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THE PRECERAMIC LAS VEGAS CULTURE OF COASTAL ECUADOR

Karen E. Stothert

This article begins with a description of excavations in the Las Vegas type site on the Santa Elena Peninsula,Ecuador. A pre-Las Vegas phase (11,000 to 10,000 B.P.) is defined provisionally, and the Early Las Vegas(10,000 to 8000 B.P.) and Late Las Vegas (8000 to 6600 B.P.) phases are described from artifacts, burials,settlement data, faunal remains, pollen, and phytoliths. The Las Vegas people were unspecialized hunters, fish-ermen, and gatherers living in a littoral zone who added plant cultivation to their subsistence system before 8, 000years ago. Evidence for bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and primitive maize (Zea mays L.) was found in theLas Vegas type site. The differences between the modern, semiarid environment and the environment of thepreceramic period are accounted for without hypothesizing climatic change. Las Vegas is interpreted as a localmanifestation of an early tropical forest cultural tradition out of which developed the ceramic-stage cultures ofthe Ecuadorian coast.

The Las Vegas culture is known from 31 sites, located on the Santa Elena Peninsula of southcoastal Ecuador (Figure 1), which were occupied between 10,000 and 6600 B.P. The Las Vegaspeople were comprehensive hunters, gatherers, and primitive farmers whose cultural affiliation waswith preceramic groups distributed primarily along the coasts of western Panama, Colombia, andnorthern Peru. Las Vegas culture represents an early, sedentary adjustment to an ecologically complexcoastal environment, and is another example of an early post-Pleistocene sedentary adaptation toenvironments with high biotic potential (see also Niederberger 1979).

In this report Las Vegas is interpreted as a local variant of early Tropical Forest culture (Lathrap1970; Ranere 1980), and a likely antecedent for the ceramic-stage Valdivia culture. The Las Vegasevidence has permitted the first detailed reconstruction of a preceramic culture in Ecuador. It isparticularly important that the Vegas finds include the largest group of human skeletons of suchgreat antiquity in the New World, and evidence that bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and primitivemaize (Zea mays L.) were utilized by these preceramic people as early as 8000 B.P.

This research also has some implications for the ongoing controversy over the impact of climatechange on the prehistoric peoples of southwestern Ecuador. The evidence indicates that the Vegasperiod climatic patterns were very similar to modern ones, and the differences between the Vegaspaleo-environment and the modern desert environment are accounted for without a hypothesis ofclimate change.

Las Vegas was defined originally by Lanning (1967), but this description and interpretation isbased on my research carried out between 1977 and 1982. This article summarizes the excavationof the Vegas type site (OGSE-80), and treats the analysis and interpretation of Las Vegas floral and

faunal remains, artifacts, burial and settlement patterns, paleo-environment, and culture history.

SITE OGSE-80

The Excavations

Site 80 (2?13'S; 80?52'W) is located near the western tip of the Santa Elena Peninsula, about 4km from the modern beaches of Santa Elena Bay. The site lies about 33 m above sea level on a

Karen E. Stothert, Division of Behavioral and Cultural Sciences, University of Texas at San Antonio, SanAntonio, TX 78285 and Museo Antropol6gico, Banco Central del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador

American Antiquity, 50(3), 1985, pp. 613-637.Copyright ?) 1985 by the Society for American Archaeology

613

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614 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 50, No. 3, 1985]

COLOMBIA

VALD I VI A

ECUADOR

PALMAR m

a 1d 20 30 kmr i ara th dark ms1

depth.~~~~~~~~

Figure 1. Map of southwestern Guayas Province, Ecuador, showing the Santa Elena Peninsula, the moderntowns, and the major river systems.

small hill near the origin of the seasonal Las Vegas River (Figure 2). Erosion has reduced the extentof the site from perhaps 13,000 M2 of midden to about 2,250 M2 of which about 3003hou thedeepest deposits have been excavated (Figure 3). Whilere e cultural deposits in sandy soil reacheda depth of 300 cm in a restricted area, the dark midden deposits ranged from 1d0 to1n 0 cm in

depth.This dark midden is gray in color, homogeneous in texture, and shows no visible stratificationexcept for the occurrence of aeolian deposits at the surface and the appearance of shelsoils mixedwith sand just above sterile (Figure 4). Ancient pattens of habitation, rubbish disposal, and burialobscured both living floors and activity areas, and resulted in a nearly homogenized midden withfew preserved features. Probably people continued to build shelters and dig pits throughout the

occupation of the site, but only the earliest features were identified during excavation because theyintruded into the underlying sterile soil. As expected, no evidence for seasonal differences in sub-sistence was recovered, and no periods of abandonment were obvious in the midden.

The intact midden soil consisted of organic sediments and sand, which contained shell, animal

bone, artifacts, stone manuports, phytoliths, charcoal, and pollen. Large clam shells appeared asdiscrete individuals in the walls of the excavations (Figure 4), and the density of these mollusks

was low except on recently eroded ground surfaces. While a few Valdivia and Guangala ceramicsherds were recovered in superficial contexts, the bulk of the midden at Site 80 was aceramic.

Although not visibly stratified, the radiocarbon dates from Cut F-H/8- 11 (Table 1 and Figures 3



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REPORTS 615

, BAY OF SANTA ELENA = S8',SALL BARTA(

PACIFIC OCEAN

0 1 2 3 km 9* 4<

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Figure 2. The western part of the Santa Elena Peninsula showing modern towns (hexagons), the Las Vegastype site (large dot), other preceramic sites (small dots), the 10 m contour line (dotted lines), hills above 50 m(broken lines), and intermittent rivers (heavy solid lines).

and 4) are in good stratigraphic order, indicating that the 100 cm of deposit in the northeasternpart of the site accumulated regularly from about 9,500 to 7,000 years ago. Although no living floorswere identified, I did discern a discontinuous shell layer, which I traced across the exposed profilesof several cuts in the northeastern

portionof the site

(Figure 4).This marker was not well defined

and it was very disturbed by burial features, but the validity of a stratigraphic discontinuity wassupported by other evidence: the faunal remains from below and above the stratigraphic marker inCut F-H/8- 11 showed a change in subsistence between the earlier and later occupations of the site.

Cut F-H/8- 11 also presented evidence of a Vegas shelter. A narrow circular trench was discovered,which had been excavated to a depth of 10 to 25 cm into hard, sterile sand and back-filled withmidden and sand. The trench would have been suitable for supporting the wall poles of a structureabout 180 cm in diameter. An interruption in the northeast side of the trench (Figure 5) maycorrespond to an ancient doorway. Since the wind never blows from the northeast on the peninsula,but can blow strongly from other directions, it is reasonable to interpret this feature as the walltrench of a shelter.

Within the postulated wall trench was a pit filled with midden soil; a skeleton was found just

above the base of the midden under the doorway of the shelter. Two meters away, just above sterilesand, was a hearth (Feature 62) containing animal bone, fire-altered rock and shell that gave an ageof 8,920 ? 120 years: 6970 B.C. (Tx-4460, Table 1). The location of these features, other pits, and



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N

0 5m

Figure 3. Plan of Site OGSE-80 showing topographic elief and excavations made between 1977 and 1980.Contour ines show 50 cm intervals. Extent of intact midden s indicated by stippling. Locations of Cuts F-H/8-11, in the east, and B-E/110-113, in the west, are indicated n black. A gully originates ust west of the site.

some flat-surfaced artifacts within a few meters of each other at the same stratigraphic level suggestedthat when the site was first occupied the people built a shelter, cooked near their doorway, andexcavated storage and refuse pits nearby.

