The Chorrera culture or Chorrera tradition is a Late Formative indigenous culture that flourished between 1300 BCE and 300 BCE in Ecuador.White, Nancy

''South American Archaeology.'' (retrieved 1 June 2011) Chorrera culture was one of the most widespread cultures in

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, flourishing between 8000 and 4600 BC, is one of the oldest cultures in ...

, spanning the Pacific lowlands to the

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

highlands,Zeidler 468 and even into southern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Regional divisions

Due to variations in ceramics and other material culture, Chorrera culture is divided into regional variants. These include: *Mafa Phase, northern

Esmeraldas Province Esmeraldas () is a northwestern coastal province of Ecuador. The capital and largest city is Esmeraldas. Esmeraldas is one of the three provinces of Ecuador that borders Colombia, and it is the most northern province in the country. The provin ...

*Tachina Phase, southern

*Tabuchula Phase, northern

Manabí Province Manabí () is a province in the Republic of Ecuador. Its capital is Portoviejo. The province is named after the Manabí people. Demographics Ethnic groups as of the Ecuadorian census of 2010: * Mestizo 69.7% * Montubio 19.2% * Afro-Ecuad ...

*Engoroy Phase,

Santa Elena Peninsula The 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. Th ...

and Guayas coastal region *Chorrera proper,

Guayas River The Guayas River (Rio Guayas) is a major river in western Ecuador. It gives its name to the Guayas Province of Ecuador. Its total length, including the Daule River, is 389 km (241 mi). The Guayas River's drainage basin is 34,500 km2 (1 ...

Basin *Early Jubones Phase, southeastern Guaya and western

Azuay Province Azuay (, ), Province of Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created on 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital and largest city is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea le ...

*Arenillas Phase,

El Oro Province El Oro (; ''oro'' = gold) 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. History The area was s ...

. 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 vessel A stirrup spout vessel (so called because of its resemblance to a stirrup) is a type of ceramic drinking vessel, vessel common among several Pre-Columbian cultures of South America beginning in the early 2nd millennium BCE. These cultures inclu ...

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 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 like the irrigation of olive trees. ''Ollas'' have short wide necks and wider bellies, resembling beanpots or ...

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 spool A plug (sometimes earplug or earspool), in the context of body modification, is a short, cylindrical piece of jewelry commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings. Modern western plugs are also called flesh tunnels. Because of their size—which ...

s and rocker stamps used for body painting. Unusual decorative features of Chorrera ceramics include resist-painting and iridescent slips.

Use of metals

Chorrera craftsmen produced some of the earliest metal objects in Ecuador. Numerous metal objects and fragments were excavated at the coastal site of Salango. Objects from copper, silver and gold were made, mostly elite goods like jewelry.

Diet

Crops cultivated by Chorrera people include achira (''

Canna indica ''Canna indica'', commonly known as Indian shot, African arrowroot, edible canna, purple arrowroot, Sierra Leone arrowroot, is a plant species in the family Cannaceae. It is native to the Americas and naturalized elsewhere. The edible rhizome ...

''), arrowroot (''

Maranta arundinacea ''Maranta arundinacea'', also known as arrowroot, maranta, West Indian arrowroot, obedience plant or Bermuda arrowroot is a large, perennial plant, perennial herb found in rainforest habitats of the Americas, but cultivated in tropical regio ...

''), corn (''

Zea mays Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

''), common beans (''

Phaseolus vulgaris ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', the common bean,, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its botanical classification, alo ...

''), as well as gourds and squash (''

Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae (), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family (biology), family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera.

''). They also gathered wild tree fruits, sedge (''

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

''), and palm (''

Palmae The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

'').Zeidler 470 Chorrera people fished and hunted as well, catching game such as armadillo, deer (including white-tailed and

brocket deer Brockets or 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 fores ...

) duck, frogs, lizards,

peccary Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...

, and various rodents.

Trade

This culture continued the brisk trade network established by

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and ...

and

Machalilla culture The Machalilla were a prehistory, prehistoric people in Ecuador, in southern Manabí Province, Manabí and the Santa Elena Peninsula. The dates when the culture thrived are uncertain, but are generally agreed to encompass 1500 common era, BCE to ...

s. Chorrera fisherman traded spiny oyster shells (''

Spondylus ''Spondylus'' is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae and subfamily Spondylinae. They are known in English as spiny oysters or thorny oysters (although they are not, in fact, true oysters, but are related to sc ...

'') and other marine shells with people from the Quito basin for

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

. Gold is traded in the latter centuries BCE.

Decline

In 467 BCE, the Pululahua Volcano north of

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

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.Zeidler 471

References

Bibliography

* Zeidler, J. A. "The Ecuadorian Formative." Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell, eds
''Handbook of South American Archaeology.''
New York: Springer, 2008. .

External links

Chorrera ceramics
, National Museum of the American Indian

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chorrera Culture Pre-Columbian cultures Indigenous peoples in Ecuador Indigenous peoples of the Andes Archaeology of Ecuador 2nd millennium BC Archaic period in the Americas