Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-16T18:16:09.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sea Fishing at Salango (Manabí Province, Ecuador) During the Middle Formative Machalilla Phase

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Philippe Béarez ,
Patrick Gay  and
Richard Lunniss
Philippe Béarez
Affiliation:
UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements, Département Écologie et gestion de la biodiversité, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, 55 rue Buffon, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France (bearez@mnhn.fr)
Patrick Gay
Affiliation:
Formerly of Centro de Investigaciones y Museo de Salango, Puerto López, Manabí, Ecuador (museosalango@yahoo.com)
Richard Lunniss
Affiliation:
Centro Cívico Ciudad Alfaro, Montecristi, Manabí, Ecuador (richard_lunniss@hotmail.com)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Formative Ecuadorian coastal societies possessed the technologies and skills necessary not only for fishing, but also for deep-sea navigation. Although marine shellfish are acknowledged as significant both for dietary and religious purposes, the importance of sea-fishing is rarely highlighted or explored. In order to help evaluate more fully the significance of the sea in the Ecuadorian Formative, this paper presents recently studied evidence, excavated at the Salango site, in the Province of Manabí, for local off-shore tuna fishing during the Middle Formative Machalilla phase (ca. 1500–900 B.C.), where Scombrids constituted 80 percent of recovered fish remains. The results are then compared with those obtained from other Machalilla sites. Finally, data from the subsequent Late Formative Engoroy phase (ca. 900–100 B.C.) indicate that while Scombrid fishing continued to predominate at Salango, species capture changed through time, with a shift from yellowfin tuna in the Machalilla phase to black skipjacks in Engoroy times. It is suggested that the decline in tuna capture reflects not so much change in fishing strategy as change in the populations of fish species reaching the local marine environment.

Las sociedades costeras del Formativo ecuatoriano poseyeron las tecnologías y las habilidades necesarias no sólo para la pesca, sino también para la navegación de altamar. Pero a pesar de que los recursos marinos se reconocen como significativos en relación a los aspectos dietéticos y religiosos, raramente se destaca o se explora la importancia de la pesca. Para evaluar con más claridad el valor y el significado del mar durante el período Formativo ecuatoriano, el presente trabajo aporta nuevas evidencias, excavadas en el sitio Salango, Provincia de Manabí, sobre la pesca de atún y especies afines durante la fase Machalilla (ca. 1500–900 a.C.). Se pone en evidencia una pesca de grandes peces pelágicos, donde los escómbridos constituyen el 80 por ciento de los restos de pescados recuperados. Luego, se comparan los resultados con aquellos obtenidos en otros sitios Machalilla del litoral ecuatoriano. Los grandes anzuelos circulares recuperados en los niveles Machalilla probablemente fueron utilizados para la pesca del atún. Para terminar, los datos de la siguiente fase a Engoroy (ca. 900–100 a.C.) indican que mientras la pesca de los Scombridae continuaba predominando en Salango, hubo un cambio en cuanto a la captura de especies: mientras el atún aleta amarilla predominaba en la fase Machalilla, fueron los barriletes negros los que prevalecieron en tiempos Engoroy. Se sugiere que la baja en la captura del atún no refleja un cambio en los patrones de pesca, sino más bien cambios en el comportamiento de los peces frente a la explotación.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 195 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Allen, Melinda S. 1996 Style and Function in East Polynesian Fish-hooks. Antiquity 70:97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Atholl, Martinsson-Wallin, Helene, and Stothert, Karen 2007 Ecuadorian Sailing Rafts and Oceanic landfalls. In Vastly Ingenious: The Archaeology of Pacific Material Culture, edited by Atholl Anderson, Kaye Green, and Foss Leach, pp. 117–133. Otago University Press, Dunedin.Google Scholar
Bakun, Andrew, and Weeks, Scarla J. 2008 The Marine Ecosystem off Peru: What are the Secrets of its Fishery Productivity and What Might its Future Hold? Progress in Oceanography 79:290–299.Google Scholar
Béarez, Philippe 1996 Comparaison des ichtyofaunes marines actuelle et holocène et reconstitution de l’activité halieutique dans les civilisations précolombiennes de la côte du Manabí Sud (Équateur). Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris.Google Scholar
Béarez, Philippe, and Lunniss, Richard 2003 ScombridFishing at Salango (Manabí, Ecuador) During the First Millenium BC. In Proceedings of the 12th meeting of the Fish Remains Working Group of the International Council for Archaeozoology, edited by Ana Fabiola Guzmán, Oscar J. Polaco and Felisa J. Aguilar, pp. 27–32. Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.Google Scholar
