1962 Meggers, B y C. Evans. THE MACHALILLA CULTURE AN EARLY FORMATIVE COMPLEX ON THE ECUADORIAN COAST. American Antiquity, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Oct., 1962), pp. 186-192

Society for American Archaeology
The Machalilla Culture: An Early Formative Complex on the Ecuadorian Coast
Author(s): Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans
Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Oct., 1962), pp. 186-192
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/278376
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THE MACHALILLA CULTURE. AN EARLY FORMATIVE COMPLEX
ON THE ECUADORIAN COAST
BETTY J. MEGGERS AND CLIFFORD EVANS
square meters. The deposit varies in depth from
50-70 centimeters. Modern vegetation is a dense
tangle of xerophytic shrubs and cacti.
Three strata cuts were made on the edge of
the bank, and several tests were also made in
other parts of the site. Refuse consisted of shell,
including a large proportion of Venus clam
(Anomalocardia subrugosaSowerby), markedly
smaller in size than the same type recovered
from the nearby Valdivia site, abundant sherds,
and several kinds of artifacts of pottery, stone,
and shell. One burial was encountered 10-20
centimeters below the surface about a meter
from the edge of the bank. The head was to the
west, and the body appeared to be lying slightly
flexed on its right side. Sherds were wedged
around the bones and fragments of shell fishcame from the vicinity, but it could not be
THE MACHALILLAculture was first de- hooks
that the association was intentional.
established
52-55),
scribed in 1958 by Estrada (1958:
more
preserved skeleton was encounpoorly
A
period
Formative
of
the
one
who identified it as
of 70 centimeters in Cut 1 also
depth
a
at
tered
cultures of the Ecuadorian coast, chronologiThe restored crania of both
position.
flexed
a
in
cally intermediate between Valdivia and Choroccipital flattening.
vertical
show
burials
rera. The evidence did not appear sufficiently
be
to
conclusion
for
this
view
our
clean-cut in
POTTERYTYPES
MACHALILLA
accepted without reservation. M-28, the MaThe pottery of the Machalilla culture is strikchalilla-type site (Fig. 1), also exhibited a large ing for its fine-textured paste and good surface
occupation of the later Guangala period, and finish. About
35% of the plain surfaces are well
sherds of Machalilla types were found at other polished, of which about 25% were first slipped
sites that could be interpreted as late Chorrera red. Incomplete or striated polishing occurs on
or early Guangala. Hence, we continued to an additional 10% of the sherds. Unpolished
search for unequivocal evidence of the separate surfaces are typically even. Body wall thickness
identity and early date of the Machalilla cul- ranges from 2-10 millimeters, with the majority
ture. Such evidence was obtained during the 4-7 millimeters.
1961 field season, and it is now possible not only
Typical vessel shapes include rounded bowls
to affirm Estrada's interpretation but also to de- with slightly constricted mouth, carinated bowls
scribe in greater detail the cultural complex and with short insloping upper wall, carinated bowls
its chronological significance.
with longer vertical or slightly everted upper
The newly discovered Machalilla site of 0- wall, and jars with rounded or angular shoulder
110: La Cabuya occupies the summit of a high and everted, slightly thickened rim. Except for
cliff about 5 kilometers south of the modern fish- one base sherd with a small concave exterior
ing village of San Pedro and the site of G-31: depression, bases appear to have been rounded
Valdivia. The nearly vertical bank rises to about or slightly flattened. A less common jar form,
75 meters above the Pacific Ocean. Erosion but one attested by several dozen different fragfrom high wave action cutting into the cliff ap- ments, is an unusual variety of a stirrup spout
pears to have destroyed part of the site, and the (Fig. 2): short, squatty and slightly angular,
most productive area is now on the brink of the with an everted rim.
precipice from which the hill slopes downward
The decorated types form a distinctive comtoward the rear. Surface sherds are sparse but plex. The following six types are most frequent,
can be found over an area of several hundred and are diagnostic of the Machalilla culture.
ABSTRACT
Excavations at the site of G-110: La Cabuya provide
significant new data on the content and chronological position of the Machalilla culture. Trade pottery establishes
its contemporaneity with the late period of the Valdivia
culture, estimated at between 1800 and 1500 B.C. While
seafood appears to have provided the main subsistence in
both cultures, the ceramics and other artifacts are distinct.
Machalilla pottery is well made, with thin walls and a
high frequency of polished surfaces. Vessel shapes include carinated bowls and stirrup-spout jars. Typical decoration is by incision or thick red painting, separately or
in combination, in simple but distinctive patterns. The
Machalilla culture cannot be related to any of the known
Formative complexes in Mesoamerica or South America,
so that its origin cannot be suggested. Its termination
was brought about by Mesoamerican contact, which added
new traits to the Machalilla complex, producing the combination of elements characterizing the Chorrera culture.