The intact midden contained several concentrations of fire-altered rock at various levels, and twogroups of pits were distinguished in the yellow, sterile stratum beneath the midden. These ranged

from 20 to 65 cm in diameter and contained dark midden soil. One group of pits was associatedwith the shelter and living floor described above, and a second group clustered over a similar-sizedarea, under leached midden, where there was no other evidence of a living floor.

While much of the site consisted of shallow midden disturbed by many burials, another interestingarea was excavated at the western edge of the site where a meter of leached midden overlay deepyellow sand that contained some cultural materials and evidence of a fossil gully. Charcoal andshell from the leached midden and the cultural levels within the yellow sand yielded three radiocarbondates (Stratigraphic Series B-H/109-114, Table 1) all earlier than 10,000 years, indicating that thiswas the oldest part of the site (Figure 3). The cultural remains were insufficient to permit either adescription of the early occupation or a distinction between the early remains and the preceramicmaterials found elsewhere in the site.

Most of the following reconstruction of Las Vegas culture is based on the analysis of the middencontents without phase distinctions. However, a series of dates, as well as the bulk of the organicremains analyzed, came from Cut F-H/8- 11 in which two chronologically distinct units have beenrecognized and are described below.



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REPORTS 617

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Table 1. Radiocarbon Dates from Site OGSE-80.

Radio-Material Laboratory carbon Age

Provenience of Sample Dated Number (years B.P.)

Stratigraphic Series F-H/8-11G-H/8-9, 90-95 cm shella Tx-3313 7440 ? 100G-H/9, 95-100 cm shell Tx-3314 7150 ? 70G-H/8-9, 105-110 cm shell Tx-3315 8170 ? 70Feature 62 (J/8, 115-125

cm) shell Tx-4460 8920 ? 120G-H/8, 140 cm shell Tx-3316 9550 ? 120F-H/8-11, 100-140 cm plus

G-H/1-5, 90-100 cmb charcoal I-10,097 8810 ? 395

Central MiddenSC/9, 100-110 cm shell Tx-3772 9800 ? 100

OGSE-80c shell L-1042F7600 ? 100

OGSE-80c shell L-1042A 8600 ? 200

BurialsFeature 86d bone Tx-3898 7710 ? 240Feature 24d bone Tx-3413 8250 ? 120Feature 34e bone Tx-3318 6750 ? 150Feature 25Ae bone Tx-4463 6600 ? 150

Stratigraphic Series D-H/109-114CH 111-112, 150-170 cm shell Tx-4461 10,100 ? 130D-E 110, 185-205 cm charcoal Tx-3770 10,840 + 410B-D 112-113, 210-300 cmb charcoal Tx-4706 10,300 + 240

a Only remains of the shellfish Anadara tuberculosa were dated.b A composite sample.c The sample was excavated by Edward P. Lanning and its exact provenience

is unknown.d Primary burial.e Massive secondary burial.

Summary of Dating

The preceramic occupation of the peninsula was dated on the basis of the radiocarbon determi-nations listed in Tables 1 and 2. The dates were neither corrected nor calibrated because they wereall older than 6,000 years. Although they may not be translated directly into calendar dates, theydo inspire confidence because (1) they form a relatively coherent series; (2) the assays were made

on three different organic materials (shell, charcoal and human bone); (3) the dating was done bythree different laboratories with substantial agreement in the results; and (4) the dates agreed withindependent stratigraphic interpretations. In Ecuador, Anadara tuberculosa (a mangrove mollusk)has been used frequently for dating and the resulting determinations have been both internallyconsistent and in agreement with assays of other organic materials. Eight dates from the centralpart of Site 80 indicated that midden accumulated there from about 9,800 to 7,150 years ago(Table 1).

On the basis of a stratigraphic break in Cut F-H/8-11 (Figure 3), this occupation was dividedinto two phases. The Early Las Vegas phase was defined by the deep strata dated between 9,800and 8,000 years ago (Tx-3315, Tx-3316, 1-10,097, Tx-3772, L-1042F, L-1042A). The Late LasVegas phase was defined on the basis of more superficial deposits and from the burials that intrudedinto the early midden. Seven radiocarbon dates spanned the period from 8,250 to 6,600 years ago(Tx-3313, Tx-3314, Tx-3315, Tx-3989, Tx-3413, Tx-3318, Tx-4463). These were used to date theLate Las Vegas phase. For convenience this was assigned a beginning date of 8,000 years ago and



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- 10

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F

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Figure 5. The wall trench (Feature 63) of a Las Vegas shelter. The stakes do not indicate post holes. Themaze-effect in the sandy soil was caused by root penetration. A hearth (Feature 62) is seen in the foregroundand two flat-surfaced rtifacts appear n the left foreground.

an ending date of 6,600. No midden deposit corresponded to the end of this period: only burialstestified to human activity at Site 80 after about 7,000 years ago.

The western zone of Site 80, where anomalous deep cultural deposits were discovered, providedevidence for the earliest occupation of the site. Three dates from the deep excavation did not overlapthe series of dates from the rest of the site, and all of these were earlier than 10,000 years (Tx-446 1,Tx-3770, and Tx-4706). I have provisionally designated a Pre-Las Vegas occupation dated 11,000to 10,000 years ago.

Faunal Remains

The terrestrial animals identified from bones preserved in the midden were deer (probably Ma-zama and less frequently Odocoileus), ox (Dusicyon sechurae), rabbit, small rodents, weasel, ant-eater, squirrel, one peccary, opposum, frog, boa constrictor, indigo snake, parrot, and lizard (Byrd1976; Chase 198 1; Wing 198 1). These animals were exploited for food. All of the species are commonin, or can invade, semiarid environments, and all are found today within 70 km of Site 80.

The fish in the faunal assemblage were marine species still found in the waters of the peninsula.Most could be caught in inshore waters, and especially in tidal estuaries, with a baited hook (Byrd1976). Such species may have been taken with fish poison, which is a traditional technique on thepeninsula. While some of the species in the Vegas assemblage were also found offshore, there wasno evidence to support the idea that the Vegans were skilled in offshore navigation.

The invertebrate assemblage was dominated by concha prieta (A nadara tuberculosa) which doesnot occur in any numbers outside mangrove swamps. Intertidal species and crab were also harvested

in relatively small quantities by the Vegans.



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620 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 50, No. 3,1985]

Table 2. Radiocarbon Dates from Non-Ceramic Sites on theSanta Elena Peninsula.

Site Radiocarbon

(OGSE- Provenience Material Laboratory Age CulturalNo.) of Sample Dated Number (years B.P.) Affiliation

201 Cut 2 shella Tx-3774 9460 ? 100 Vegas0-20 cm

78 Cut 2 shell Tx-3775 8600 ? 100 Vegas0-25 cm

38B Cut 2 shell Tx-3773 8100 ? 130 VegasLevel 5

202 Surface shell Tx-3776 7780 ? 90 Vegas38A Test pitb shell L-1042B 7250 ? 150 Vegas

shell L-1042E 4800 ? 150 Valdivia?203 Surface shell Tx-3777 6900 ? 80 Vegas213 Surface shell Tx-4485 5830 ? 80 post-Ve-

gas?63 Cut 3 shell 1-7069 4685 ? 95 Valdivia?20 cm

80 Range of 13 shell, char- - 6600 to 9800 Vegasdates coal, hu-from cen- man bonetral mid-den

a In all cases only remains of the shellfish Anadara tuberculosa were dated.bExcavated by Edward P. Lanning in 1964.

