Machalilla
Kotosh Valdivia
FIGURE 18.—Resemblances between vessel shapes and decorations from the Kotosh site, central highlands of Peru, the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases of Ecuador, and early Tehuacan, Mexico. a,f, Tecomate. b, g, Flat-base pan. c, h. Stirrup-spout jar. d, i, Simple bottle. e,j. Undulating incised bands, (a-e, after Izumi and Sono, 1963: a, fig. 46x; b, fig. 46ix; c, fig. 46vi; fig. 46vii; e, fig. 46ix.
f-g, after Byers, ed., 1967-, vol. 3, fig. 7. h-j, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: /;, fig. 88-12; ?, fig. 8 8 - 1 1 ; / pi. 38j)
164 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 11
ing on a rectangle also occurs (fig. 19^). In the broad- line incising and general effect, this resembles the concentric rectangles found in Valdivia Incised
(fig. 19/; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pis.
Machalilla
42a, 161e-h). In Valdivia, these sometimes appear to be conventionalized faces. However, in the detaU of being a true spiral rather than a concentric arrange- ment, it is more comparable to motifs found in MachalUla (fig. 19^; op. cit., pi. 138o), which is also closer in time to the occurrence at Kotosh.
Zig-zag Motifs and Circle and Dot
T h e circle and dot is rare in Valdivia (fig. 19^), and common in Kotosh (fig. I9c-d, 20b-c), where it reaches a peak of popularity in the Sajara-patac- San Bias Phase. Zig-zags are common in Valdivia;
fairly rare in Kotosh.
Excision
Although motifs differ, the technique of excision is found both in Valdivia Phases A and B, 3000-2000 B.C. (fig. I9h), and in Kotosh Waira-jhca, 1800-1100 B.C. (fig. 19^). Red pigment is rubbed into excised areas in each region. T h e stepped motif common in Kotosh is found in Valdivia Incised.
Kotosh Valdivia
FIGURE 19.—Resemblances between pottery decorations from early phases of the Kotosh site, central highlands of Peru, and the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases of Ecuador, a, e, Rectangular spiral, b, f, Concentric rectangles, c-g, Ziz-zag motifs and circle and dot. d, h. Excision, (a-d, after Izumi and Sono, 1963: a, pi.
47a; b, pi. 49d; c, pi. 49a; d, pi. 84a-2. e-h, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: e, pi. 138 o; / , pi. 42a; g, pi. 62b; h, pi. 59b)
Interrupted Horizontal Lines
Two or more short horizontal incised lines, frequendy ending in dots and interrupted to form panels, often with a circle and dot in the space between lines (fig.
20b-c), form 23 percent of the decorations of the Sajara-patac-San Bias Phase (200-1 B . C ) at Kotosh (Izumi and Sono, 1963, pis. 52b, 12-14, 17-25; 53a, 1-5, most of b ; 59; 61a; 62). A similar but crude paneling of incision without the circle and dot is found in Valdivia Incised, and Valdivia Broad-line Incised (fig. 20^-/).
Summary
As pointed out by Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, p . 174), Kotosh affiliations appear to be with the Puerto Hormiga, Barlovento, and MomU Phases of northern Colombia, and an intermontane route is suggested. Relationships to the ceramics of Yarina- cocha have been cited both by Izumi and Sono (1963, p . 155), and Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, p p . 176-177). Shared features include incised rims, boat-shaped vessels, and elaborate lateral flanges on bowls. DetaUs of this possible route of diffusion are not yet entirely clear.
It is interesting that the circle and dot, dots ending lines, and the linked chains on the heads of bone pins (Izumi and Sono, 1963, pi. 102b, 3 ^ ) are Asiatic Iron Age traits that crossed the Bering Strait into the Eskimo art of Alaska at about the same dme as they appear in Kotosh (Collins, 1937, p p . 300- 303; Larsen and Rainey, 1948, p p . 130-132). The S-element may also belong to this complex. Lanceo-
late ground stone knife blades are another Kotosh element (Izumi and Sono, 1963, pi. 167) that re- sembles Eskimo artifacts and probably have Asiatic origin. T h e history of the semilunar knife, panpipes, metallurgy, and a number of other Andean traits also needs investigation in the light of this possibility.
Machalilla
Kotosh Valdivia
FIGURE 20.—Resemblances between pottery decorations from the Kotosh site, central highlands of Peru, and the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases of Ecuador, a, d, Arched lines, b-c, e-f. Inter- rupted horizontal lines, (a-c, after Izumi and Sono, 1963: a, pi.
88a-8; b, pi. 53a-2; c, pi. 531^10. d-f, Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: d, pi. 131g; e, pi. 32a; / , pi. 74f)
The Guanape Phase of North Coastal Peru The first ceramics in Viru Valley on the north coast of Peru appear about 1200 B . C and stand somewhat apart from the earlier (ca. 1800 B . C ) initial ceramics at Ancon on the central coast and Kotosh in the highlands.
