell mounds on Cubagua Island and in the Araya Peninsula. According to both authors, there existed a technical tradition characterised by the early coexistence of stone and shell tools in 4300 BP, followed by a predominance of shell over stone as a raw material in the manufacture of tools. This pattern is also present in many preceramic sites in Cuba in the Greater Antilles (Osgood 1942; Dacal Mouré 1972; Sanoja and Vargas Arenas 1995:46-7).
