No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Community, Place, and Identity in Middle Formative Coastal Ecuador: Human Burials at Salango, a Machalilla Phase Fishing Village
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2024
Abstract
Thirty-one individuals buried at Salango, a Machalilla phase fishing village, constitute the only significant Middle Formative funerary assemblage so far recovered for the coast of Ecuador. Our description and discussion of the burials in the context of the nature, location, and history of the settlement and a comparison with preceding coastal Valdivia and contemporary highland Cotocollao funerary practices show that, although they represent a new general tradition, Machalilla burial rituals at Salango reflected specific social conditions and concern with community identity. In particular, the elaborate burial of an adult female not only points to the continuing authority of women in coastal Ecuadorian Formative communities but also expresses the spiritual and economic importance of the sea for Machalilla phase Salango.
Resumen
Treinta y un individuos enterrados en la aldea de pescadores de la fase Machalilla en Salango constituyen el único conjunto funerario significativo del Formativo Medio recuperado hasta ahora para la costa ecuatoriana. La descripción y discusión de los entierros a la luz de la naturaleza, ubicación, e historia del asentamiento, y luego la comparación con las prácticas funerarias precedentes de Valdivia en la costa y las contemporáneas de Cotocollao en las tierras altas andinas, muestran que, si bien representaban una nueva tradición general, los rituales funerarios Machalilla de Salango reflejaban condiciones sociales específicas y una preocupación por la identidad comunitaria. En particular, el elaborado entierro de una mujer adulta no solo señala la continua autoridad de las mujeres en las comunidades costeras del Formativo ecuatoriano, sino que también expresa la importancia espiritual y económica del mar para Salango en su fase Machalilla.
Keywords
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology
References
References Cited
Bacigalupo, Ana Mariella. 2016. Thunder Shaman: Making History with Mapuche Spirits in Chile and Patagonia. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Béarez, Philippe. 1996. Comparaison des ichtyofaunes marines actuelle et holocène et reconstitution de l'activité halieutique dans les civilisations précolombiennes de la côte du Manabí Sud (Équateur). PhD dissertation, General and Applied Ichthyology, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.Google Scholar
Béarez, Philippe, Gay, Patrick, and Lunniss, Richard. 2012. Sea Fishing at Salango (Manabí Province, Ecuador) during the Middle Formative Phase. Latin American Antiquity 23:195–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L. 1992. Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L., Asaro, Frank, Michel, Helen V., Stross, Fred H., and Salazar, Ernesto. 1994. An Initial Consideration of Obsidian Procurement and Exchange in Pre-Hispanic Ecuador. Latin American Antiquity 5:228–255.Google Scholar
Carter, Ben. 2011. Spondylus in South American Prehistory. In Spondylus in Prehistory: New Data and Approaches: Contributions to the Archaeology of Shell Technologies, edited by Infantidis, Fotis and Nikolaidou, Marianna, pp. 63–89. BAR International Series 2216. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
DeBoer, Warren R. 2003. Ceramic Assemblage Variability in the Formative of Ecuador and Peru. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Raymond, J. Scott and Burger, Richard, pp. 289–336. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Eliade, Mircea. 1964. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Translated by Trask, Willard R.. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Frazier, Jack. 2003. Prehistoric and Ancient Historic Interactions between Humans and Marine Turtles. In The Biology of Sea Turtles Vol. II, edited by Lutz, Peter L., Musick, John A., and Wyneken, Jeanette, pp. 1–38. CRC Press, Baton Rouge, Florida.Google Scholar
Gilbert, B. Miles, and McKern, Thomas W.. 1973. A Method for Aging the Female Os Pubis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 18(1):32–38.Google Scholar
Guffroy, Jean. 2004. Catamayo precolombino: Investigaciones arqueológicas en la Provincia de Loja (Ecuador). IRD Éditions, Paris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogg, Alan G., Heaton, Timothy J., Hua, Quan, Palmer, Jonathan G., Turney, Chris S. M., Southon, John, Bayliss, Alex, et al. 2020. SHCal20 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–55,000 Years Cal BP. Radiocarbon 62:759–778.Google Scholar
Lathrap, Donald W., Collier, Donald, and Chandra, Helen. 1975. Ancient Ecuador. Culture, Clay, and Creativity 3000–300 B.C. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lippi, Ronald D. 1983. La Ponga and the Machalilla Phase of Coastal Ecuador. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Lippi, Ronald D., Bird, Robert Mck., and Stemper, David M.. 1984. Maize Recovered at La Ponga, an Early Ecuadorian Site. American Antiquity 49:118–124.Google Scholar
