Machalilla culture
The Machalilla culture was a Neolithic culture on the Pacific coast of Ecuador . It forms the Middle Formative Period in the history of Ecuador . Originating from the Valdivia culture , it existed between the 18th and 10th centuries BC. Chr.
Type locality and geographical distribution
The eponymous type locality Machalilla , a small coastal town southwest of the Jipijapa canton , is located in the Machalilla National Park on the Pacific coast in the Manabí province . The main distribution area of the culture was next to the province of Manabí, the province of Santa Elena ( Santa Elena peninsula ).
Discovery and first description
The Machalilla culture was first discovered and described in 1958 by the Ecuadorian archaeologist Emilio Estrada .
Timeframe
The transition Valdivia culture / Machalilla culture is generally around 1800 BC. BC. The end of the culture cannot be clearly identified, since it ultimately blended with the subsequent Chorrera culture (from 1300 BC). The time for the final expiry of the Machalilla culture is usually around 1000 BC. B.C., but can possibly also at 800 B.C. Come to rest. The culture was also overlaid by Mesoamerican influences before its end . From 1500 BC Connections to the Capacha culture in western Mexico ( Colima ) assumed.
Way of life
The people of the Machalilla culture primarily pursued agriculture , but they were also active as hunters and gatherers and fishing .
Her practice of artificial skull deformation , which was carried out at a very young age (infancy) by weighting stones, is remarkable . The motives for this strange custom are not clear, it is possible that the occipital elongation of the skull was made for aesthetic reasons, and the social position of the wearer is also conceivable.
Ceramics and art
Machalilla ceramics (also sometimes referred to as Machalilla style ) is a seamless further development of the ceramics of the Valdivia culture - the latter having recently come under the influence of the northern Peruvian Cerro Narrío culture . The thinner-walled, partly polished pottery (average wall thickness 4 to 7 millimeters) and a much larger variety of shapes of the vessels are striking. Pots, bottles, jugs, jugs, bowls in typical shades of red, etc. Quite strange-looking vessels with a bow-shaped spout appear for the first time. In this type of vessel, a stirrup-like, ring-shaped, hollow handle is attached, which ends in a double-tube spout. Knuckle-bow vessels would later become quite common in the cultures of Chavín and Vicús , as well as the Mochica and Chimú .
A total of 23 different vessel shapes can be distinguished. The vessels were decorated in thick red tones and simple incised patterns, sometimes the two methods were used in combination.
The Machalilla culture also innovated in the anthropomorphic vessels , where their spherical belly represents a human face.
In the case of the female statuettes , however, there was a stylistic decline / change compared to the Valdivia culture. Their outlines were made more imprecise and the previously complex hairstyles disappeared. However, previously omitted or minimized features have been highlighted. The faces of the statuettes were made as a bas-relief and were distinguished by their characteristic coffee bean eyes and beak-like protruding noses.
Even mortars in Animals came to fruition. Also to be mentioned are clay pipes, candle holders and statuettes, some of which depict the skull deformations mentioned above.