Beckwith, Laurie 1996 Late Formative Period Ceramics from Southwestern Ecuador. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Benzoni, Girolamo 1985 [1565] La historia del Mondo Nuovo. (Relatos de su viaje por el Ecuador. 1547–1550). Libro III. Publicatión del Banco Central del Ecuador, Guayaquil.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher 1995 Radiocarbon Calibration and Analysis of Stratigraphy. The OxCal Program. Radiocarbon 37:425–430.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher 2001 Development of the Radiocarbon Program OxCal. Radiocarbon 43(2A):355–363.Google Scholar
Bushnell, Geoffrey H. S. 1951 The Archaeology of the Santa Elena Peninsula in Southwest Ecuador. Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Occasional Publications, No. 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Byrd, Kathleen M. 1976 Changing Animal Utilization Patterns and their Implications: Southwest Ecuador(6500 B.C.–A.D. 1400). Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Carr, Mary-Elena 2002 Estimation of Potential Productivity in Eastern Boundary Currents Using Remote Sensing. Deep-Sea Research II 49:59–80.Google Scholar
Collette, Bruce B., and Nauen, Cornelia E. 1983 Scombrids of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Tunas, Mackerels, Bonitos and Related Species Known to Date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis 125(2):1–137.Google Scholar
Cooke, Richard 1992 Prehistoric Nearshore and Littoral Fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific: An Ichthyological Evaluation. Journal of World Prehistory 6:1–49.Google Scholar
Crockford, Susan 1994 New Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence of an Extinct Fishery for Giant Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. In Fish Exploitation in the Past, Proceedings of the 7th Meeting of the ICAZ Fish Remains Working Group, edited by Wim Van Neer, pp. 163–168. Annales du Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Sciences Zoologiques 274. Tervuren.Google Scholar
Cummins, Thomas 2003 Nature as Culture’s Representation: A Change of Focus in Late Formative Iconography. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by J. Scott Raymond and Richard Burger, pp. 423–164. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Currie, Elizabeth J. 1995a Archaeology, Ethnohistory and Exchange Along the Coast of Ecuador. Antiquity 69:511–526.Google Scholar
Currie, Elizabeth J. 1995b Prehistory of the Southern Manabi Coast, Ecuador. BAR International Series 618. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Cruz-Uribe, Kathryn 1988 The Use and Meaning of Species Diversity and Richness in Archaeological Faunas. Journal of Archaeological Science 15:179–196.Google Scholar
Damp, Jonathan E. 1979 Better Homes and Gardens : The Life and Death of the Early Valdivia Community. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Damp, Jonathan E., and Norton, Presley 1987 Pretexto,contexto y falacias en la Isla de la Plata. Miscelánea Antropólogica Ecuatoriana 7:109–121.Google Scholar
De Anda-Montañez, Juan A., Amador-Buenrostro, Alberto, Martínez-Aguilar, Susana, and Muhlia-Almazán, Adriana 2004 Spatial Analysis of Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) Catch Rate and its Relation to El Niño and La Niña Events in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Deep-Sea Research II 51:575–586.Google Scholar
Estrada, Emilio 1958 Las culturas pre-clásicas, formativas, o arcaicas del Ecuador. Publicatión del Museo Víctor Emilio Estrada No. 5. Guayaquil.Google Scholar
Everett, Rachel ca. 1990 Machalilla Ceramics at Salango. Manuscript on file, Centra de Investigaciones y Museo de Salango, Puerto López, Manabí.Google Scholar
Ferdon, Edwin 1941 The Excavation at La Libertad. El Palacio 48:38–42.Google Scholar
Garanger, José 1965 Hameçons océaniens. Éléments de typologie. Journal de la Société des Océanistes 21:127–137.Google Scholar
Goe, Don R., and Halstead, Bruce W. 1953 A Preliminary Report of the Toxicity of the Gulf Puffer, Sphoeroides annulatus. California Fish and Game 39(2):229–232.Google Scholar
Grayson, Donald K. 1984 Quantitative Zooarchaeology. Topics in the Analysis of Archaeological Faunas. Academic Press, Orlando.Google Scholar
Iversen, Edwin S., and Yoshida, Howard O. 1957 Notes on the Biology of the Wahoo in the Line Islands. Pacific Science 11(4):370–379.Google Scholar
Jiménez-Prado, Pedro, and Béarez, Philippe 2004 Peces marinos del Ecuador continental / Marine Fishes of Continental Ecuador. Vol. 1. SIMBIOE (Corporatión Sociedad para la Investigatión y Monitoreo de la Biodiversidad Ecuatoriana), NAZCA (Nazca, Institute de Investigaciones Marinas), IFEA (Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos), Quito.Google Scholar
