Chorrera
Encyclopedia
Pre-Columbian Ecuador
Pre-Columbian Ecuador included numerous indigenous cultures, who thrived for thousands of years before the ascent of the Incan Empire. Las Vegas culture of coastal Ecuador is one of the oldest cultures in the Americas. The Valdivia culture in the Pacific coast region is a well-known early...
, spanning the Pacific lowlands to the Ande
Andé
Andé is a commune in the Eure department and Haute-Normandie region of France.-Population:-References:*...
an highlands, and even into southern Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.
Regional divisions
Due to variations in ceramics and other material culture, Chorrera culture is divided into regional variants. These include:- Mafa Phase, northern Esmeraldas ProvinceEsmeraldas ProvinceEsmeraldas is a province in northwestern Ecuador. The capital is Esmeraldas.The province is home to the Afro-Ecuadorian culture.- Cantons :The province is divided into 8 cantons...
- Tachina Phase, southern Esmeraldas ProvinceEsmeraldas ProvinceEsmeraldas is a province in northwestern Ecuador. The capital is Esmeraldas.The province is home to the Afro-Ecuadorian culture.- Cantons :The province is divided into 8 cantons...
- Tabuchula Phase, northern Manabí ProvinceManabí ProvinceManabí is a province in Ecuador. Its capital is Portoviejo. The province is named after the Manabí people.-Economy:Manabí's economy is based heavily on natural resources such as cacao, bananas, cotton, etc. It's industrial sector is based on Tuna canning, tobacco, and alcoholic beverage production...
- Engoroy Phase, Santa Elena PeninsulaSanta Elena PeninsulaThe Santa Elena Peninsula is a peninsula in Santa Elena Province, Ecuador. The Santa Elena Peninsula contains the westernmost point on mainland Ecuador and is bordered by the Gulf of Guayaquil to the south and the Santa Elena Bay to the north....
and Guayas coastal region - Chorrera proper, Guayas RiverGuayas RiverThe Guayas River is a river in western Ecuador. It gives name to the Guayas Province, and it is the most important river in South America that does not flow into the Atlantic Ocean or any of its seas. Its total length, including the Daule River, is 389 km.-Course:The Guayas River has one of...
Basin - Early Jubones Phase, southeastern Guaya and western Azuay ProvinceAzuay ProvinceAzuay is a province of Ecuador, created 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea level in the national park of El Cajas....
- Arenillas Phase, El Oro ProvinceEl Oro ProvinceEl Oro province is the southernmost of Ecuador's coastal provinces. It was named for its historically important gold production. Today it is one of the world's major exporters of bananas. The capital is Machala.-Geography:To the north and east the province has borders with the provinces Guayas,...
.
Other regions exhibit a strong Chorrera influence.
Ceramics
The hallmark of Chorrera culture is its ceramic traditions, which features whistling animal and plant effigy Stirrup spout vesselStirrup spout vessel
A stirrup spout vessel is a type of ceramic vessel common among several Pre-Columbian cultures of South America beginning in the early 2nd millennium BCE....
s and human figurines made from molds. Everyday utilitarian pottery was still very fine with thin decorated walls and red or black slips polished to a high sheen. Surfaces of bowls, bottles, olla
Olla
An Olla is a ceramic jar, often unglazed, used for cooking stews or soups, for the storage of water or dry foods, or for other purposes. Ollas have a short wide neck and a wider belly, resembling beanpots or handis.-History:...
s, and other ceramic pieces were incised, painted, pattern burnished, or decorated with rocker stamps. Ceramics were used in personal adornments as well, examples being ceramic ear spools and rocker stamps used for body painting.
Unusual decorative features of Chorrera ceramics include resist-painting and iridescent slips.
Diet
Crops cultivated by Chorrera people include achira (CannaCanna
-Places:Australia*Canna, a locality in the Shire of Morawa, Western AustraliaItaly*Canna, Calabria, a comune in the Province of Cosenza*Cannae, a frazione in the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, ApuliaScotland*Canna, Scotland, an island in Lochaber...
), arrowroot (Maranta
Maranta
Maranta can refer to:*The Marantaceae family of "prayer plants", including arrowroot*Maranta , a genus within that familyMaranta as a personal name may refer to:...
), corn (Zea mays), common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), as well as gourds and squash (Cucurbitaceae
Cucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...
). They also gathered wild tree fruits, sedge (Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
), and palm (Palmae).
Chorrera people fished and hunted as well, catching game such as armadillo, deer (including white-tailed
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
and brocket deer
Brocket Deer
Brocket deer are the species of deer in the genus Mazama. They are medium to small in size, and are found in the Yucatán Peninsula, Central and South America, and the island of Trinidad. Most species are primarily found in forests. They are superficially similar to the African duikers and the Asian...
) duck, frogs, lizards, peccary
Peccary
A peccary is a medium-sized mammal of the family Tayassuidae, or New World Pigs. Peccaries are members of the artiodactyl suborder Suina, as are the pig family and possibly the hippopotamus family...
, and various rodents.
Trade
This culture continued the brisk trade network established by ValdiviaValdivia Culture
The Valdivia Culture is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas. It emerged from the earlier Las Vegas culture and thrived on the Santa Elena peninsula near the modern-day town of Valdivia, Ecuador between 3500 BC and 1800 BC....
and Machalilla cultures. Chorrera fisherman traded spiny oyster shells (Spondylus
Spondylus
Spondylus is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae. As well as being the systematic or scientific name, Spondylus is also the most often used common name for these animals, though they are also known as thorny oysters or spiny oysters.There are many species of...
) and other marine shells with people from the Quito basin for obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
. Gold is traded in the latter centuries BCE.
Decline
In 467 BCE, the Pululahua Volcano north of QuitoQuito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
erupted, sending volcanic ash over much of the western Ecuadorian lowland regions, which greatly reduced the expressions of Chorrera culture; however, some Chorrera settlements in the far north and south continued for several centuries. These evolved into more complex cultures of the Regional Developmental Period of 200 and 300 BCE.
External links
- Chorrera ceramics, National Museum of the American Indian