Calculations of the caloric value for the minimum number of individuals of each animal species

represented in an excavated sample permitted estimation of the relative contribution of terrestrialanimals, marine fish, and shellfish to the diet of the people of the Late Las Vegas phase (Byrd 1976:Table 30; Stothert 1981). In this small sample, terrestrial animals accounted for about 54% of thecalories consumed from animal sources, fish contributed about 35% and shellfish about 11%. Fishis probably underestimated in the calculations because the small bone that passed through the 0.5cm screen has not been analyzed, and shellfish are over-represented because of the relatively goodpreservation of shell. These data indicate that the Las Vegans were broad-spectrum hunters andgatherers. Since there is little seasonal variation in the availability of fish, shellfish, small animalsor deer on the coast, it is likely that the Vegans enjoyed a constant supply of animal protein.

A comparison of the faunal assemblages from below and above the stratigraphic break in CutF-H/8- 11 (Figure 4) showed a subtle evolution of exploitation patterns from the Early to the Late

Las Vegas phase. The earlier people concentratedon land animals, principally deer, while the later

people were slightly more involved in fishing. Similarly, the invertebrate assemblages from the twodistinct stratigraphic units showed that the Early Vegans exploited Anadara tuberculosa more ex-clusively (81 to 87% of the early assemblages) than did the Late Vegans whose assemblages consistedof 57 to 70% Anadara t. and up to 43% intertidal species.

Plant Remains

Vegetable fibers were not preserved in the soils of the peninsula, but the outline of the fruit of

bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) was identified in yellow, sandy soil at Site 80 when a dark stainwas sectioned and allowed to dry. This ghost feature appeared in a deep stratum with an age of10,840 + 410 years: 8890 B.C. (Tx-3770). The overlying midden was also older than 10,000 years(Tx-446 1, Table 1). On the basis of the dates and the stratigraphy, I concluded that bottle gourdwas utilized as early as 10,000 years ago.

A few pollen grains from the Vegas soil were identified by Robert Kautz (Stothert 1981). The 72



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grains were assigned to the following plant families, all of which are represented on the peninsulatoday: Gramineae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, High Spine Compositae, Nyctaginaceae, LowSpine Compositae, Bromeliaceae, Malvacea, Campanulaceae, Nymphaeceae and Umbelliferae. Thesefamilies include plants common in semiarid environments, although they are not necessarily re-stricted to such zones, and while they include economic plants such as cotton (Gossypium barbadenseL.) specific identifications could not be made. Two pollen grains were identified as Acacia, a legu-minous tree found on the peninsula today, and one grain was identified as Typha or cattail, whichcan be found today near Site 80 after heavy rains.

A preliminary examination of the charcoal from Site 80 suggested that some leguminous woodswere being used as fuel (Thomas Steams, personal communication). The identification of Acacia inthe pollen assemblage makes it likely that that tree was exploited for fuel.

The Vegas soil showed a high concentration of phytoliths from the epidermal cells of grass, whilefew other kinds of plants were represented (Piperno 1981). Using size criteria designed by Pearsall(1978, 1979), Piperno initially concluded that the large and extra-large cross-shaped phytolithsfound in both features and stratigraphic levels corresponding to the Late Las Vegas phase were

evidence for maize (Piperno 1981). Piperno (1984) has recently developed morphological criteriafor the separation of maize and wild grass silica: the basis of the distinction is the three-dimensionalstructure of the cross-shaped phytoliths. A re-analysis of the Vegas soils (Piperno 1981, addendumto the main paper) showed that Late Las Vegas excavated soils were characterized by phytoliththree-dimensional morphologies like those of maize, while the pre-8000 B.P. deposits showedmorphologies characteristic of wild grasses. Piperno concluded that we should not rely on theradiocarbon determination of 8170 B.P. (Table 1) to fix the date of maize introduction on the SantaElena Peninsula because a level only 10 cm above provided an assay 1,000 years younger. However,on the basis of the present evidence, we can say with some confidence that between 7,000 and 8,000years ago the inhabitants of Site 80 began cultivating a primitive maize.

While an 8000 B.P. date for the presence of maize in Ecuador seems too early to some scholars,it coincides with the opinions of some botanists (Pickersgill and Heiser 1978) and archaeologists(Lathrap 1977; Pearsall 1978) who have supported the thesis that there existed an early movementof a primitive form of maize from its home in Mesoamerica to South America.

In addition to bottle gourd and what could be primitive maize, the Vegans had probably addedother cultivated plants to their subsistence system by 8,000 years ago. Examples might have includedsquash, beans, cotton, and root crops. There is no evidence of the wild plants used for food, rawmaterials or medicine in Vegas times. One imagines that, like modern hunters and gatherers, theVegans depended on wild plants for much of their subsistence even if they did do gardening.

Artifacts

Just as the Vegas subsistence focus was very broad, so the technology was unspecialized. Theproblem remains, however, that only a small portion of the material inventory of these preceramicpeople was recovered. Bone was well preserved in Vegas sites, but few bone artifacts have beenrecovered. These included three finely pointed objects about 2 cm long that may be broken darttips or parts of composite fishhooks (Julio Montane, personal communication). An incomplete bluntobject 5 cm long and a broken spatula-shaped bone about the same length may have served as toolsfor making nets or textiles.

Mollusk shell was worked into scoops or dishes, beads, tiny closed containers, and other shapedobjects. Some tiny univalves and conch shells may have served as whistles and trumpets. Somelarge conch shells found with burials were perforated and probably hafted for use as digging tools.

Quantities of red and yellow ocher and some black pigments were processed at Site 80, anddiatomaceous earth, a fine abrasive, apparently had industrial applications there. Pieces of low-firedclay showing the impressions of small twigs and grass were found in the midden and were interpretedas burned daub from shelters that were constructed

of plant materials and mud.The rest of the tool kit consisted of lithic objects. Chert flakes and chunks abounded in Vegassites and no doubt served for preparing food and for making other tools and equipment from wood,



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622 AMERICAN NTIQUITY [Vol. 50, No. 3, 1985]

Figure 6. A flattened quartzite pebble with edge-grinding along one side and two ends. Early Las Vegasphase.

bamboo, reeds, 'and bark. About 5% of the chert flakes over 1 cm long showed some edge retouchdesigned to regularize short segments of edge or to change the angle of the cutting edge. No definableformal types were produced in this fashion. The flaked chert assemblage included no bifaciallyworked artifacts and stone projectile points were absent.

Natural,5 water-worn quartzite pebbles or cobbles showing only minor modification due to usewere common in the Vegas refuse. These were used as percussors in knapping chert and in batteringdurable materials. Some served as anvils and others showed distinct edge-grinding (Figure 6). Similaredge wear has been identified on artifacts all over America, particularly at early coastal sites inColombia, Venezuela, and Panama. These tools probably served for processing plant matter (Ranere1976).

Two ground stone axes and one flaked axe were recovered at Site 80 and a single flake from apolished stone artifact was found deep in the midden. The smaller ground stone axe (Figure 7) wasfound in association with a Vegas burial and is likely to be of Late Las Vegas age. It is not similarto later axes from the peninsula. The other two artifacts are similar to some from later, ceramiccultures, and they are likely to be intrusive in the preceramic midden. Several pebbles with smoothbevels were found at Site 80; they might have been used for polishing stone axes (Cooke 1977).