Lathrap, Donald W., Collier, Donald, and Chandra, Helen 1975 Ancient Ecuador. Culture, clay and creativity. 3000–300 B.C. / El Ecuador antiguo. Cultura, cerámica y creatividad. 3000–300 A.C. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lippi, Ronald D. 1980 Report on excavations at Rio Perdido (OGCh–20), Guayas, Ecuador, with emphasis on the ceramic chronology. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Lippi, Ronald D. 1983 La Ponga and the Machalilla Phase of Coastal Ecuador. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Wisconsin, Madison. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Lunniss, Richard 2001 Archaeology at Salango, Ecuador: an Engoroy ceremonial site on the south coast of Manabi. Ph.D. dissertation, University of London. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Lunniss, Richard 2008 Where the Land and the Ocean Meet: the Engoroy Phase Ceremonial Site at Salango, Ecuador, 600–100BC. In Pre-Columbian Landscapes of Creation and Origin, edited by John E. Staller, pp. 203–248. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Marcos, Jorge G. 1977–78 Cruising to Acapulco and Back with the Thorny Oyster Set: a Model for a Lineal Exchange System. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 9(1–2):99–132.Google Scholar
Marcos, Jorge G. 1995 El Mullu y el Pututo: la articulación de la ideología y el tráfico a larga distancia en la formación del estado huancavilca. In Primer Encuentro de Investigadores de la Costa Ecuatoriana en Europa, edited by Aurelio Alvarez, Silvia G. Alvarez, Carmen Fauria and Jorge G. Marcos, pp. 97–142. Abya-Yala, Quito.Google Scholar
Marcos, Jorge G. 2003 A Reassessment of the Ecuadorian Formative. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by J. Scott Raymond and Richard L. Burger, pp. 7–32. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Marcos, Jorge G., and Norton, Presley 1981 Interpretatión sobre la arqueología de la Isla de la Plata. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana 1:136–154.Google Scholar
Marcos, Jorge G., and Norton, Presley 1984 From the Yungas of Chinchay Suyo to Cuzco : The Role of la Plata Island in Spondylus Trade. In Social and Economic Organization in the Prehistoric Andes, edited by David L. Browman, Richard L. Burger and Mario A. Rivera, pp. 7–20. BAR International Series 194. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Meggers, Betty J. 1966 Ecuador. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Meggers, Betty J., Evans, Clifford, and Estrada, Emilio 1965 Early Formative Period of coastal Ecuador : The Valdivia and Machalilla Phases. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Vol. 1. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Nichols, John T., and Murphy, Robert C. 1944 A Collection of Fishes from the Panama Bight,Pacific Ocean. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 83(4):217–260.Google Scholar
Norton, Presley 1986 El señorío de Salangone y la liga de mercaderes: el cartel Spondylus-Balsa. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana 6:131–144.Google Scholar
Norton, Presley 1992 Las culturas cerámicas prehispánicas del sur de Manabí. In 5000 años de ocupación: Parque Nacional Machalilla, edited by Presley Norton and Marco V. Garcia, pp. 9–40. Centra Cultural Artes, Abya-Yala, Quito.Google Scholar
Norton, Presley, Lunniss, Richard, and Nayling, Nigel 1983 Excavaciones en Salango, provincia de Manabí. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana 3:9–72.Google Scholar
Núñez-Vázquez, Erick J., Yotsu-Yamashita, Mari, Sierra-Beltrán, Arturo P., Yasumoto, Takeshi, and Ochoa, José L. 2000 Toxicities and Distribution of Tetrodotoxin in the Tissues of Puffer Fish Found in the Coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Toxicon 38:729–734.Google Scholar
Paulsen, Allison C. 1974 The Thorny Oyster and the Voice of God: Spondylus and Strombus in Andean Prehistory. American Antiquity 39(4):597–607.Google Scholar
Pearsall, Deborah M. 2003 Plant Food Resources of the Ecuadorian Formative: An Overview and Comparison to the Central Andes. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by J. Scott Raymond and Richard L. Burger, pp. 213–257. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Raymond, J. Scott, and Burger, Richard L. (editors) 2003 Archaeology of Formative Ecuador. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Reitz, Elizabeth J., and Masucci, Maria A. 2004 Guangala Fishers and Farmers. A Case Study of Animal Use at El Azúcar, Southwestern Ecuador. University of Pittsburgh Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology 14. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Rossel, Frédéric, Goulven, Patrick Le, and Cadier, Éric 1999 Répartition spatiale de l’influence de l’ENSO sur les précipitations annuelles de l’Équateur. Revue des Sciences de l’Eau 12(1):183–200.Google Scholar
