|
|
| Other sites of interest |
|
Agua
Blanca
This is Ecuador’s
most important
archeological site,
for it was here that
the ancient town of
Salangome once
stood. The town’s
foremost citizen, the
Lord of Salango, had a
fleet of rafts at his
service that sailed
the Pacific coast of
the Americas from
Ecuador to Peru and
Mexico. Today
the site contains the
remains of old
Manteña constructions
in Manabí
province.
|
|
Salinas
Also of
importance in Guayas
province is the
Salinas Twenty-first
Century Museum.
Its interesting
exhibit on Man and the
Sea points up the
maritime exploits of
the last ancient
inhabitants of Ecuador’s
central and southern
coast, the Huancavilca
Manteños, who plied
the Pacific on large
rafts from Ecuador to
Mexico and
Peru.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
A
series of cultures dating back to 4400 B.C.
were centered in several provinces along
Ecuador’s coastline, denoting the presence
of man and his lifestyle. Archeological
vestiges, such as pottery shards and remnants
of cooking and ceremonial utensils, hunting
and fishing gear, and farming tools, together
with some human remains, illustrate the
individual characteristics of those cultures.
|
 |
Tourist Attractions |
 |
|
 La
Tolita
La Tolita museum in Esmeraldas province
shows that the culture was known for its
artistry in gold and platinum, which, together
with its ceramic works, were used for
religious purposes. Located at the
outlet of the Santiago River, la Tolita was
the most important ceremonial center on the
coast. Homes were erected on landfills
and, on the islands, on mounds known as tolas,
distributed into groups. The
inhabitants of this culture were farmers and a
favorable environment contributed to plentiful
harvests that kept the large coastal
population well fed.
Sites to be visited here include la Tola
del Pueblo, or the People’s Tola,
and the museum.
|
|
 Japotó
Situated near Charapotó, in Manabí
province, are the ruins of the lost city of
Japotó. Nearby, a few short kilometers from
Chone, petroglyphs depicting human beings,
animals and geometric figures are to be found
engraved on the walls of caves and rocky
outcroppings, revealing the site’s use for
worship.
|
|
 Santa
Elena Peninsula
Our first stop in this ancient pre-Colombian
settlement is at the Valdivia Museum in Guayas
province. Clay female statuettes were a
fertility symbol for this culture. Also
on display are remains of human beings and of
vessels unearthed by chance that depict the
coastal cultures.
|
|
 Salango
Only five scant minutes from Puerto López is
Salango, a small village on the Manabite coast
consisting of only a couple of streets.
It boasts an archeological museum, however,
where innovative ceramic and fishing
techniques are displayed, together with a raft
used by the early settlers for fishing.
A short distance away lies Salango Island,
which is part of the Machililla National Park.
|
|
 Sumpa
Near Santa Elena, in Guayas province,
the remains of two people are to be found.
Known by local dwellers as the Sumpa lovers,
they rest at the site of Las Vegas culture, in
a village where the inhabitants buried their
dead in their own homes to keep the
communication links with their loved ones
unbroken. The museum is divided
into three sectors. In the first,
skeletons are on display in five cases, while
the second consists of a peasant dwelling, and
the third is a hall where the processes used
by archeologists are explained and the customs
of the Las Vegas dweller are illustrated.
|
|
 Real
Alto
Fairly close to the town of Chanduy, in Guayas
province, stands an archeological
museum. It marks the site of Real Alto,
whose importance stems from its advanced
socioeconomic development, its great age and
the basic role it played in the Americas’
Neolithic process. The site was discovered in
1971 and excavated by Donald Lathrap and his
team of researchers from the University of
Illinois.
Investigations demonstrated the existence of
the first agricultural settlements in the
Americas where pottery was used (4400 to 1700
B.C.), placing the area chronologically in the
middle and late Valdivia phases.
Scientific studies over the past three decades
have enabled archeologists to reconstruct the
socioeconomic organization of the Valdivia
people.
The museum, which opened its doors in 1998,
presents 10,000 years of history of the Santa
Elena Peninsula. Visitors are given an
understanding of the region’s historical and
cultural development through a variety of
dioramas, photographic displays, drawings,
explanatory maps, scale models, and artistic
murals and the exhibition of over 50 restored
vessels and 40 original Valdivia figurines.
An ethnographic museum fashioned from the
region’s traditional building materials
complements the archeological museum with
exhibits of weavings, ceramics and metal works
by contemporary craftsmen from the area.
|
|
|
|
|