At this point only the unique features of the early Guanape complex will be considered. Its relation- ships have been discussed by Meggers, Evans, and
Estrada (1965, pp. 168-169). After 800 B . C with the beginning of the coastal Chavin or Gupisnique Phase, the north coast was incorporated into the general picture of Peruvian ceramic development.
Approximately 90 percent of the earliest pottery in the Virii Valley sequence (Period M-N on the arbitrary scale; Ford, 1949, fig. 4) was plain, black to dark brown in color, with sparse white quartz temper- ing, scraped on the interior, low track polish on exterior, made usually into large, egg-shaped neckless jars. This is the Central American tecomate form
lacking in the early phases of Ecuador, Colombia, and Piura-Chira Valleys. This pottery is thin, with an average thickness of 6 mm.
Applique Fillets
There are three decorative techniques. Guanape Finger-pressed Rib (Strong and Evans, 1952, p p . 277-279, fig. 45) has two variations: relatively large ropes of clay running horizontally and roughly pressed onto the vessel wall with the fingertips, and smaller ropes running vertically that are more flattened with the fingers. T h e resemblance to Valdivia Applique Fillet (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp. 45-46, pis. 27-29) is very close, especially in regard to the latter Guanape type. T h e Valdivia decoration is occasionally applied in simple recti- linear patterns and placed on vessel rims, practices not found at Guafiape. The Valdivia type begins about 1700 B.C., and after 1500 B . C has a popu- larity of 2 to 3 percent; the Guafiape type begins with a frequency of 4-5 percent at approximately
1200 B.C. and disappears about 800 B . C
Guafiape Incised Rib (Strong and Evans, 1952, pp. 279-282) is sunply a version of the finger-pressed type, on which a tool rather than fingers was used to weld the clay strips to the vessel waU (fig. 2\a-d).
It also has both horizontal and vertical versions, but in the latter there are indications of simple geo- metrical patterns as described in the Valdivia type.
In the detail of tool rather than fingers used to impress the applique ridges, the Guafiape type more nearly resembles Valdivia Nicked Rib or Nubbin (fig. 2\J-h; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp.
69-70). The latter, however, has crudely incised lines between the ridges, a feature lacking in Viru. T h e Valdivia type is rare, scattered from early to late phases, whUe the Viru types begin with a frequency of about 3 percent and end in the Chavin-Cupisnique Period.
Applique Nodes and Finger Punching
The third early Viru type, described as Guafiape Modeled (Strong and Evans, 1952, pp. 282-283, fig.
166 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 11
9
Guafiape Valdivia
FIGURE 21.—Resemblances between pottery decorations of the Guanape Phase, Viru Valley, Peru and the Valdivia Phase of Ecuador, a-d, f-h. Ornamented applique fillets, e, i. Applique nodes, (a-e, after Strong and Evans, 1952: a, fig. 45a; b, fig. 45c;
c, fig. 46a; d, fig. 46g; e, fig. 4:7e. f-i, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1 9 6 5 : / , pi. 27a; ^, pi. 88c; h, pi. 88f; t, pi. 89j)
47), consists of pushed-in areas as well as smaU applique nodes. T h e latter were simple round bosses decorated with punctations (fig. 21^), or in one in- stance with an animal face. These resemble the nubbins of Valdivia Nicked Rib or Nubbin (fig. 2li;
op. cit., pi. 89), which sometimes represent animal heads.
Summary
T h e decorations b u t not vessel shapes in the peculiar Early Guafiape ceramics on the Peruvian north coast could well be a selection from techniques available in the Valdivia ceramic complex about 1500 B.C. and a few centuries later. T h e tecomate and flat-base pan vessel forms suggest relationship to Mesoamerica. It will be recalled that further up the coast, tecomates first appear in Lanning's Paita c Phase.
The Colonial Formative Gap in Middle America In the long stretch of Caribbean and Gulf coastline between Panama and the mouth of the Mississippi River, no sites are yet known that can be placed in the Colonial Formative. Such must exist, but await discovery. Much of this coast is difficult mangrove swamp. Meggers and Evans (1964) have argued that these sites were probably located in semi-arid stretches of coast, for the choice of environments in coastal Ecuador, Colombia, and P a n a m a suggests that by preference Early Formative people were not dwellers of wet tropical forests.
Brush's (1965) recent discovery of pottery dating near 2400 B . C on the Pacific coast of Mexico near Acapulco, is the only item of information preceding 1500 B.C. on the Pacific coast of Middle America north of Willey and McGimsey's (1954) work in Panama. Only preliminary information is avaUable, but the close resemblance to the Purron Phase ceramics of highland Tehuacan Valley suggests that this complex may be derived from the highlands, rather than the reverse. Probably the earliest pottery of coastal Mexico should show more resemblances to Puerto Hormiga, Machalilla, or Valdivia. If the diffusion of pottery manufacture was by sea, then the newly landed voyagers and the people to whom they taught the art would not be likely to change either shapes or designs drastically. True, their imitations might not be very competent, but they should be recognizably similar to the models.