Sánchez Mosquera, Amelia 1990 Análisis de los otolitos del sitio Salango OMJPSL 141B, provincia de Manabí. Boletín Arqueológico 1:32–37.Google Scholar
Sánchez Mosquera, Amelia 1991 Evaluatión de los patrones de pesca precolombinos en el sitio Salango, costa pacífica del Ecuador. Unpublished Tesis de Licenciatura, Centra de Estudios Arqueológicos y Antropológicos, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Literal, Guayaquil.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Frederick A., and Scott Raymond, J. 1996 Formative Settlement Patterns in the Valdivia Valley, SW Coastal Ecuador. Journal of Field Archaeology 23(2):205–224.Google Scholar
Southon, Mickael H. 1987 Competencia y conflicto en una pesquería de red de arrastre en Salango, Ecuador. In La pesca artesanal en el Ecuador, edited by Centra de Planificación y Estudios Sociales, pp. 175–187. CEPLAES (Centra de Planificación y Estudios Sociales), ESPOL (Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral), ILDIS (Instituto Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sociales), Quito.Google Scholar
Spalding, Mark D., Fox, Helen E., Allen, Gerald R., Davidson, Nick, Ferdaña, Zach A., Finlayson, Max, Halpern, Benjamin S., Jorge, Miguel A., Lombana, Al, Lourie, Sara A., Martin, Kirsten D., McManus, Edmund, Molnar, Jennifer, Recchia, Cheri A., and Robertson, James 2007 Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas. BioScience 57(7):573–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staller, John Edward 2001 Reassessing the Developmental and Chronological Relations of the Formative of Coastal Ecuador. Journal of World Prehistory 15(2): 193–256.Google Scholar
Stahl, Peter 2003 The Zooarchaeological Record from Formative Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by J. Scott Raymond and Richard L. Burger, pp. 175–212. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stothert, Karen E. 1985 The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador. American Antiquity 50:613–637.Google Scholar
Stothert, Karen E. 1988 La prehistoria temprana de la peninsula de Santa Elena: Cultura Las Vegas. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana, Serie Monográfica 10. Museos del Banco Central del Ecuador, Guayaquil.Google Scholar
Stothert, Karen E. 2003 Expressions of Ideology in the Formative Period of Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by J. Scott Raymond and Richard L. Burger, pp. 337–421. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stothert, Karen E., Piperno, Dolores R., and Andres, Thomas C. 2003 Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene Human Adaptation in Coastal Ecuador: the Las Vegas Evidence. Quaternary International 109–110:23–43.Google Scholar
Valdez, Francisco, Guffroy, Jean, de Saulieu, Geoffroy, Hurtado, Julio, and Yepes, Alexandra 2005 Découverte d’un site cérémonial formatif sur le versant oriental des Andes. Comptes Rendus Palevol 4(4):369–374.Google Scholar
Van Der Merwe, Nikolaas J., Lee-Thorp, Julia A., and Scott Raymond, J. 1993 Light Stable Isotopes and the Subsistence Base of Formative Cultures at Valdivia, Ecuador. In Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeolgy at the Molecular Level, edited by Joseph B. Lambert and Gisela Grupe. pp. 63–97. Springer Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villalba, Marcelo 1988 Cotocollao: una aldea formativa del valle de Quito. Miscelánea Antropológica Ecuatoriana, Serie Monográfica 2. Museos del Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito.Google Scholar
Villalba, Marcelo, Hall, Minard, and Mothes, Patricia 2006 Cultural Occupation Sequence from the Formative Period (2700–1500 BC) up to the Integration Period (1500 AD) and the Intercalated Volcanic Ashes: Implications of the Stratigraphic Analysis atTonsupa, (Atacames), Esmeraldas Province – Northern Coast of Ecuador. Poster presented at the Cities on Volcanoes 4 Conference, Symposium VIII: History, Archaeology, and Legends. January 23–27,2006. Quito, Ecuador.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 1986 La evolutión local de asentamientos formativos en el litoral ecuatoriano: el caso de Real Alto. In Arqueología de la costa ecuatoriana: nuevos enfoques, edited by Jorge Marcos, pp. 85–127. Escuela Politécnica del Litoral, Guayaquil.Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 2003 Appendix A: Formative Period Chronology for the Coast and Western Lowlands of Ecuador. In Archaeology of Formative Ecuador, edited by J. Scott Raymond and Richard L. Burger, pp. 487–527. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Zeidler, James A. 2008 The Ecuadorian Formative. In Handbook of South American Archaeology, edited by Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell, pp. 459–488. Springer, New York.Google Scholar