Early in 1954 the author and his wife were stationed by the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología at Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. This provided the opportunity to continue their program of archaeological research on the Colombian coastal area which, at an earlier date, had already led to the formulation of a tentative time and space framework (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1954). While during most of 1954 a survey of the area surrounding Cartagena was made (Dussán de Reichel 1954; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1955), the dry season of 1954–1955 was spent in making a reconnaissance of the Sinú Valley, southwest of Cartagena. During a 4-month trip excavations were carried out at 2 major sites and extensive surface collections were gathered from some 20 others.