Several flat-surfaced, circular stone artifacts were recovered, ranging from 10 to 14 cm in diameter.Although these did not show heavy wear patterns, they probably served to grind small amounts offood, drugs, or pigments. The largest of these artifacts was found apparently stored within a pitexcavated into sterile soil beneath deep Vegas midden.

Some Vegas containers were fashioned from shell, and bottle gourds may have been used asreceptacles also. A few burial bundles were so neatly rectangular in outline that the bones musthave been arranged in boxes or baskets.



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._ .~~~~~J-

Figure 7. Polished andesite axe with a pecked waist found n association with a Late Las Vegas burial.

This material inventory gives the impression of a rather impoverished technology. The impressionmay be false however, because of the lack of evidence for structures, equipment, containers, artworks, and textiles made of vegetable materials. Furthermore the evidence for possible technologicalchange was also weak since the artifact samples were so small.

SETTLEMENT PATTERN

Lanning and Stothert discovered 31 nonceramic sites on the western peninsula that were assignedto the Las Vegas complex. Although erosion and construction destroyed some perceramic sites, itis unlikely that any have been submerged, since tectonic uplift has more than kept pace with marineemergence since the end of the Pleistocene. Although extensive survey was conducted in several

zones further east, aceramic sites were not identified there. Preceramic people may have inhabitedthe inland zone, but the absence of shell would make the inland sites difficult to identify.The known sites were reduced in size by erosion. Today they consist of midden and surface scatter



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covering areas ranging from 50 m2 to about 400 M2. None of the sites was a shell midden, althoughsome shell was present in all cases. Small excavations (from 2 m2 to 10 m2) were made in 12 ofthese.

Table 2 presents radiocarbon dates from eight nonceramic sites. Six of the sites had dates thatranged from 6900 to 9460 B.P., effectively spanning the Early and Late Las Vegas periods. Onlyone site, OGSE-213, which was a surface scatter of artifacts and shell, produced a date that fell inthe post-Las Vegas period. Another late date indicated that some of the midden at Site 38A ac-cumulated in the Valdivia period. Site 63, originally assigned to the Achallan complex, which isnow in doubt (Stothert 1983), yielded a late date, which also implied a ceramic-stage occupation.

Sixteen securely identified Las Vegas sites were located more than 10 m above modem sea level,usually on small hilltops overlooking either the bay, the estuary of the Rio Grande, or the hills andravines of the upper Las Vegas River (Figure 2). When the less-confidently defined Las Vegas siteswere added to the sample, their geographical distribution followed the same pattern. There was amaximum distance of 6 km between any two sites, and all were located relatively close to all theresource areas of the western peninsula.

A comparison among these sites, including Site 80, showed that a wide variety of animals wasexploited at each, and the evidence did not support a hypothesis of economic or seasonal variationamong the sites. Nor did the lithic inventories suggest specialization in the activities at any site.

The evidence does not support Lanning's idea that these sites represented the coastal and inlandsettlements of a group of people that moved seasonally (Lanning 1967; Willey 1971). There wereno economic differences among the sites, and the distances between them were very small. Lanning'sinterpretation rested on the lack of shell in the surface sites south and east of Santa Elena (Figure2). While he attributed this to economic differences, I believe that it was the result of erosion, whichleft only lithic artifacts scattered on the denuded surface after the rest of the midden, includingshells, had washed into the ravines.

HUMAN PHYSICAL REMAINS

Ubelaker (1980) studied the remains of at least 192 individuals who, based on the radiocarbonages of four skeletons (Table 1), died in the Late Las Vegas period between 8250 and 6600 B.P.This is the largest group of skeletons of such great age reported in the New World.

Ubelaker concluded that the "Demographic and pathological inferences from the [Las Vegas]sample generally match with those expected from a pre-intensive-agricultural population" (1980:23). Ubelaker compared Las Vegas samples with later samples from Ecuador and noted that theVegas people did not suffer from the deleterious effects of intensive agriculture, and that no examplesof porotic hyperostosis were found in the Vegas population, whereas bones from both the late Ayalansite and from the Buena Vista Valdivia site did show such lesions as may result from vitamindeficiency anemia related to dietary dependence on maize (Ubelaker 1980:23).

BURIAL PATTERNS

Analysis of the burial patterns was based on 65 burial features containing at least 192 individuals.Supplementary data came from 22 additional burials from which the skeletal material was notanalyzed. The sample contained 122 adults and 70 subadults, with a relatively even representationof males (55) and females (63).

The Las Vegas burial practices included the primary burial of one or two individuals, the secondaryburial of bone material in irregular or regular bundles, and the secondary burial of large numbersof disarticulated skeletons in ossuaries. On the basis of stratigraphy and radiocarbon ages (Table1), the burials were assigned to the Late Las Vegas phase.

Primary Burial

Single skeletons were often found flexed and resting on their sides in deep midden just abovesterile ground. The degree of flexion and the position of the feet of some skeletons indicated that



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the bodies had been wrapped or stuffed into small pits. The actual pit was identified in only onecase where it had been excavated into sterile sand and filled with soil of contrasting color. In thisfeature two adults of undetermined gender were arranged in a round hole just large enough toaccommodate their flexed bodies, which were oriented in opposite directions. Most burials wereremoved from the midden where they were unassociated with other features. One exception wasthe skeleton of a female over 45 years old found beneath the doorway of the Vegas shelter describedabove.

Most individuals were buried lying on their right or left sides, with the right side being about 1.5times more popular than the left side. There were no differences between males and females withrespect to burial position, but subadults were found more frequently flexed on their left sides. Ananalysis of the orientation of 34 single, primary burials showed that males tended to be buried withtheir heads toward the west or southwest (75% of a sample of 8), while females (a sample of 17)were oriented in all directions without preference. The male pattern contrasted with that of thesubadult population in which only 11% (one individual out of nine) were oriented toward the west.

Of the 26 primary, single burials of known gender, only eight were male (33%) and 18 (66%) were

female. Since the overall sex ratio at the site was near equality, this sexual imbalance in the primaryburials indicates that females and males were given different treatment: females apparently receivedor remained in primary burials more frequently than males. Males may have been exhumed andkept elsewhere more often than females.

Two primary burials contained pairs of individuals. One such feature was described above, andthe other consisted of a male and a female, both in their early twenties (Douglas H. Ubelaker,personal communication 1978), who were buried at about the same time. Both skeletons wereoriented east, which is unusual for a male, and six large stones were arranged on top of the two.Stones were also found on top of an infant burial. Some tropical forest people place heavy objectson top of burials to protect the deceased from evil (Nimuendaju 1948:292), and large stones havealso been found in top of subadult skeletons in preceramic sites in Peru (for example, Castro de laMata and Bonavia 1980:515).

Small Secondary Burial

The small secondary burials were the results of the reburial of bones without flesh, and thesecontained the fragmentary or relatively complete remains of one or more adults or subadults.

These secondary burials were found in deep midden, in shallow contexts, and in association withprimary burials. Some had very rectangular forms, indicating that the bones were arranged originallyin perishable containers (Figure 8), and others took the shape of irregular piles of bones. Isolatedskulls, clavicles and innominate bones may have been separated intentionally from other skeletalmaterial, manipulated, and given secondary burial. However, the bones represented in the assem-blage as a whole do not show a clear pattern of cultural selection (Ubelaker 1980:15).

