Flake Tool Functions in Early Ceramic Culture at the Real Alto Site in Coastal Ecuador

Abstract:

The tropical forest environment sustained ancient occupants in coastal Ecuador in South America. Called “Las Vegas,” the first such culture has been thoroughly studied based on archaeological artifacts, natural remains, and features such as burials and shell mounds. Based on radiocarbon dating from Las Vegas site OGSE-80 on the Santa Elena Peninsula, the culture first developed around 10,800 BP (un-calibrated) and ended around 6,600 BP (Stothert et al. 2003). The local subsistence system was efficiently adapted to an ecologically complex environment along the tropical coast after occupants transitioned to a sedentary lifestyle. A nearby preceramic midden contained shells, animal bones, artifacts, charcoal, phytoliths, and pollen. This indicates that subsistence was generally based on hunting, gathering, and fishing with later developments exhibiting experimental plant domestication. Stothert (1985) concluded that early Las Vegas inhabitants concentrated on finding land animals such as deer before later integrating fishing activities. Locals were also using bottle gourds (Lagebaria siceraria) as early as 10,000 BP. The bony remains of fish and mammals from the early and late Las Vegas periods found at Site 80 indicate that occupants consumed both large and small mammals (eg, deer, rodents, and opossum) in addition to fish during the early phase, but later consumed more fish (Stothert et al. 2003). Further, the composition of molluscan remains provides evidence of an increase in the use rock-subsisting species and a decrease in the gathering of estuarine and mangrove species. These strategic changes were likely adaptations …

Año de publicación:

2019

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