Insights into the Earliest Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador: New Evidence and Radiocarbon Dates from the Real Alto Site

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey V Tabarev ◽  
Yoshitaka Kanomata ◽  
Jorge G Marcos ◽  
Alexander N Popov ◽  
Boris V Lazin

AbstractOne of the most intriguing questions of South American archaeology is the time, place, and origin of the earliest pottery. Since the late 1950s, the earliest pottery has been attributed to the materials of the Early Formative Valdivia culture (5600–3500 BP), coastal Ecuador. Excavations at the Real Alto site conducted in the 1970s and 1980s allowed the rejection of the spectacular “Jomon–Valdivia” hypothesis and established a local origin of the phenomenon. Recent radiocarbon dates from a joint Russian–Japanese–Ecuadorian project at Real Alto open a new page in our knowledge of the transition from pre-ceramic Las Vegas to ceramic Valdivia cultures.

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy David Hepp

Seven AMS radiocarbon dates (1950–1525 cal BC) from controlled contexts demonstrate Early Formative period occupation in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. These dated elements from the site of La Consentida include hearths, occupational surfaces, carbon adhering to pottery from a midden, and human bone collagen processed with XAD purification. They were excavated from primary contexts and do not represent redeposited materials. An eighth sample, dated to the Middle Formative period, is considered postoccupational. The diversity of dated deposits and features, their distribution, and their overlapping calibrated ranges indicate settlement by an initial Early Formative period village.


1912 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 435
Author(s):  
A. C. H. ◽  
Thomas A. Joyce

Author(s):  
Pedro Paulo A. Funari ◽  
A. Zarankin ◽  
E. Stovel

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Diaz-Maroto ◽  
Alba Rey-Iglesia ◽  
Isabel Cartajena ◽  
Lautaro Núñez ◽  
Michael V Westbury ◽  
...  

The study of South American camelids and their domestication is a highly debated topic in zooarchaeology. Identifying the domestic species (alpaca and llama) in archaeological sites based solely on morphological data is challenging due to their similarity with respect to their wild ancestors. Using genetic methods also presents challenges due to the hybridization history of the domestic species, which are thought to have extensively hybridized following the Spanish conquest of South America that resulted in camelids slaughtered en masse. In this study, we generated mitochondrial genomes for 61 ancient South American camelids dated between 3,500 and 2,400 years before the present (Early Formative period) from two archaeological sites in Northern Chile (Tulán-54 and Tulán-85), as well as 66 modern camelid mitogenomes and 815 modern mitochondrial control region sequences from across South America. In addition, we performed osteometric analyses to differentiate big and small body size camelids. A comparative analysis of these data suggests that a substantial proportion of the ancient vicuña genetic variation has been lost since the Early Formative period, as it is not present in modern specimens. Moreover, we propose a domestication hypothesis that includes an ancient guanaco population that no longer exists. Finally, we find evidence that interbreeding practices were widespread during the domestication process by the early camelid herders in the Atacama during the Early Formative period and predating the Spanish conquest.


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