Archaeology Magazine - June 1957 - 62

Early Iron Age wall and terra-cotta
oven; in the backgroundis the west side
of a MiddleIron Age tower.
were exposed,and crude, unpretentious
stone walls built immediately over a
thick layer of ash (see figure). The
layer of ash seems to spread over the
greater part of the site and may well
be connected with the raids and invasion of the Habiru and the Sa-Gaz
during the fourteenth century B.C.On
the other hand, the occupation immediately above it may be related to the
settlement of the Aramaeans in the
area, late in the thirteenth and early
in the twelfth century. Further exploration of the site will probably throw
light on the relation between the Habiru invaders and the Aramaean settlers, and may uphold the theory which
makes the Aramaeans the progeny of
the indigenous Amorites and the
newly arrived Habiru.
Expedition to Ecuador
The recent exploration of ancient
sites in Ecuador has resulted in demonstrating that the prehistoric cultures
of that region had important influences
on cultural development in Peru and
the Amazon Valley.
Field work was conducted for four
months on the Rio Napo in the eastern
lowlands and in the Guayas Province
on the coast of Ecuador by Clifford
Evans,U. S. National Museum;Betty J.
Meggers, Smithsonian Institution; and
Emilio Estrada, director of the archaelogical museum, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Excavations on the Rio Napo revealed large villages and a well developed ceramic art which included
elaborate vessel forms and complex
decoration made by incision, painting
142

and champlevé. This pottery has close
resemblances to the pottery from the
island of Marajó, located at the mouth
of the Amazon. The Marajó culture is
alien and seems out of place, and its
origin has until now been unknown.
The work of Evans and Meggers indicates that this culture originally came
from the headwaters of the Amazonian
tributaries in Ecuador and Colombia.
This is the first time that such an extensive down-river migration in prehistoric times has been proved in South
America.The movementprobably took
place a few hundred years before the
arrival of the Spanish. When Orellana
made his voyage down the Napo and
the Amazon in the mid-sixteenth century, the sites along the Napo had
already been abandoned, and he found
no Indians living on that river within
the area embraced by the present
boundaries of Ecuador.
Investigations by Evans, Meggers
and Estrada in the Guayas Province
of coastal Ecuador have revealed the
presence of two early cultures which
show many similarities with the early
cultures of Mexicoand Peru. The older
of these has been named the Valdivia
culture. The Valdivia pottery shares
with that of the earliest pottery-making cultures of Mesoamericadistinctive
traits like broad-line and fine-lineincision, excision, rocker stamping and
high polishing of surfaces. A large
number of pottery female figurines
suggestsreligiouspractices.These nude
figurineshave elaborate hairdressesand
sometimes the body is painted red in
various designs. Pottery of a similar
style has also been found in Peru, but
it does not resemblethat of early Mesoamerican cultures so closelyas does the
Valdivia culture. This suggeststhat the
movement which distributed this early
Formative period culture so widely in
Mesoamericaand South America traveled from north to south. The Valdivia
culture must therefore be at least as
old as the similar culture in Peru,
which has been dated by Carbon 14
tests between 1500 and 1000 B.c.
Following the Valdivia culture was
another early culture with different
features, but also closely resembling
others in Mesoamericaand Peru. This
so-called Chorrera culture has as characteristic features thin, highly polished
red and black pottery with very fine
incised lines and rocker stamping, and
bottles with tapered spouts and whistle-

handles. These traits are shared with
the Formative period cultures of Tlatilco in Mexico and Chavin and Cupisnique in Peru. As in the Valdivia culture, the Chorrera pottery more closely
resembles the Mexican than the Peruvian expressionof this widespreadhorizon, again indicating a movementfrom
north to south. This culture is dated
1000-500B.C.
The discovery of these two early
Ecuadorian cultures is significant because it provides definite evidence of
the north-south direction of movement
in this early period. The investigations
in Ecuador thus represent an important
contribution to the solution of major
problems in New World prehistory.
A Century of Scottish Archaeology
The Glasgow Archaeological Society, which was founded in December
1856, has arranged as part of its centenary celebration a program of lectures and excursions for the week of
August 4-9, 1957. New discoveries
made since the war have increasedour.
knowledgeof the Roman occupationof
southern Scotland, especiallythe Clyde
Valley; hence the theme of the program, "The Romans and Strathclyde,"
is most appropriate. The lectures will
be given at Glasgow University. Topics include: Scotland before the Romans, the Roman frontier in Scotland,
small towns of Roman Britain, Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall,
Castellum Veluniate and civilians on
a Roman frontier, and the British kingdoms of southern Scotland and the
Saxon invasion. Excursionsare planned
to nearby Iron Age sites, various points
along the Antonine Wall, Roman forts
and a Dark Age fort.
Guggenheim Awards
The fellowships announced by the
Guggenheim Foundation for 1957-58
include the following grants to scholars in archaeologyand allied fields:
Darrell Arlynn Amyx, University of California. Studies in Greek
vase painting.
Arthur J. O. Anderson, Museum
of New Mexico. Studies of Aztec accounts of Spanish settlement in the
Americas.
Yury Arbatsky, New York City.
Historical studies of music and musical

Archaeology Magazine - June 1957

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1957