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 is one of the oldest cultures in the Americas. The Valdivia culture in t ...

, spanning the Pacific lowlands to the

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

highlands,Zeidler 468 and even into southern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

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 province in northwestern Ecuador. The capital is Esmeraldas. The province is home to the Afro-Ecuadorian culture. Demographics Ethnic groups as of the Ecuadorian census of 2010: *Mestizo 44.7% * Afro-Ecuadorian 43.9% *W ...

*Tachina Phase, southern

*Tabuchula Phase, northern

Manabí Province Manabí () is a province in Ecuador. Its capital is Portoviejo. The province is named after the Manabí people. Demographics Ethnic groups as of the Ecuadorian census of 2010: *Mestizo 66.7% * Montubio 19.2% * Afro-Ecuadorian 6.0% *White 7 ...

*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. The ...

and Guayas coastal region *Chorrera proper,

Guayas River The Guayas River also called Rio Guayas is a major river in western Ecuador. It gives name to Guayas Province and is the most important river in South America that does not flow into the Atlantic Ocean or any of its marginal seas. Its total lengt ...

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 is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea level in the national ...

*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 ...

. 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 vessel common among several Pre-Columbian cultures of South America beginning in the early 2nd millennium BCE. These cultures included the Chavin an ...

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 o ...

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.

Earliest use of metals

The first metal work in Ecuador is attributed to the Chorrera craftsmen. 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 much of South America, Central America, the West Indies, and ...

''), arrowroot (''

Maranta arundinacea ''Maranta (plant), Maranta arundinacea'', also known as arrowroot, maranta, West Indian arrowroot, obedience plant, Bermuda arrowroot, araru, araruta, ararao or hulankeeriya, is a large, perennial plant, perennial herb found in rainforest hab ...

''), corn (''

Zea mays Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

''), 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 consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *''Lagena ...

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

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

''), 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 called palm trees ...

'').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 forest ...

) duck, frogs, lizards,

peccary A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal 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 A ...

, 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 Cau-Cau R ...

and

Machalilla culture The Machalilla were a prehistoric people in Ecuador, in southern Manabí and the Santa Elena Peninsula. The dates when the culture thrived are uncertain, but are generally agreed to encompass 1500 BCE to 1100 BCE.

s. Chorrera fisherman traded spiny oyster shells (''

Spondylus ''Spondylus'' is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family (biology), family Spondylidae.MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Spondylus Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies ...

'') 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. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

. Gold is traded in the latter centuries BCE.

Decline

In 467 BCE, the Pululahua Volcano north of

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

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