A ceramic-defined archaeological tradition that formed near the Apure-Orinoco confluence and, from around 500 AD, expanded down the Orinoco to replace the older Barrancoid culture there; by the 7th century it had fanned out onto the Venezuelan Llanos, across Trinidad and the Lesser Antilles, and eastward along the Guianas coast (known locally in Suriname as the Hertenrits culture).
Diversified into several regional Arauquinoid groups (Hertenrits, Kwatta, Barbakoeba, Thémire) across the Guianas; presence is well attested to around 1250 AD and, by some accounts, persisted in diminished form to European contact.
Synthesizes the lower-Orinoco ceramic sequence in which the Arauquinoid tradition replaces the Barrancoid around 500 AD.