186
ME.UERS AND EVANS
]
MACHALILLACULTURE
187
including crosshatch, zigzag,and straight parallel
lines (Fig. 3 b-c). Vessel shapes include carinated bowls, rounded bowls, and rounded jars.
Machalilla Embellished Shoulder. Row of
embellishments along the angle of carination of
the body wall in one of three techniques: (1)
gashes 2-4 millimeters wide, less than 1 millimeter deep (Fig. 3 d); (2) nicks less than 2
millimeters wide, 3-6 millimeters apart, not
evenly spaced (Fig. 3 f); and (3) small polished
from barely detectible to 7 millimeters in
bumps
~~M-2St
diameter and 2 millimeters high, scattered or
paired (Fig. 3 e). The surface is typically striated polished, occasionally well polished or red
4
6-31.
6-SO
polished. Characteristic of carinated bowls.
Machalilla Incised and Red Zoned. Combina<A 6-115
tion
of polished red slipped areas with unGUAYAQUIL
polished areas decorated with incised parallel
lines. Incisions typically broader than on Ayangue Incised, often about 1 millimeter wide, tending to be widest at the center, tapering toward
both ends (Fig. 4 f). Edges of incisions are
sometimes dragged or slightly thrown up.
About half also have a row of nicks or gashes
along the angle of carination. Vessel shapes inFIG. 1. Central coast of Ecuador showing the location
clude carinated bowls and, rarely, small jars
of sites of the Valdivia (triangles) and Machalilla (cir- with slightly angular shoulder and everted rim.
cles) cultures.
Machalilla Punctate and Red Zoned. Zones of
red alternating with unpolished zones
polished
a
on
incisions
Ayangue Incised. Fine, sharp
polished or striated polished surface, often done bordered by or filled with punctates (Fig. 4 a-e).
when the surface was hard enough to leave rag- Red zone may be solid or banded (Fig. 4 a).
ged, "chipped" margins. Incisions typically less Punctates are elongated gashes, usually 3-6 milthan 0.5 millimeters wide, not perfectly straight, limeters long and about 1 millimeter wide, arequally spaced or evenly parallel. Designs, com- ranged end to end or slightly overlapping. Decposed of straight (rarely curved) parallel lines, oration is applied to the upper walls of rounded
fall into five principal categories: (1) cross- or carinated bowls, or jars with angular shoulder
hatched triangles in single or double rows, apex and everted rim.
up or down, with various embellishments (Fig.
Machalilla Red Banded. Red paint applied in
3 g); (2) groups of four or more parallel lines bands thick enough to produce an easily felt
slanting in alternating directions (Fig. 3 h-i);
(3) diamond patterns; (4) crosshatch in bands
or zones (Fig. 3 j); and (5) small squares filled
with hachure (Fig. 3 m). Decoration is confined
to the upper exterior of carinated bowls.
Machalilla Double Line Incised. Paired incisions, apparently made with a double-ended tool
having points not in fixed position so that the
distance between them varies slightly. Surface
polished plain or red slipped. Incisions very fine,
shallow, made when surface dry, sometimes
leaving ragged margins. Designs are simple geoO 1 2 GM
metric combinations of straight and slightly
curved paired lines, the most frequent motifs
FIG.2. Stirrupspout of the Machalillatype.
MANTA
t
AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
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.
MACHALILLA
CULTURE
MEGGERS
ANDEVANS]
189
:..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...
:.~~~~~~~~~~.
.....
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i',
: -::
..
.:
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,
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;.
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.;.a.
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1-401 2 CM
...:: a.::.................. . :.:::-.:...................................:.
*.
Fir..4.:Deoae potr typesof theMachal:l:a_::l:::.:
a. Machlla-ftteadRdZnd
Incised
andRed:Zoed m MachlillRe Baned
.~ ~ ~
f Machalill
......
190
AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
I CM
FIG.5. Typical figurine of the Machalilla culture.
ridge on the surface, often 0.5-1.0 millimeters
thick. Polishing subsequent to the painting
caused streaking of paint onto adjacent surface,
producing a characteristicblurring of the bands.
Painted bands are 2-15 millimeters in width.
Designs consist of parallel lines forming rectangular or curvilinear patterns (Fig. 4 g-m).
Typical vessel shapes are rounded bowls, cari
nated bowls, and rounded jars.
Rare varieties of decoration include punctation, sometimes in zones bordered by incision, or
unpolished or polished surfaces; polished inci
sion (Machalilla Incised, Fig. 3 a); and painting
in narrow, straight black lines on a thin unevenly
applied, unpolished white slip. This latter dec,
oration seems out-of-place in a South Americar
Formative culture, but the presence of sherds ir
the excavations as well as the surface collections
seems to indicate that it belongs to the Macha.
lilla ceramic complex.
