Inga culture

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The Paleo-Indian Inga culture was an early Holocene settlement complex in the northern central part of Ecuador . It belongs to the pre-ceramic period and ran roughly at the same time as the Las Vegas culture .

Etymology and type locality

The Inga culture was named after its eponymous place of discovery, El Inga . Its name is derived from the Río Inga, a tributary of the Chiché , which in turn flows north into the Guayllabamba . The south-east of Tumbaco in Quito a huge (at a cut - encountered open-air archaeological site span. Quebrada ) of the river Inga in the northeast of Cerro Llaló -Vulkans situated Obsidian -Abschlagplatz with more than 80,000 artifacts - is embedded in volcanic tuffs and can in three stratigraphic Levels are divided. It was discovered in 1956 by the American geologist Allan Graffham .

Finds

Found in El Inga the lessons, fluted, obsidian-tees fishtail-like ( Engl. Fish tail points ) scoring tips . These characteristic projectile points appearing in the lower level were dated 7000 BC. Chr. Dated. Their volcanic raw material came from two sources east of Quito. Basalt , on the other hand, was rarely used as a starting material. Ceramic remains are sparse.

Blades, scrapers, scrapers and angled drills act as passers. The so-called ayampitin tips (leaf tips) are only found in the middle and upper levels. Only the top level then take stem tips (Engl. Stemmed points ) added that in the Fell's Cave in southern Chilean Patagonia are found.

There is no doubt that the fishtail tips are very similar to the projectile tips of the North American Clovis culture . But they are not limited to El Inga, but can be found far across the South American continent. It is still controversial whether these stone tools were introduced directly from North America or whether they were conceptually taken up and copied by an already resident indigenous population of South America (although proponents of a relatively young settlement in South America consequently support the first thesis).

Dating

Previous radiocarbon ages are all younger than 8000 years BP or 6050 years BC. However, all experts admit that the Inga culture is older (up to 7000 BC and older, occasionally the period 9050 to 6050 BC is also considered).

literature

  • William J. Mayer-Oakes: El Inga - a paleo-indian site in the sierra of northern Ecuador . In: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society New Series . tape 76, 4 , 1986.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mayer-Oakes, William J .: El Inga projectile points - surface collections . In: American Antiquity . 31, N ° 5, 1966, p. 644-661 .
  2. ↑ Richard L. Burger, Frank Asaro, Helen V. Michel, Fred H. Stross and Ernesto Salazar: An initial consideration of obsidian procurement and exchange in prehispanic Ecuador . In: Latin American Antiquity . tape 5 , 1994, pp. 228-255 .
  3. ↑ a b Lavallée, Danièle: Le peuplement préhistorique de la cordillera of the Andes . In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française . tape 91 , 1994, p. 264-274 .
  4. ↑ Bell, RE: Investigaciones arqueológicas en el sitio de El Inga, Ecuador . Ed .: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana. Quito 1965.