Massive Secondary Burial

Four massive secondary burials (ossuaries) were excavated near the center of the site (Figure 9).These were round in outline, ranging from 1 to 2 m in diameter and resting on a few centimetersof refuse just above sterile sand. Probably the bones were heaped into pits to a depth of 30 to 50cm, and then the holes were back filled. However, the size and shape of the largest ossuaries recallthe plan of the hypothesized Vegas structure. This similarity suggests the possibility that these burialswere made in shelter.

One of the ossuaries, Feature 25A, contained the partial remains of at least 17 adults and 21subadults. Within the feature were distinct groups of bones that may have been stacked in perishablecontainers. In one such arrangement, all the skulls were oriented facing east. Two articulated sub-adults (8 and 9 years old) were interred within the bone pile, a partially articulated adult male alsowas found among the bones, and another subadult was articulated and buried immediately beneaththe ossuary. In all of the massive burials adult males and females are about equally represented.



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Figure 9. Detail of part of the excavations at Site 80 showing the distribution of burials in the midden andthe location of Cut F-H/8-1 1 (the corresponding grid squares are marked). Unexcavated and disturbed areas arestippled. Feature 63, the wall trench of a Las Vegas shelter, is shown by broken lines.

Burial Associations

Few mortuary offerings were preserved and, in the case of primary burials, it was difficult toseparate offerings from accidentally associated items since the fill of the burial pits could not bedistinguished from the surrounding midden. Primary burials had the foll'owing clear associations:neatly rectangular secondary bone bundles, two containing defleshed bones and one containingcremated bones; shell spoons; perforated conch shells; a polished stone axe head; a compact pile ofsoft limestone balls or marbles; traces of red pigment; cobbles and cobble percussors; flat pebbles,round in outline; small white pebbles; groups of mollusk shells, sometimes forming a pillow or nestfor the deceased; and lithic flakes.

Because the sample of primary burials is small, it is not possible to argue for sex or age differencesin the distribution of grave goods. However, females (74% of 19 burials) and subadults (78% of 9

burials) were more likely to have durable offerings than males (only 56% of 9 burials).The small secondary burials did not have apparent associations, but the massive secondary burials

contained small pebbles rubbed with red pigment; a pair of immature tun shells (Malea ringens)

perforated as if to make small containers; a shell charm; the canine tooth of a peccary; a group offox teeth; cut shell receptacle or spoon; flat-surfaced stone resembling a grinding stone; and shaped

and modified pebble tools. A compact group of 25 colored beach pebbles also was interred inten-tionally in the bottom of one ossuary before the bones were heaped on.



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Summary of Burial Practices

The variety of burials recovered suggests that the Vegans disposed of their dead in a complexmanner. Probably single, primary burial was the normal first step in the disposition of the deceased.

Later the bones were exhumed, manipulated in various ways, and reinterred in one of severalmanners. Of the 192 individuals identified in the burial features studied, 157 received secondaryburial. Since all categories of individuals were represented in the secondary burials, it can beconcluded that manipulation of the defleshed skeletons was part of the mortuary treatment for allsegments of the society.

It seems likely that the dead were exhumed systematically for ritual purposes, but the evidenceoffers only hints about the magico-religious ceremonies that may have been involved.

Comparison of Burial Practices

A review of ethnographic burial practices in Central and South America showed a great array ofcustoms and divergent practices within the same ethnic group and among distinct ethnic groups

(Lowie 1948:38). Primary inhumation in the flexed position was widespread,showing continuity

with the archaeological past. Also the ethnographic record showed that the practice of the manip-ulation of defleshed bones was widespread. Bones were variously exposed or temporarily interred,then exhumed and scraped, bundled, dyed, burned, pulverized, drunk with chicha, re-buried inurns, kept in baskets, hung in houses, carried around by widows, reinterred together, or separated,in which case the skull was buried or retained apart from the rest.

The Vegas burials were similar to those recovered at Valdivia sites (Klepinger 1979; Lathrap etal. 1977:9-10; Meggers et al. 1965:19-20). Both peoples practiced primary and secondary burialand in neither case were abundant grave goods buried with the primary, flexed skeletons-althoughpolished stone axes were used occasionally as offerings in both cultures. It is particularly noteworthy,however, that at Real Alto, a Valdivia site near Chanduy (Figure 1), and at Site 80, an adult femalewas interred under the threshold of an east-facing circular structure.

The Vegas burial customs were similar to those reconstructed from the early site of Cerro Mangote,Panama. Both sites had primary and secondary burials, but it is more significant that the neatlyarranged bundles of bones occur in identical form at Site 80 and at Cerro Mangote. McGimsey'sdescription of one of these bundles perfectly fits the example from Site 80 (Figure 8):

The skull was placed at one end of the rectangle, the pelvis at the opposite end, and the long bones along thetwo remaining sides. The small bones were placed in the center and the ribs arranged on top extending fromthe margins of the rectangle to, and interdigitating along, the major axis of the bundle [McGimsey et al. 1966:11].

This form of bundle was sufficiently complex and specific that it was not likely to have beeninvented by both groups independently. Hence it provides evidence for the relationship betweenthe peoples who lived at the two sites. The date from the midden at Cerro Mangote was 6800 B.P.,

just overlapping the youngest Vegas dates.There was very little information on burial practices of other peoples in this early period, but

there is greater similarity between the burial practices evinced at Cerro Mangote and Site 80 thanbetween either of them and early burial practices in Peru. The secondary burial of disarticulatedbones was not as important in Peruvian sites, while it made up an important aspect of burial atCerro Mangote, Real Alto, and Site 80. Since the burial patterns in these early sites in Ecuador andPanama are most similar to those of ethnographically known people of the tropical forest areas ofCentral and South America, I interpret these patterns as part of an early tropical forest traditionthat has persisted in northwestern South America since before 8000 B.P.

THE ENVIRONMENT

In the following section, evidence for the reconstruction of the Las Vegas paleo-environment isdiscussed in detail in order to support the argument that the environmental conditions in the earlypost-Pleistocene period were similar to today's when the recent effects of deforestation are taken



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into account. By rejecting any hypothesis of climate change, such as those suggested to explain otherpatterns in the ceramic-period archaeology of the peninsula, then the Vegas adaptation can bedescribed within the familiar context of an environment not very different from the one observedtoday.

Modern Conditions

The peninsula, defined as the land west of a line drawn from Playas to Valdivia (Figure 1), isgeologically new and consists of recently uplifted marine terraces. It lies in the tropics, in a zone ofabrupt transition between the dry regions to the south and areas of heavy rainfall to the north andeast. The western part of the peninsula is arid, getting about 250 mm of precipitation in most years,and characterized by cactus scrub vegetation. Moving east, one encounters a quick succession ofzones ranging from semiarid to savanna to sub-humid. The normal vegetation and animal popu-lations also change as one moves across this transition.

An important feature of the peninsula's climate is the seasonal variation in precipitation, with along dry season and a pattern of winter rainfall (January to April). A second salient feature is theperiodic but irregular occurrence of the El Nifio phenomenon, which brings especially heavy rainsand "anos de abundancia" (years of abundance) (Sheppard 1933). While the rains of El Nifio maydestroy roads, nonindustrialized fishing on the peninsula is not seriously interrupted and agriculturalproduction is greatly enhanced by the increased rainfall.