T h e people of the interior, in highland Mexico, were already well-established cultivators of maize by 2000 B.C. Their need for ceramic storage and cooking vessels would seem to be somewhat greater than that
167 of seafood eaters. These highland people, basically
of the Archaic Desert culture, already had a container tradition in the form of vessels laborously cut from stone and probably also wood. T h e two principal forms were the flat-base pan with low outslanting walls, and the tecomate. T h e earliest highland pottery known was manufactured in these two shapes.
Most of the ceramics that Mesoamerican authors have called Early Formative date after 1500 B . C , and in terms of the divisions proposed here, pertain principally to the beginning of the Theocratic Forma- tive. Most of the ceramic features can be traced to Valdivia and Machalilla.
The Stallings Island Complex of the Georgia Coast
Moore (1897) and particularly Claflin (1931) brought the fiber-tempered pottery found in shell heaps near the mouth of the Savannah River to the attention of archeologists. T h e ceramics of the Stallings Island, as well as the fiber-tempered Orange complex of the Atlantic coast of Florida, have been described by Sears and Griffin (1950). The surprisingly early radiocarbon date of around 2000 B . C has been dis- cussed by Bullen (1961). This date, about 1000 years before the appearance of either the paddle-stamped Woodland pottery of the Great Lakes region or any other known complex of North America, has led to the suggestion that the sequence from preceramic to plain to decorated pottery on the south Atlantic coast is a case of independent invention of the pottery art.
In a recent article (Ford, 1966), an attempt was made to relate both the Stallings Island complex and the Orange Phase of Florida to the early Formative of northwestern coasts of South America. These arguments wUl be repeated here, but not exactly in the same form, for there is now new information avaUable.
Two new dates for the plain fiber-tempered ware have recently been published by Stoltman (1966).
These came from Rabbit Mount, a small midden located in the Savannah River swamp, and date 2500±135 B.C., and 2515±95 B.C.
The Waring Papers provide considerable additional information on the Stallings Island complex. Of particular interest are reports on Waring's exca- vations at the Bilbo site (Williams, ed., 1968, pp.
152ff), a circular shell midden about 100 feet in diameter located in a marsh. Clear ceramic stratig- raphy in the five feet of deposit near the center shows inidal plain pottery, with linear punctated, punc-
tated, and incised decorations higher up in the midden (op. cit., fig. 70).
Waring (WiUiams, ed., op. cit., p. 191) is of the opinion that the Stallings Island site, described by Claflin (1931), persisted later than did BUbo. AU of the material from the lower level is fiber tempered, with sand tempering confined to the upper levels.
Vessel shapes were round, deep bowls, and the bowls with sharply inturned rims that Claflin describes do not occur in the earlier Georgia middens (WUliams, ed., 1968, fig. 72). In addition to the drag-and-jab decoration found in Stallings, BUbo ceramics contain a number of designs made by incising lines horizontal to the rim and then spacing punctations in them.
The Bilbo site is also remarkable for the number of bone pins with engraved heads (op. cit., figs. 63-64).
The acceptable radiocarbon date from Bilbo is 2165 B.C. Another fiber-tempered ceramic site described by Waring is Dulaney (op. cit., p. 208). This yielded a date of 1810 B . C
Another important locality is a shell ring on Sapelo Island (op. cit., pp. 263-278), which yielded a radio- carbon date of 1750 B.C It was found that baked clay balls, probably used as cooking stones, decreased in frequency as plain fiber-tempered pottery increased, and that the decorated wares were again in the upper levels of the midden As at BUbo, punctations made in lines previously drawn horizontally to the rim were a fairly common decoration. The three shell rings at Sapelo and five others along the coast near the mouth of the Savannah River are not positively identified by Waring as unintentionally accumulated midden deposits, but judging from his description of hearths and occupational levels, it seems probable that they were. They vary from 50 to 300 feet in diameter (op. cit., p. 253).
The early Stallings Island fiber-tempered complex is confined to a relatively restricted region near Savannah, extending along the coast and inland up the rivers. Waring (WiUiams, ed., 1968, p. 219) points to the fact that fiber-tempered pottery found further in the interior along the Tennessee River bears decoration that occurs in Georgia on a post- Stallings horizon, and so probably has a later date.
The Puerto Hormiga shell heap (3000-1900 B . C ) on the north coast of Colombia has a ring shape (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1965) identical to the sheU rings of the Georgia coast. The later site of Barlovento (1900-1000 B.C.) in the same region (Reichel-Dol- matoff, 1955), is an irregular arrangement that might be interpreted as a hollow square. The ten Valdivia shell middens of coastal Ecuador tend to be compact areas, rather than elongated shell ridges stretched along the shoreline is as the case with many later shell middens. One Valdivia site, Punta Arenas
168 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 11