Ecuador / Betty J. Meggers ; 76 photographs, 42 line drawings, 5 maps, 3 tables.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meggers, Betty Jane, author.

Contributor:

Thames and Hudson, publisher.

Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness (University of Pennsylvania)

Schimmel, Caroline F., donor, associated name.

Series:

Ancient peoples and places (Thames and Hudson) ; v. 49.

Ancient peoples and places ; v. 49

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of South America--Ecuador--Antiquities.

Indians of South America.

Ecuador.

Antiquities.

Ecuador--Antiquities.

Indians of South America--Antiquities.

Penn Provenance:

Schimmel, Caroline F. (donor) (Schimmel Collection copy)

Physical Description:

220 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm.

regular print

Place of Publication:

London : Thames and Hudson, [1966]

Summary:

From the Blurb: Bordered by the Pacific Ocean, crossed by numerous rivers, and easily accessible through the mountain passes of Colombia and Peru, Ecuador was the meeting place of many cultures throughout Latin America's prehistory. Yet relatively little is known of its earliest civilizations. In this first detailed synthesis of Ecuadorian archaeology in more than a half-century, Betty Meggers attempts to define the country's role in New World prehistory. Basing her study on her own extensive fieldwork and on the absolute chronology afforded by Carbon-14 dating, she explores cultural developments from the time of the earliest pottery-making, about 3000 B.C., to the end of the prehistoric era, as marked by Topa Inca's conquest of highlands near Quito, some 4,500 years later. With reference to geographic, cultural and environmental factors, and to parallel developments in the other cultures of Central and South America, the author examines the major periods of Ecuador's past and the distinct local 'phases' of each. In addition to her work in the re-dating of previously accepted highlands time sequences, the author participated in a major archaeological event of our times, the discovery of prehistoric Japanese-like pottery in Ecuadorian coastal soil. This find could indicate that voyagers from Japan reached the New World some 5 millenniums ago-4,500 years before Columbus' first crossing. Even so, far more than the discovery of the Americas is in question. The presence of this pottery points to a direct interaction between East and West much earlier in the course of their cultural development than had previously been supposed, and suggest rational explanations for the many parallels in their antique civilizations. Generously illustrated with plates of important findings, maps, and charts, this book provides an instructive and stimulating introduction to a land only now beginning to yield up the secrets of its past.

Contents:

1: Introduction:

Geographical setting

Chronological framework and terminology

Absolute dating

2: Preceramic Period:

3: Early Formative Period:

Valdivia phase

Transpacific contact

Machalilla phase

Cultural development on the coast during the early formative period

Early formative highland complexes

4: Late Formative Period:

Chorrera phase

Mesoamerican contact

Late formative in the highlands

Ecological factors and the end of the formative period

5: Regional Developmental Period:

General characteristics

Guangala phase

Jambeli phase

Tejar and Daule phases

Bahia phase

Jama/Coaque phase

Tolita phase

Tione phase

Chaullabamba phase

Tuncahuan phase

Northern highlands

Local variation during the regional developmental period

6: Integration Period:

Manteno phase

Milagro phase

Atacames phase

Cara phase

Puruha phase

Canari phase

Napo phase

Regional variation during the integration period

7: Inca Conquest:

Highlands

Coast

End of the prehistoric era

Text references

Select bibliography

Sources of illustrations

Plates

Notes on the plates

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 166-170) and index.

Local Notes:

Schimmel Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2016 by Caroline F. Schimmel.

Schimmel Collection copy: dust jacket retained.

OCLC:

2004720