Earlier in this century, the peninsula was the home of farmers who located their gardens in lowareas where moisture was available after even light winter rains. Even in dry years, trees and shrubswere exploited as fuel and raw material. However, in the last 50 years all of the large, native treesadapted to semiarid conditions have been cut for domestic and industrial purposes. The results ofdeforestation are well known: lowered water table, higher evaporation rates, soil erosion, and desertconditions. The apparent aridity of the peninsula today is the result of human depredation, and theoccasional heavy rains are not capable of restoring the stable, mature vegetation of the recent past.

Until about 40 years ago mangrove vegetation persisted in the small estuaries of the westernpeninsula. The critical conditions for the existence of a mangrove swamp are: a favorable minimumair temperature, favorable ocean currents, protection from wave and tidal action, shallow shores,salt water, favorable tidal range, and a favorable mud substrate (Chapman 1975:4-6). Since favorableair temperatures, ocean currents and salt water still characterize the shores of the peninsula, it seemsreasonable that geomorphological changes that resulted in depriving the mangrove plants of theirother requirements for survival were the primary cause of the reduction of the mangrove stands ofthe peninsula (Ferdon 1981; Stothert 1980). By the beginning of this century the lagoons andestuaries, which offered protected tidal zones that the mangrove plants needed, were being closedby tectonic uplift. The final destruction of the reduced mangroves was caused by human interventionsuch as infilling and road building.

Today areas of low, scrubby mangrove vegetation are found at Palmar, about 28 km north ofSite 80. The river that feeds the estuary is seasonal. The swamp depends on tidal waters, and clams,oysters, crab, and fish are harvested in the mangrove zone. Such productive environments werecommon along the entire coast of the peninsula in this century.

In conclusion, the peninsula appeared more well-watered just a few years ago because the plantcommunities were more intact and because mangrove estuaries dotted the coast. While environ-mental conditions were dramatically different, there is no evidence of climatic change to accountfor the changes in the last 50 years. Rather, human intervention has been responsible for thepermanent transformation of the plant and animal communities.

Pleistocene Conditions

Paleontologists working with fossil assemblages less than 25,000 years old from the Santa Elena

Peninsula and the Talara region of northern Peru have concluded that the terrestrial environmentswere relatively open grasslands with gallery vegetation along the river courses and standing waterand swamps along the coast (Campbell 1973; Edmund 1965; Lemon and Churcher 1961). Apparently



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seasonal rains were sufficient to maintain a high water table and vegetation along the drainagecourses while a long dry season resulted in savanna conditions in the zone between rivers (Lemonand Churcher 1961). Compared to today, there may have been greater seasonal rainfall in the LatePleistocene because of the more southerly position of the Inter-Tropical Front (Campbell 1973:5108 as quoted in Richardson 1978). But while the Talara region would have benefitted from greaterrunoff from rivers originating in the mountains (Richardson 1978), the peninsula would havereceived only local precipitation because the rivers do not originate outside the area itself.

But rainfall is not the only factor that accounts for environments. One of the major differencesbetween the contemporary and Pleistocene environments of the peninsula is that the land was muchlower with respect to sea level (Edmund 1965; Sheppard 1937). Both eustatic changes in sea leveland tectonic movement have modified the coastal environments significantly. Edmund points outthat the paleontological strata, which formed as swamps and estuaries at or near sea level, are nowlocated 8 to 20 m above modern sea level (Edmund 1965:4). Although there are no precise datesfor the uplift of the coast of the peninsula, most of the known river estuaries of the Late Pleistoceneare now well above sea level.

In summary, the Late Pleistocene climate had a long dry season and a short wet one resulting inrelatively open grasslands with forest vegetation only along rivers that may not have carried waterall year long. The coastline featured lagoons, bays, and estuaries. The seasonal rainfall was adequateto maintain the water table and the gallery vegetation, and fresh water may have stood for periodsin the river estuaries. It may not have required a large amount of precipitation to maintain thereconstructed conditions as long as the primeval plant community was undisturbed by humanactivity, and as long as the relationship between the land and the sea was stable.

Direct Evidence for the Las Vegas Environment

The terrestrial vertebrate assemblage from the Las Vegas midden showed only species that couldinvade semiarid lands. Today some of these species are most abundant in thorn-scrub environments.

That species such as rabbits prefer woodlands and thickets suggests that the paleo-environmentincluded heavy vegetation, probably along the river courses. Brocket deer (Mazama sp.) probablywere found in the mangrove swamps, where they are found commonly today. All Las Vegasfauna still live in neighboring areas, within 70 km of Site 80. This supports the idea that the LasVegas environments were similar to those seen today and reconstructed for the recent past. Inaddition, absent from the Vegas fauna were species characteristic of moist tropical forests such asguanta (Cuniculus paca), tapir (Tapirus sp.) and monkey.

The occurrence of abundant grass phytoliths in the Vegas soil supports the view that open savannahabitats were common in Vegas times, although the grasses represented may have dominated onlythe disturbed areas immediately around the habitation site. The absence of palm phytoliths, whichare common in archaeological assemblages in humid, tropical regions, is a good indication that theenvironment was sub-humid in Vegas times (D. Piperno, personal communication 1981). The pollenand charcoal recovered in the midden at Site 80 also support the hypothesis that the paleo-envi-ronment was sub-humid (Stothert 1981).

Since Anadara tuberculosa (a mangrove clam) dominated the shellfish assemblages from the Vegassites, it is probable that mangrove swamps were common along the shores. The coast must havebeen characterized by shallow lagoons or estuaries, or have had outlying sandbars or protectivespits. Certainly a heavy seasonal flow of fresh water out of the rivers would have benefitted thedevelopment of the mangrove swamps, but such flow was not critical to their maintenance. Theremains of fish and shellfish other than Anadara tuberculosa indicated that the resources of the sea,estuaries, rocks, and sandy beaches of Vegas times were much the same as they are today.

Lack of Climate Change

Some scholars have developed theories of climatic change to elucidate the prehistoric culturalpatterns of the peninsula (Byrd 1976:31-38; Lanning 1967; McDougle 1967; Paulsen 1971; Sarma1974), however, the detailed evidence that has accumulated for the Vegas and the Valdivia (Pearsall



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1979) phases indicates the existence of climates very similar to the modem one. It seems likely nowthat the basic climate pattern characterized by a long dry season and a short, rainy winter haspersisted on the peninsula since the Pleistocene, and that people developed an adaptation to theseconditions at the end of the Pleistocene.

In the previous sections I have argued that the differences between the Las Vegas environmentand the modem one can be accounted for by the processes of deforestation and geomorphologicalchange along the coastline without resorting to a hypothesis of climatic change. Further I wouldlike to suggest that there has been a great deal of continuity between the modem traditional adaptationof the campesinos of the peninsula and the early prehistoric people, and that climate change, forwhich there is very little substantial evidence at this time, had little impact on the cultures of thepeninsula.

LAS VEGAS ADAPTATION

The Las Vegas social groups were small, but the local community probably had relations with

similar peoples across a wider region. Preceramic refuse has been found near Morro (Figure 1) inthe Guayas estuary about 75 km from Site 80 (Spath 1980). The Vegas people were healthy andtheir way of life endured with little change for more than 3,000 years. The small size of the Vegasshelter is evidence that the nuclear family may have been the main unit of production and con-sumption in Vegas times. Considerable social continuity and stability in the local group was indicatedby the orderly condition of the cemetery at Site 80.

