Las Vegas culture

The Las Vegas culture was an early Holocene settlement complex along the coast of what is now Ecuador . It was formed around 8000 BC. Chr. , And had up to 4600 v. Chr. Stock. It is the earliest cultural stage in Ecuador and opens the pre-ceramic period . According to Karen Stothert (1985), their settlements emerged as a response to the ecologically complex coastal area of Ecuador. So were on a tropical ecotone belonging to the Santa Elena Peninsula so far 31 sites identified. The age information is secured by radiocarbon dating.

The people of the Las Vegas culture were predominantly gatherers and hunters and probably also lived from fishing . Furthermore, they already developed the first, still primitive farming methods , but were not yet familiar with ceramics . Agriculture was started around 6000 BC. And bottle gourd ( Lagenaria siceraria ) and the maize species Zea mays were grown.

The best preserved human remains of Las Vegas culture are the so-called Lovers of Sumpa , which are exhibited along with other finds in the Museo Los Amantes de Sumpa (in the Santa Elena Cultural Center).

Bone tips and spatulas found may have been used to make nets or other textiles. The tools are generally very versatile and they are made from wood, bamboo, reed and bark; but mussels were also used for different containers.

The Las Vegas culture ran roughly at the same time as the Inga culture in north central Ecuador and the Chinchorro culture on the north coast of Chile , but in contrast to the latter, no mummies were found in the Las Vegas culture .

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Stothert, Karen A.: The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador . In: American Antiquity . tape 50 , 1985, pp. 613-637 , doi : 10.2307 / 280325 .
↑ Stothert, Karen A. and Piperno, Dolores R .: New Evidence of Early Holocene Agriculture from the Coast of Ecuador: A Multidisciplinary Approach . In: Culture & Agriculture . tape 24 (2) , 2004, pp. 31-41 , doi : 10.1525 / cag.2002.24.2.31 .
^ Bryan, Alan L .: Chapter 2: The Original Peopling of Latin America . In: UNESCO (ed.): General History of Latin America . 2000 ( unesco.org ).

[Stothert-1] A ^b Stothert, Karen A.: The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador . In: American Antiquity . tape 50 , 1985, pp. 613-637 , doi : 10.2307 / 280325 .

[2] Stothert, Karen A. and Piperno, Dolores R .: New Evidence of Early Holocene Agriculture from the Coast of Ecuador: A Multidisciplinary Approach . In: Culture & Agriculture . tape 24 (2) , 2004, pp. 31-41 , doi : 10.1525 / cag.2002.24.2.31 .

[3] Bryan, Alan L .: Chapter 2: The Original Peopling of Latin America . In: UNESCO (ed.): General History of Latin America . 2000 ( unesco.org ).