ARTIFACTS OF POTTERY,STONE AND SHELL
Pottery artifacts. Objects of pottery are ex
ceedingly rare, and principally represented by a
large number of disks roughed out of nearly fla
sherds. The majority are red slipped, but polish
ed plain and red-banded pottery types are alsc
represented. None is perforated. In a late phase
[VOL.
28, No. 2, 1962
in the Guayas Basin such disks were placed in
the mouth of jars with everted rims as lids, and
the existence of a similar jar form in the Machalilla Phase suggests the possibility of a similar
use.
The only other pottery artifact is a very crude
but distinctive type of figurine modeled from an
elongated slab of clay. The upper end is slightly
expanded laterally and flattened from front to
back to produce a head. Coffee-bean eyes and a
prominent ridge nose constitute the facial features. Perforationsmay occur at the sides of the
head (Fig. 5). Broken edges indicate where
arms once existed, but their length and form
cannot be determined. There is no evidence
either for the shape of the lower body. The surface is often plain and very superficially smoothed, but one example is well smoothed and painted with red bands (Estrada 1958: Fig. 34-2).
Head width, the only dimension available for all
specimens, ranges from 2.0-4.7 centimeters.
Stone artifacts. The most abundant stone artifacts are reamers of conglomerate (Fig. 6 d) or
sandstone (Fig. 6 e), probably used in the manufacture of shell fishhooks. Approximately circular in cross-section, the majority show abrasion
on both ends. Length is 4.5-8.0 centimeters.
Also probablyutilized in shell fishhook manufacture are sandstone sawsX,thin flat slabs with
one edge bevelled (Fig. 6 f). Length ranges from
4-6 centimeters, thickness 4-6 millimeters.
The only grinding tool thus far encountered
is a large D-shaped mano (Fig. 7) shaped by
pecking a piece of coquina available in the natural outcrop at the base of the cliff olfLa Cabuya
site. The straight lower edge is worn smooth,
the wear extending farther up one face than the
other. Length is 26 centimeters, height 11 centimeters, thickness 6.5 centimeters.
Shell artifacts. The only artifacts of shell encountered so far are fishhooks. The form is generally similar to those of the Valdivia culture
(Zevallos and Holm 1960: P1. 25), but with
some possibly significant variations. The size,
ranging from an exterior vertical diameter of
2.5-6.3 centimeters, is slightly larger than the
range from Valdivia Phase sites. Machalilla
Phase hooks do not show the expanded and
flattened upper end characteristic of the Valdivia culture. On the contrary, the upper end
continues the curve of the hook and especially in
the larger examples is frequently the narrowest
part (Fig. 6 a-c).
MEGGERS AND EVANS ]
MACHALILLA CULTURE
191
(Evans and Meggers 1960: 504) is from the site
of Machalilla. Since obsidian is one of the innovations that marks the end of the Machalilla
phase (see Table 1), the date of 1500 B.C. can
be taken as the upper limit. The most recent
of the Valdivia Carbon-14 dates is 4050 ? 200
b
years (Evans, Meggers, and Estrada 1959: 88),
and this falls in Period B. Judging from these
C
dates and the interrelationships indicated by
trade materials, it would seem a safe guess that
the Machalilla culture reached the coast of
Ecuador between 1800 and 1500 B.C. Apparently the newcomers were able to establish cordial relations with the Valdivians and to maintain their separate identity in spite of the close
3 GM
O
;2
proximity
of some of the sites and the similarity
d
e
in way of life. That significant differences exFIG.6. Shell fishhooks of the Machalilla culture and
isted between them seems to be implied by an
stone tools utilized in their manufacture. a-c, Fishhooks
event
that not only transformed the Machalilla
showing variation in size; d-e, Reamers; f, Saw.
culture but also brought the Valdivia culture to
a close. This event is the establishment of conCHRONOLOGICALPOSITIONOF THE
tact
with Mesoamerica.
MACHALILLA CULTURE
The existence of Mesoamerican influence in
The approximate date of arrival of the the Chorrera culture of coastal Ecuador has
Machalilla culture on the Ecuadorian coast can been demonstrated conclusively by Coe (1960).
be established by the presence of trade pottery What is now apparent is that the Chorrera culof Machalilla types in sites of Period C and D ture is a combination of Machalilla and Mesoof the Valdivia culture. Stratigraphic excava- american traits (Table 1). Some of the diagtions in 1961 at G-54: Buena Vista, a Period C nostic Machalilla decorated types, such as AyanValdivia site in the Valdivia valley, produced gue Incised, Machalilla Double Line Incised, and
hundreds of sherds of Machalilla Red Banded, Machalilla Red Banded, continue to be made
Machalilla Double Line Incised, and Machalilla without alteration in Chorrera period sites. MaEmbellished Shoulder, as well as sherds of the chalilla Embellished Shoulder survives in Chorless easily identified plain pottery types. Macha- rera period sites in Manabi Province and conlilla stirrup spout fragments and red banded tinues into the Regional Development period on
sherds also occur in the late period levels at that part of the coast (Estrada 1962: Fig. 53).