Lunniss, Richard M. 2016. Investigaciones arqueológicas en Salango: Nuevos aportes al estudio de un antiguo sitio sagrado. ReHuSo 1(2):1–38. https://revistas.utm.edu.ec/index.php/Rehuso/article/view/1412, accessed December 15, 2023.Google Scholar
Lunniss, Richard M. 2022. The Origins of Manteño Sailing Craft and Trade on the Coast of Ecuador: The View from Salango. In Waves of Influence: Revisiting Coastal Connections between Pre- Columbian Northwest South America and Mesoamerica, edited by Beekman, Chris and McEwan, Colin, pp. 495–523. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Lunniss, Richard M., Zeidler, James A., and Aguilú, Juan José Ortiz. 2021. La transición Arcaico Tardío—Valdivia: Una reevaluación en base a evidencias de los sitios Salango y Valdivia. In Valdivia, una sociedad neolítica: Nuevos aportes a su conocimiento, edited by Jadán, Mary, pp. 120–148. Ediciones UTM, Portoviejo, Ecuador.Google Scholar
Marcos, Jorge G. 1988. Real Alto: La historia de un centro ceremonial Valdivia (Primera Parte). Biblioteca Ecuatoriana de Arqueología Vol. 4. Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral and Corporación Editorial Nacional, Guayaquil, Ecuador.Google Scholar
McEwan, Colin, and Lunniss, Richard M.. 2022. Isla de la Plata, Ecuador: An Oceanic Sanctuary from circa 2000 BCE to 1531 CE. In Waves of Influence: Revisiting Coastal Connections between Pre-Columbian Northwest South America and Mesoamerica, edited by Beekman, Chris and McEwan, Colin, pp. 525–559. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
McKern, Thomas, and Stewart, T.. 1957. Skeletal Age Changes in Young American Males: Analysed from the Standpoint of Age Identification. Technical Report EP-45. Headquarters, Quartermaster Research and Development Command, Quartermaster Research and Development Center, Environmental Protection Research Division, Natick, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Meggers, Betty J., Evans, Clifford, and Estrada, Emilio. 1965. Early Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador: The Valdivia and Machalilla Phases. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Vol. 1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ministerio del Ambiente del Ecuador. 2007. Actualización del diagnóstico del Parque Nacional Machalilla: Elementos prioritarios de la diversidad biológica y cultural. Proyecto GEF. Ecuador Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (SNAP-GEF), Quito.Google Scholar
Miranda, Cristina. 2019. Ecuador. In Sea Turtles in the East Pacific Region: MTSG Annual Regional Report 2019, edited by Juan M. Rguez-Baron, Shaleyla Kelez, Michael Lilies, Alan Zavala Norzagaray, Olga L. Torres-Suárez, and Diego Amorocho, pp. 139–186. Draft Report of the IUCN-SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Moore, Jerry D. 2017. The Multivalent Mollusk: Spondylus, Ritual, and Politics in the Prehispanic Andes. In Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas, edited by Barber, Sarah B. and Joyce, Arthur A., pp. 256–283. Taylor and Francis, London.Google Scholar
Munizaga, Juan R. 1965. Appendix 2: Skeletal Remains from Sites of the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases. In Early Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador: The Valdivia and Machalilla Phases, edited by Meggers, Betty J., Evans, Clifford, and Estrada, Emilio, pp. 219–234. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Vol. 1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Munizaga, Juan R. 1976. Intentional Cranial Deformation in the Pre-Columbian Populations of Ecuador. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 45:687–694.Google Scholar
Norton, Presley, Lunniss, Richard, and Nayling, Nigel. 1983. Excavaciones en Salango, Provincia de Manabí, Ecuador. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana 3:9–72.Google Scholar
Pearsall, Deborah M. 2003. Plant Food Resources of the Ecuadorian Formative. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond, J. and Burger, Richard, pp. 213–257. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Phenice, T. 1969. A Newly Developed Visual Method of Sexing the Os Pubis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 30(2):297–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prümers, Heiko, Ugalde, María Fernanda, and Dyrdahl, Eric. 2022. Machalilla Revisited: New Data for the Early Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador. Journal of Global Archaeology 2022:138–201. https://doi.org/10.34780/p4a6-406a.Google Scholar
Raymond, J. Scott. 2003. Social Formations in the Western Lowlands of Ecuador during the Early Formative. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond, J. and Burger, Richard, pp. 33–67. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Frederick A., and Scott Raymond, J.. 1996. Formative Settlement Patterns in the Valdivia Valley, SW Coastal Ecuador. Journal of Field Archaeology 23:205–224.Google Scholar
Stahl, Peter. 1986. Hallucinatory Imagery and the Origin of Early South American Figurine Art. World Archaeology 18:134–150.Google Scholar