Complex settlement pattern did not evolve in the Vegas period because the same economicactivities could be undertaken conveniently at all the habitation sites. Perhaps families and indi-viduals moved from camp to camp depending upon personal preference rather than upon the strictconstraints of the subsistence system.

Within a 5 km radius of Site 80 were at least 75 km2 of territory, including about 8 km of shorelineintersected by several small rivers. Before recent uplifting, these rivers had broader estuaries, whichsupported mangrove vegetation and other plants and animals. The sand beaches and rocky pointsfound along the shore today also existed in Vegas times.

The terrestrial zone within a 5 km walk of Site 80 encompassed hills up to 60 m in height.Grasslands, deciduous forest, and xerophytic vegetation surely were found there in Vegas times.This zone probably was crossed by seasonal rivers, which had gallery forest growing along theirbanks. Today the flood plains of the Tambo and Las Vegas rivers (Figure 2) that were farmed bypeople throughout the ceramic period continue to be areas of cultivation. The Las Vegas gardensmay have been there also.

Water, which is today (or was in the recent past) found at springs or in shallow pits excavatedby hand in the dry river bottoms, was probably also accessible locally in Vegas times, even after asequence of very dry years. Today the zone within 5 km of Site 80 includes good spots for gathering

shellfish and octopus, and modem artisanal fishermen, operating from the beach and from smallboats without motors, still make a living on the Bay of Santa Elena.Given the juxtaposition of productive marine, estuarine, riverine, and diverse terrestrial environ-

ments within 5 km of the Vegas sites, it surely was not necessary for the people to be mobile.Although there is some seasonal variation in the accessibility of shellfish, fish, and terrestrial animals,all of these resources were available year-round. Some edible plants were probably more seasonal,but even in the dry tropics plant food tends to be available in all seasons (Pearsall 1979:186).

Although the picture of Vegas technology is incomplete, the Vegans seemed to have lacked thespecial equipment that people develop as they become dependent on a particular resource. Forinstance, the Vegans probably were less specialized fishermen than were the later coastal Valdivians(Byrd 1976; Meggers et al. 1965) who depended more heavily on fish and who had shell fishhooks.Similarly, the Vegans may have had simpler plant processing tools and cooking technology than

the Valdivians (Meggers et al. 1965).The Las Vegas people were probably the most self-sufficient, simply-organized, and egalitarian

of the prehistoric peoples of the peninsula. They exploited a greater variety of resources than did



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the later peoples who emphasized fishing, horticulture, and trade. Compared with the later inhab-itants, the Vegans probably invested little labor in satisfying their needs and they did not undertakeprojects requiring major communal efforts as did later people.

While the ceramic period peoples produced commodities for exchange and participated in long-distance trade, there is only a hint that exchange was an important aspect of Las Vegas culture. Thesmall, polished stone axe (Figure 7) might have been produced from material available locally, butit is probably a trade item since it was a unique specimen buried in pristine condition in a tomb.The axe head is unlike later ones found on the peninsula, and it is most similar to axes made duringthe Siches and El Estero periods in northern Peru (Richardson and Barrington Brown 1967:Figures2a, 2c, and 3a). Large numbers of similar axe heads of similar material were found on the Peruviansites and it is likely that they were manufactured there. Since the Peruvian sites are only 270 kmfrom the peninsula by sea, there is some likelihood that the preceramic peoples were in contacteither directly or indirectly via trading networks around the Guayas estuary.

The evidence indicates that by Late Vegas times the people had increased their dependence onfishing, were taking a broader range of shellfish species, and had added primitive maize and bottle

gourd to the list of plants they exploited. There is no ecological argument that would force therejection of the notion that the Vegans were cultivators: the people of the arid, western portion ofthe peninsula have been farmers throughout its later history; but there is certainly no evidence ofa major commitment to agriculture in Vegas times. Rather, the Vegans probably found that gardeningincreased the productivity of the river bottoms and expanded the variety of resources that theyrelied upon.

As the Vegans experimented with gardening and increased their emphasis on fishing, they probablyexperienced some social changes for which there is little evidence except the founding of the cemeteryat Site 80 late in the Las Vegas period. The fact that this large site served as a burying ground, andmay have had other ceremonial functions, suggests the possibility that it had a special role in theintegration of the local group. Taken together, these apparent changes in the Late Las Vegas phasepoint toward an emerging Formative way of life.

CULTURE HISTORY

In this section, Las Vegas is interpreted as part of an early tropical forest tradition, which alsogave rise to the Valdivia culture of the Formative period. The temporal priority of Las Vegas,combined with other evidence for continuity in southwestern Ecuador, is grounds for suggestingthat Valdivia had a cultural antecedent on the Ecuadorian coast.

Preceramic Cultural Affiliations

Las Vegas is the only preceramic complex now recognized from the coast of Ecuador (Stothert1983). While the lack of a variety of preserved remains from the highland sites makes comparisons

difficult, it is clear that the contemporaneous preceramic adaptationsdiffered from Vegas both

technologically and ecologically (see Bell [1965], Lynch and Pollock [1980], Salazar [1979], andTemme [1982]). No archaeological culture from the Ecuadorian highlands can be considered an-cestral to or even closely related to the Las Vegas culture.

Las Vegas is related to preceramic complexes known from tropical forest areas, from formerlyforested areas, and from mangrove coasts in northwestern South America and Central America.For example, the pre-Las Vegas and Early Las Vegas phases correspond chronologically to the

Amotape phase (11,500-8000 B.P.) of northern Peru, which is characterized by simple lithic flakes

likely to have been employed in woodworking (Richardson 1978). The Siches complex (8000-6000B.P.), which follows Amotape in the Talara sequence is contemporaneous with Late Las Vegas.Siches features a simple flake industry like the Vegas one, but has cup-shaped mortars, groovedpebbles, and abundant polished stone axes (Richardson 1973) which are not characteristic of Las

Vegas. Only limited comparisons can be made with the Talara complexes because only shell andlithic artifacts were preserved in sites there. Nevertheless, the two geographical regions are very



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similar, and the Ecuadorian and Peruvian sites were all located in the littoral zone adjacent tomangrove swamps, which suggests that the preceramic peoples of both regions might have adaptedin similar ways.

The El Abra complex from the highlands of Colombia is also characterized by simple flakes andcores with only limited edge-retouch (Hurt et al. 1976)-an apparent adaptation to a forested zone.As early as 9,000-10,000 years ago, people at El Abra exploited a wide variety of resources withoutspecialization. Most archaeologists do not interpret El Abra as part of Willey's Andean Hunting-Collecting Tradition (1971:50-60); instead they emphasize its affiliation with the complexes de-scribed here (Hurt 1977; Ranere 1972; Stothert 1976).

There are a few small sites on the Pacific coast of Colombia characterized by technically simpleflakes and a few edge-ground pebbles; and sites on the Caribbean coast, such as San Nicolas andPomares, show the same inventory of minimally retouched lithic flakes (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1965).These people probably exploited the diverse resources of the coast, mangrove, estuaries, riverbottoms and adjacent savanna and forest zones as did their successors at sites like Puerto Hormigain the later period (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1971).