G-31: Valdivia (Estrada 1958: Cuadro No. 2), Among the few Machalilla ceramic traits that
and at G-115: San Pablo on the Guayas coast do not appear to continue, in Ecuador at least,
farther to the south (personal communication is the stirrup spout. It is replaced by the single
with Olaf Holm and Carlos Zevallos Menenspout with strap handle and whistle, which may
dez).
also be a Machalilla trait.
Although pottery apparently did not figure
When the above traits are added to those
strongly in whatever the Machalilla people re- linked with the Ocos and Conchas phases on the
ceived in exchange, two sherds of Valdivia In- coast of
Guatemala, almost all of the charactercised and the red slipped body of a typical Valdivia figurine have been encountered in the material so far classified from G-110: La Cabuya.
Several sherds from vessels of the characteristic
Valdivia cambered rim jar form (Evans, Meggers, and Estrada 1959: 27, Fig. 23, 28) bearing
Machalilla Red Banded decoration can be accounted for only as reflecting influence from the
Valdivia phase.
2
4 CM
0
No Carbon-14 dates are as yet available for the
Machalilla culture. The single obsidian date FIG. 7. Mano or grinding stone of the Machalilla culture.
192
AMERICANANTIQUITY
[VOL.28, No. 2, 1962
TABLE 1. TRAIIS LINKING THE CHORRERA CULTURE WITH
MACHALILLA CULTURE AND WITH THE Ocos AND
CONCHAS PHASES OF GUATEMALA.
dence on the sea for subsistence. The spread of
the Chorrera culture over the coastal lowlands
and up onto the southern highland provinces of
B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cafiar and Azuay was the most significant step
in Ecuadorian prehistory, providing a foundation from which all of the subsequent regional
developmental cultures can be derived (cf. Esx
trada 1958: 78).
x
The problem that remains unsolved is, from
x x
where did the Machalilla culture come? The
x x
pottery has nothing in common either in vessel
x x
shape or types of decoration with Valdivia potx x
tery, the only antecedent on the coast of Ecuax x
dor.
The well-defined decorative techniques
x
x
and
distinctive
vessel forms such as the carix
x
nated bowl and stirrup spout jar should make
x
x
the Machalilla complex easy to recognize,but to
x
x x
x x our knowledge nothing similar has been reported
x
either from Mesoamerica or the Andean area.
x
x
Until a source is found, the origin of the Machalilla
culture will remain one of the most fasx
x
cinating enigmas of Ecuadorian archaeology.
-S
Zoned red and black decoration
.
.
Annular base
..........
Napkin-ring pottery ear plug
......
"Cuspidor"-shaped pottery vessels
.........
Grooved, everted rim .......
..........
Undulating rim ............
.......
Burnished line decoration ......
..........
Rocker stamping ............
..........
Iridescent painting ..........
..........
Dentate stamping ...........
..........
Obsidian artifacts ...........
Carinated bowl (composite silhouette) ..
Fine incised decoration (Ayangue
Incised) .....................
Red banded decoration (Machalilla Red
Banded) .....................
Double line incised (Machalilla Double
Line Incised) ...................
Nicked shoulder decoration (Machalilla
Embellished Shoulder) ..........
Spout with strap handle and whistle .. .
Punctate and red banded decoration ....
Black,on-white painted decoration ......
Stirrup spout .........................
O
u
U
u
x
x
x
?
x
x
x
x
x
istics of the Chorrera culture are accounted for.
Those that remain, such as the annular base,
and zoned red and black decoration, will undoubtedly be explained when the early Formative of Mesoamerica is better known.
The mere introduction of new pottery traits
cannot explain the change that occurred on the
Ecuadorian coast. The Chorrera culture is the
first to have a geographical distribution that includes the inland river drainages, such as the
Daule and Babahoyo. Seafood, by implication,
lost its priority as a subsistence resource. Although the climate rules out the probability that
direct evidence will ever be available, it seems
reasonable to conclude that this transformation
can be accounted for by the introduction of
maize. In support of this conclusion is not only
the well-documented antiquity of maize cultivation in Mesoamerica, but also the evidence that
maize appears on the coast of Peru at about this
same time. Nothing else seems adequate to account for the change in settlement pattern and
the abandonment of the centuries-old depen-
Acknowledgments. This work was undertaken as part
of Project J of the "Interrelationships of New World Cultures" Research Program organized by the Institute of Andean Research and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. We wish to thank Juan Munizaga V., Centro de Estudios Antropologicos, Universidad
de Chile, Santiago, for observations on skeletal remains.
The illustrations were drawn by George Robert Lewis.
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