Stahl, Peter. 2003. The Zooarchaeological Record from Formative Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond, J. and Burger, Richard L., pp. 175–212. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Staller, John E. 2001. Shamanic Cosmology Embodied in Valdivia VII-VIII Mortuary Contexts from the Site of La Emerenciana, Ecuador. In Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations: Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Contexts in South America, edited by Staller, John E. and Currie, Elizabeth J., pp. 19–36. BAR International Series 982. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Steele, D. Gentry. 1976. The Estimation of Sex on the Basis of the Talus and Calcaneous. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 45:581–588.Google Scholar
Stewart, T. 1958. The Rate of Development of Vertebral Osteoarthritis in American Whites and Its Significance in Skeletal Age Identification. The Leech 28(3–5):144–151.Google Scholar
Stothert, Karen E. 2003. Expression of Ideology in the Formative Period of Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond, J. and Burger, Richard, pp. 337–421. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stothert, Karen E. 2007. Valdivia, Machalilla y Chorrera: El arte y los artistas primigenios. In Ecuador: El arte secreto del Ecuador precolombino, edited by Klein, Daniel and Cevallos, Iván Cruz, pp. 11–31. 5 Continentes, Milan.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Lawrence E. 1988. Icanchu's Drum: An Orientation to Meaning in South American Religions. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, Douglas H. 1978. Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation. Aldine Manuals on Archaeology. Aldine Publishing, Chicago.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, Douglas H. 1988. Apéndice II: Restos humanos prehistóricos del sitio Cotocollao, Provincia del Pichincha, Ecuador. In Cotocollao: Una aldea formativa del valle de Quito, edited by Villaba O., Marcelo, pp. 557–571. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana Serie Monográfica 2. Museos del Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, Douglas H. 2003. Health Issues in the Early Formative of Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond, J. and Burger, Richard, pp. 259–287. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
van der Merwe, Nicolaas J., Lee-Thorp, Julia A., and Scott Raymond, J.. 1993. Light Stable Isotopes and the Subsistence Base of Formative Cultures at Valdivia, Ecuador. In Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level, edited by Lambert, Joseph B. and Grupe, Gisela, pp. 63–97. Springer Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Villalba, Marcelo (editor). 1988. Cotocollao: Una aldea formativa del valle de Quito. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana Serie Monográfica 2. Museos del Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito.Google Scholar
Vitebsky, Piers. 2000. Shamanism. In Indigenous Religions: A Companion, edited by Harvey, Graham, pp. 55–67. Cassell, London.Google Scholar
Wallis, Robert J. 2016. The Bwili or “Flying Tricksters” of Malakula: A Critical Discussion of Recent Debates on Rock Art, Ethnography and Shamanism. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8:735–760.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason, and Canuto, Marcello A.. 2000. Introducing an Archaeology of Communities. In The Archaeology of Communities, edited by Canuto, Marcello A. and Yaeger, Jason, pp. 1–15. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 1998. Cosmology and Community Plan in Early Formative Ecuador: Some Lessons from Tropical Ethnoastronomy. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 26(1/2):37–68.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 2000. Gender, Status and Community in Early Valdivia Society. In The Archaeology of Communities, edited by Canuto, Marcello A. and Yaeger, Jason, pp. 161–181. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 2003. Appendix A: Formative Period Chronology for the Coast and Western Lowlands of Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond, J. and Burger, Richard, pp. 487–527. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 2008. The Ecuadorian Formative. In Handbook of South American Archaeology, edited by Silverman, Helaine and Isbell, William, pp. 459–488. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A., and McEwan, Colin. 2021. Squaring the Circle in Ancient Ecuador: Dualism, Quadripartition, and Spatial Hierarchy as Elements of Emergent Social Complexity. In Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: Toward an Integrated Approach, edited by Hoopes, John W. and McEwan, Colin, pp. 343–375. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A., Stahl, Peter, and Sutliff, Marie. 1998. Shamanistic Elements in a Terminal Valdivia Burial, Northern Manabí, Ecuador: Implications for Mortuary Symbolism and Social Ranking. In Recent Advances in the Ideology of the Northern Andes: In Memory of Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, edited by Oyuela-Caycedo, Augusto and Scott Raymond, J., pp. 109–120. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Lunniss and Ubelaker supplementary material 1
Lunniss and Ubelaker supplementary material
File
15 KB
Lunniss and Ubelaker supplementary material 2
Lunniss and Ubelaker supplementary material
File
13.4 KB