There are two important preceramic complexes known in central and western Panama that goback at least 7,000 years (Ranere 1976). These are known from remains in inland rockshelters wherepeople who adapted to the forest environment used a variety of simple lithic tools for workingwood. According to Ranere (1976, 1977), the slightly later coastal adaptation known from CerroMangote was a specialization that developed out of the original, inland, forest way of life. Thereare several important similarities between Cerro Mangote and Las Vegas. Cerro Mangote, dated toabout 6800 B.P. (McGimsey 1958:434), is located on the seasonally-dry Pacific coast adjacent tomangrove swamps, and it is characterized by simple lithic flakes, edge-ground cobbles, and burialpractices very similar to those of Site 80. On the basis of the occurrence of a certain style of secondaryburial package in preceramic sites in both Panama and Ecuador, I have concluded that the twopeoples shared a common burial tradition and were linked historically.

These complexes. including Las Vegas, represent early adaptations to the tropical forest. All featurestone tools for working wood and all employed mixed subsistence strategies that were practiced inat least partly forested environments. All lacked stone projectile points. Among these complexesthere is no hint of big game hunting and, though fishing and shellfishing were important at siteslike Cerro Mangote, I believe that their subsistence economies are best described as broad-basedand not specialized. Most of these preceramic sites were discovered in coastal zones only becausethe presence of shell facilitated their identification. Eventually archaeologists will locate additionalhabitation sites of the inland perceramic peoples as forested areas of South and Central Americaare surveyed.

The preceramic complexes discussed here have been used to define a Northwest South AmericanTradition (Stothert 1976) and an Edge-Trimmed Tool Tradition (Hurt 1977). These two formu-lations are quite similar, and neither treats the problem of the origin of the common preceramic

cultural pattern. At the present writing I believe that the similarities among these preceramiccomplexes are due in part to convergence and primarily to their derivation from a "generalized,early tropical forest tradition" that developed in the Late Pleistocene among immigrants into SouthAmerica who became adjusted to the forest as a result of their occupation of Central America(Ranere 1976:118). This has been called the Tropical Forest Archaic (Ranere 1980:35). This hy-pothetical construct helps to account for the general similarities between Las Vegas and, for example,geographically removed complexes of the East Brazilian Upland Tradition (Willey 1971:61-64;Ranere 1972:123-125), and it helps to explain the very specific similarities between the sites of LasVegas and Cerro Mangote.

Alternatively, the Vegas evidence can be accommodated to the model presented by Lathrap (1970,1977), according to which primitive cultivators expanded out of the Amazon basin into northwesternSouth America and Central America before the end of the Pleistocene. These people fished, hunted,and gathered a variety of animals and plants in addition to having a tradition of house gardens inwhich they cultivated bottle gourd, cotton, and other tropical plants. Lathrap indicated (1 977:Map



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634 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 50, No. 3,1985]

1) that some of these early migrants followed a northern coastal route into Ecuador. The Las Vegasremains may be evidence of those early seed cultivators.

The immediate origin of the Las Vegas people is unknown but data from the Las Vegas sitessupport the hypothesis that the cultivation of domestic plants was a very ancient feature of humanadaptation to the tropical forest environment (Harris 1972; Sauer 1952).

In addition to the probable historical connections among the preceramic peoples of CentralAmerica and northwest South America, it is likely that they participated in a network of exchangeand communication that was the forerunner of the long-distance trade system that linked Mesoamer-ica, northern South America and Peru as early as the third millennium B.C. (Lathrap 1973, 1975).Only the stone axe from a Vegas tomb points to an earlier pattern of trade.

The Origins of Valdivia

In the Late Las Vegas period people were in the process of expanding their horticultural andfishing systems while investing less labor in trapping land animals. Because of the probable sub-humid conditions of the peninsula and the state of technology, these people soon may have reachedthe limits of the agricultural potential of the local area, and the population remained small.

There is an apparent gap of nearly 1,500 years in the archaeological sequence after the Las Vegasoccupation. Only one shell scatter gave a date of 5800 B.P. (Site 213, Table 2), which indicated thatthe peninsula may have been occupied in the post-Las Vegas period, but no distinct culture can bedescribed for that time. The gap could be an accident of preservation or of dating, or a degenerationof the climate may have occasioned the abandonment of the peninsula (McDougle 1967; Sarma1974). Whether there was a period of extreme dryness or not, it is probable that at least a smallpopulation continued to occupy the peninsula. This area, however, was not the locus of importantculture change. It seems more likely that innovation proceeded and the population grew in theriverine lowlands where agriculture could be practiced more extensively.

Around 5300 B.P. the Valdivia people, with expanded fishing technology, intensive agriculture,

developed ceremonialism, and long-distance trade (Lathrap 1975; Lathrap et al. 1977; Marcos et al.1976; Meggers et al. 1965; Pearsall 1978, 1979; Zevallos 1971), occupied sites across the peninsula.The Valdivians achieved more dense population in the well-watered regions of coastal Ecuador(Jorge G. Marcos, personal communication 1982), but given their complex organization and ade-quate technology they found the peninsula habitable also.

Although there is no transition between Vegas and Valdivia on the western Peninsula, it seemsprobable that a generalized preceramic culture of lowland Ecuador, which included Las Vegas as alocal variant, provided the context for the development of Valdivia. There was a continuity oftradition: like Las Vegas, the Valdivia culture has been interpreted as part of Tropical Forest culture(Lathrap 1970, 1975). Throughout the area of distribution of the Tropical Forest Archaic complexes,the preceramic cultures gave rise to Formative cultures in the local area. This continuity is probablebetween Cerro Mangote and Monogrillo in Panama, and is also likely to have held between theknown preceramic complexes and the Puerto Hormiga complex in Colombia.

The hypothesis of continuity between Las Vegas and Valdivia is supported by common basicflaking technologies that are more like each other than either is like any of the other prehistoriccomplexes of the peninsula (Stothert 1974). In addition, identical shell spoons were made by bothVegas and Valdivia people, and the shelter identified at Site 80 is similar in size, shape, and probablemethod of construction to the earliest houses of the Valdivia period at Loma Alta (Damp andClarkson 1980:2-3) and Real Alto (Damp 1979). Perhaps the most significant evidence of continuityis in the burial patterns known from Real Alto and other Valdivia sites. These compare closely topatterns reconstructed at Site 80. When this evidence is combined with the probability that theVegans grew primitive maize in the pre-Valdivia period, we have reason to suspect that we aredealing with two phases in the development of a single cultural tradition.

The best interpretation of the existing evidence is that the flexible and successful preceramicadaptation in lowland, western Ecuador developed into the Valdivia way of life characterized byintensive maize agriculture, large villages, community ceremonialism, early pottery, and exchange



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(Lathrap 1975; Marcos et al. 1976; Marcos and Norton 1981; Meggers et al. 1965; Pearsall 1979;Zevallos 1971). The conditions under which the transition took place remain to be studied. Thepresent research on the Las Vegas culture supports the view that the early preceramic people ofwestern Ecuador were participants in a local cultural process that resulted in the emergence of theFormative way of life.

Acknowledgments. This research was sponsored by the Museo Antropol6gico, Banco Central del Ecuador(Guayaquil). Small grants from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, and from the Faculty ResearchCouncil, Fordham University, helped support the fieldwork during 1977. I am grateful o Olaf Holm for hisunflagging upport of the Vegas project, and to Dena F. Dincauze and to anonymous reviewers for criticalcomments and suggestions on the manuscript.

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