Architecture of the Early Valdivia Village

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Architecture of the Early Valdivia VillageAuthor(s): Jonathan E. DampReviewed work(s):Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Jul., 1984), pp. 573-585Published by: Society for American Archaeology

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ARCHITECTURE OF THE EARLY VALDIVIA VILLAGE

Jonathan E. Damp

The architecture f early Valdivia 3300-2300 B.C.)communitiesprovides nformationabout the structure fearly village life on the EcuadorianPacificcoastal lowland. Household units rom the sites of Real Alto andLoma Alta seem to exhibitdomesticpatterningn sleepingareas,cooking, ool working, ottonspinning,garbagedisposal,and burialof the dead. Thevillage ayoutprovidesa planfor settlement n theshapeof a letter U. TheValdiviaU-shapedvillageis brieflyexamined in itsprehistoric ontext.Together,houseand villagepatternsatReal Alto and Loma Alta reflect hebeginningsof settled ife in the contextof an agricultural conomy.

The Early Formative Valdivia culture of coastal Ecuador has long been on e most controversial

cultures of New World prehistory. The reputation of Valdivia is derived from the earliness of its

ceramics, which are among the oldest inhe Americas and date to around 3300 B.C. (Damp 1979).Two schools of thought have evolved concerning the origin and nature of Valdivia. One side (e.g.,

Lathrap 1970; Zevallos 1971) maintains that the Valdivia culture can be characterized as a tropicalforest, riverine-oriented agricultural society that developed in northwestern South America duringthe fourth millennium B.C. This differs considerably from the original position of Meggers, Evans,and Estrada (1965) that ceramic technology was imported to Ecuador from Neolithic Japan byfishermen of the Jomon culture who were lost at sea.

The emphasis on the ceramic inventory has deferred study from other parts of the culture such

as economic and social issues. For example, despite much of the controversy and statements to the

contrary, relatively little effort has been made to recover paleobotanical remains. At present, onlythree Valdivia sites have yielded pertinent data. A fortuitous discovery of a carbonized corn kernel

was made at San Pablo just south of the modern town of Valdivia (Zevallos and Holm 1960). Real

Alto (Figures 1and 2) yielded evidence of corn and achira phytoliths (Pearsall 1978, 1979), Canavalia

plagiosperma seeds (Damp et al. 1981), and cotton textile imprints (Marcos 1973). In addition,

numerous specimens of currently unidentified seeds were excavated at Loma Alta in 1980 (Damp1982a).

Field research in Ecuador since 1975 has attempted to rectify this problem and has concentratedon the identification of domestic features such as hearths, storage pits, activity areas, household

units, and village layouts. The results of these efforts, which are presented here, have begun toanswer some of the questions about the nature of the Valdivia culture.

TIME/SPACE SYSTEMATICS

The Valdivia culture lasted from about 3300 to 1500 B.C. This period was first divided into four

parts (A, B, C, and D) by Meggers et al. (1965) but more recently Hill (1975) revised the sequenceto reflect a more refined ordering comprising eight phases (I-VIII). I consider early Valdivia to

mean the first two phases (I and II) of Hill's sequence. These two phases have been subdivided intofive sub-phases (Ia, b, c, IIa, b) by Norton (1977), but this scheme has not yet been tested.

Valdivia I and II signify the first appearance of pottery in southwestern Ecuador. I estimate that

Valdivia I lasted from approximately 3300 B.C. (uncorrected radiocarbon years) to 2700 B.C. andthat Valdivia II continued to approximately 2300 B.C. The most unifying element is the similarityof ceramic motifs and vessel shapes in the two phases (Hill 1975; Damp 1982b).

Valdivia chronological problems have been addressed elsewhere (e.g., Meggers et al. 1965; Bischof

JonathanE. Damp, 1911-51 St. NW, CalgaryAB, CanadaT3B IC]

AmericanAntiquity,49(3), 1984, pp. 573-585.Copyright?()1984 by the SocietyforAmericanArchaeology

573







AMERICANANTIQUITY

Figure1. Map of southwesternEcuadorand selectedearlyValdiviasites.

1973; Damp 1979:15-26, 1983) and need not concern us overly much here. The earliest radiocarbondates indicate the following situation based upon 27 currently available radiocarbon assays oncharcoal samples from Real Alto and Loma Alta: dates range from 4245 ? 215 B.C. (GX-5269) to2190 ? 190 B.C. (ISGS-467), but I dismiss the earliest date as being out of stratigraphic contextand too early (Damp 1979:22). Two dates hovering around 3600 B.C. are also perhaps a bit too

early although they appearin the

right placein the

stratigraphy (atthe

bottom).Also at the

bottom,a hearth from the very base of cultural deposits at Loma Alta provided a date of 3325 ? 175 (GX-

7704), and this precedes a cluster of eight dates between 3100 and 2800 B.C., which marks a wellestablished Valdivia I occupation.

Valdivia I pottery begins to give way to Valdivia II pottery in deposits that have been dated to

approximately 2700 B.C. at both Real Alto and Loma Alta. The end of the early Valdivia phasesis simply a transition in ceramic style that took place around 2300 B.C., although one or two datesdeviate slightly. At this moment, I consider it sufficient to place the beginning of Valdivia I sometimein the last half of the fourth millennium B.C., probably around 3300 B.C. (Damp 1983).

HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION

Real Alto was found by Jorge Marcos in 1971 and first excavated in 1974-1975 (Lathrap et al.

1977). The site lies along the floodplain of the Chanduy Valley about 1.5 km from the coast but

4.5 km up the Rio Verde. The site was occupied throughout the entire Valdivia sequence and into

574 [Vol. 49, No. 3, 1984]







REPORTS

Figure2. Plan of Real Alto.

the following Machalilla phase. The first excavations at Real Alto provided the initial evidence of

domestic architecture in Valdivia, and continued work brought to light the former existence of a

Valdivia ceremonial center with houses and two mounds distributed around a plaza (Lathrap et al.

