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Discovery of an ancient civilization in the west of the Amazon Basin

July 08, 2003

The western part of the Amazon basin is covered by tropical rainforest, severely eroded in places. The area is still largely unknown to archaeologists. It covers the lower eastern flanks of the Andean cordillera and extends from the piedmont down to the Amazon plain. It is in these twisting watershed areas that the River Amazon springs forth, loading itself with silts and other sediments. The fauna and flora of this region, called ceja de monta'±a, features among the richest on Earth : the number of species far exceeds that on the alluvial plain. That humans might have chosen sites here is therefore not surprising. Settlement would have been a consequence of the plentiful resources they could tap. However, the environment makes difficult any discovery of traces of ancient human occupation. Acid soils, affected by frequent mud flows, a thick cover of vegetation and rugged relief cut down the chances of conservation and detection of remains.

IRD researchers, jointly with Ecuadorian partners (1) have nevertheless made a key discovery for understanding human settlement of this western part of the Amazon Basin. Their work in the Ecuador province of Zamora-Chinchipe, on the Peruvian border, over several years had up to now led them to record a great many, but not particularly ancient, occupation sites, representative of the Corrugado horizon (2). From the second half of the first millennium to the historical period, these groups belonging to the proto-Jivaros linguistic group, such as the Bracamoros, would thus have lived on terraces at different altitudes on the sides of the cordillera. (3)

Indications of more ancient communities came from some finely polished stone receptacles kept in private collections in the region. A research project has been progressing since 2000, aiming to place these objects back in their original temporal and geographical context. Prospecting downstream of river basins of the Isimanchi, the Valladolid, the Palanda and the Mayo revealed sites yielding a ceramic tradition very different from that found in the Corrugado horizon. Among these sites, at least two bear polished stone receptacles. One place (La Florida, on the high Rio Palanda) proved particularly rich. There were three mounds arranged on a small river terrace. Cores taken from under one of these tumuli brought to light some elaborate construction techniques, such as the digging out of a large pit about 2 m deep, the accumulation of sediments, some of which are extremely altered by fire, stone retaining walls, masses of ballast-like material, and flagstones. These construction features are probably linked to symbolic or funerary activities, or both. C14 dating indicates an age around 2450 years BC (4). Such dates are some of the oldest known from the high reaches of the Amazon Basin. They give evidence for the presence of a cultural tradition that was already refined and complex at this earlier time.

An additional element is the finding on the same site, some years ago, of an undated deposit containing several fine polished-stone receptacles, during road works. One ornamented receptacle discovered is a bowl, fashioned out of a bicoloured rock, carrying complex iconographic motifs : feline heads, snakes, birds of prey, and so on. These illustrate a developed symbolism closely associated with the tropical rainforest. This iconography shares the figurations and modes of representation characteristic of the first great Andean civilizations, such as the Cupisnique and Chav'­n cultures. The small amount of ceramic objects discovered on the site bear stylistic elements comparable with those of formative traditions, in other words representative of the first agricultural societies currently known that mastered ceramic techniques.

The location of the site, in the middle of the ceja de monta'±a, is probably one of the most significant clues for understanding the importance and the nature of exchanges between the populations of the Amazonian plain and that of the uplands.
Judging by its antiquity, this site very likely is evidence of the first contacts forged between these different populations and suggests that the development of the first great Andean civilizations should be regarded from a different perspective.

Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Paris (IRD)