The Manteño-Huancavilca culture () were one of the last

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

cultures in modern-day

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, active from 850 to 1600 CE (1150–400 BP). It encompasses the area of the earlier

Valdivia culture The Valdivia culture is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas. It appeared one thousand years after the Las Vegas culture and thrived along the coast of Santa Elena peninsula in Santa Elena Province of Ecuador between 3500 ...

Scope

The term was coined in the mid-20th century by Ecuadorian

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

, to describe pre-Hispanic settlement near the town of

Manta Manta or mantas may refer to: * Manta ray, large fish belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' Arts and entertainment App & Website * Manta (platform), a Korean digital comics provider Fictional entities * Manta (comics), a character in American Marve ...

on the Pacific coast. Their historic area has been engulfed in part by more recent settlement. Soon after published his findings, the term Manteño began to be applied to several distinct sub-groups: northern Manteño (, , or ), southern Manteño () and Punáe. Some archaeologists and historians reject this split, however, applying the term to all three groups; this term is of

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

n origin, from the time of the first colonisation. Little work has distinguished such groupings. Historian Cieza de León, however, says that residents in coastal towns north of Salango used a type of facial tattoo distinguishable from those to their south. Other proposed divisions have included coastal and inland areas, based on types of burial and subsistence. The Manteño chiefdoms – under the broad definition – extended over coastal parts of the present-day provinces of Manabí, Santa Elena and Guayas, including La Plata Island. The

Bahía de Caráquez Bahía de Caráquez, officially known as San Antonio de Caraquez and founded under the name of Villa de San Antonio de la Bahía de Caráquez or simply known today as Bahía, formerly called Bahía de los Caras during the period of the Spanish co ...

and Chone River mark the northern boundary of this territory, and the Guayas basin its southern boundary. According to early colonial sources, the town of

Picoazá Picoazá is an urban parish in Portoviejo (canton), Portoviejo Canton, Manabí Province, Ecuador. It is situated on the western side of the city of Portoviejo and has a population of nearly 19,000. History Archeological finds made in the area in ...

was the site of a Manteño chiefdom. In addition, major sites have been found at the Cerro de Hojas and Cerro Jaboncillo, the Cerro de Paco, Cerro las Negras, Cerro los Santo, Bellavista, Agua Blanca, Loma de los Cangrejitos, López Viejo, Los Frailes, Montecristi, Olón, Salango and La Libertad.Peregrine (2001) p.303

Organisation

Many (if not all) were split into four major settlements, with the chief of the principal settlement overlord. Caamaño believed that the Manteños operated like a trading ring rather than a kingdom or empire, and drew parallels to the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. Manteño settlements typically contain large quantities of characteristic pottery and large stone foundations.

Lifestyle

Ceramic Staff with Profile Figure MET 1980

The culture primarily grew fruits and vegetables, such as

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

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

tomatoes The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originated from and was d ...

, and squash. The civilizations built their houses out of straw or palm leaves,Manteño-Guancavilca , Casa del Alabado
and also used houses made of a type of bamboo native to the region, using river rocks as a foundation. The culture was also specialized in diving for

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 ...

, a food that was said to be of the gods. They also used its purple and orange shell as a type of currency; this shell was traded throughout the region as far north as Mexico. The

is unique to the warm waters of coastal Ecuador. The Manteños were such a unique culture that the Inca never conquered them and let the Manteños buy their way with the food and shell of the gods that they only knew how to find due to this specialization of diving.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manteno civilization Prehistory of Ecuador Pre-Columbian cultures Archaeology of Ecuador Archaeological cultures of South America

Scope

Organisation

Lifestyle

See also

References