1977; Marcos et al. 1976; Marcos 1978). The remains of several houses from the Valdivia I oc-

cupation were found in 1975 at the bottom of the midden in the northern portion of the site.Loma Alta was discovered by Presley Norton who submitted his findings as evidence that the

earliest Valdivia sites were located in the interior and not on the coast (Norton 1971, 1972). Thesite lies some 12 km inland from the type site of Valdivia on the coast. It rests on a flattened, lowhill next to the Rio Valdivia just below the rugged and heavily vegetated terrain of the Colonchehills. The Valdivia Valley is about 50 km north of Real Alto, but a series of passes in the Colonchehills forms a network that connects these coastal valleys.

Although the full spectrum of Valdivia phases is represented at Loma Alta, the site was occupied

primarily during Valdivia I and II times. The later occupation was sparse and the settlement'simportance was, no doubt, eclipsed by a growing population at the Valdivia type site at the mouthof the valley. Thus, while Real Alto was to become a ceremonial center, Loma Alta maintained its

position as a small village or hamlet. In early Valdivia, however, the sites were quite similar (Damp1984).

The only other early Valdivia sites that have been excavated are Punta Concepcion on the SantaElena Peninsula (Stothert 1976; Hill 1975), El Encanto on the Isla de Puna (Porras 1973; Spath1980), the Valdivia type site (Meggers et al. 1965; Bischofand Viteri 1972; Bischof 1979), possiblyOGDa-34 in the Guayas Basin (Raymond et al. 1980), and undocumented portions of a few othersites in southwestern Ecuador. Punta Concepcion is about 100 m in diameter and composed ofthree low eroded mounds; the ceramics do not differ stylistically from those at Loma Alta (Stothert1976:93-94; Hill 1975:2). At El Encanto the stratigraphy seems to pose more questions than it

answers (Spath 1980) and at the Valdivia type site the deposits have been so disturbed by vandalsthat ceramic sherds alone indicate the former presence of a Valdivia I occupation (Bischof 1979:

575







AMERICANANTIQUITY

Figure 3. Plan of Loma Alta.

360-370). OGDa-34 is a site deeply buried in river sediments; testing yielded ceramic sherds in the

general shape of early Valdivia pottery and dates around 2535 B.C. (Raymond et al. 1980:701).Both Real Alto and Loma Alta have extensive, relatively undisturbed cultural deposits that have

yielded evidence of domestic structures and village planning for the early Valdivia community.

BACKGROUND TO THE MOST RECENT WORK

The 1974-1975 Real Alto Archaeological Project of the University of Illinois, which initiatedexcavations at Real Alto, was co-directed by Don Lathrap and Jorge Marcos (Lathrap et al. 1977;Marcos et al. 1976). Excavations by the University of Calgary under my direction in 1977 inves-

tigated further the evidence of early Valdivia or pre-Valdivia occupation that had been noted duringthe initial years of excavation (Damp 1979). These excavations were supported by a Canada Council

grant to J. Scott Raymond. Field personnel included a crew of up to 8 individuals over a threemonth period. The objectives of the Real Alto excavations in 1977 were to seek evidence of earlyhouse structures and related features, and to note their association with paleobotanical remains,shell, faunal remains, and ceramics. The project was too limited in scope to probe for evidence of

early Valdivia village patterning.

The 1980 excavations at Loma Alta were also made under my direction (Damp and Clarkson1980; Raymond 1980) and were intended to document household units fully, to find paleobotanical

576 [Vol. 49, No. 3, 1984]







REPORTS

9M43/16'

cn go-van,4roa44

aeCiJrn

. 4 -7 .. . .. -T7

-F* ?-7T . ...- B

' 4 . --.

X * 07*;r- * * ;

cajmemwta r*, ? 0. .* 0:-j

?/WIfMfi7sLOPL .4-7. . *, ? '

I: 10cm upit1t'

34I/WN N5411W9

Figure4. Structure2-77 and the householdclusterat Real Alto.

specimens, and to map the village layout. Support for the Loma Alta excavations in 1980 came

through a grant to J. Scott Raymond by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council

(Canada) and by Presley Norton and the Program for Ecuadorian Anthropology. The 1980 fieldstudies lasted for six months and included up to 15 to 20 individuals mostly from the University

of Calgary and the neighboring towns of the Ecuadorian coast.Architecture at Valdivia sites is reflected in the domestic patterns and village layouts. Domestic

patterns include house structures and the accompanying debris of occupation. This, the householdcluster (Winter 1976:25) or the household unit provides evidence for food production and shelterand also important behavioral information. On a larger scale, the way a village is laid out conveysinformation about how the society was ordered.

To obtain information on these issues, we oriented excavations appropriately, and concentratedon identifying domestic features. Several factors are critical in this regard: (1) caution must be takento discern both the horizontal and vertical distribution of associated artifacts; and (2) culturallysignificant units, such as house structures, post holes, living floors, and storage pits that cut throughartificial levels of excavation, must be identified in order to define the areal distribution of associatedartifacts (Brown 1975:159). Thus, feature oriented excavations were the governing methodologyin the study of Real Alto in 1974-1975 and 1977 (Damp 1979), and at Loma Alta in 1980 (Dampand Clarkson 1980).

Attempts to reconstruct the village layout were handled differently at the two sites. For example,the extensive middle and late Valdivia occupations at Real Alto masked the underlying earlierdeposits, and available labor and time were insufficient to conduct a systematic sampling programfor below-surface, early Valdivia deposits. I believe it likely that the layout of the early Valdiviavillage established the geometrical foundation for the subsequent construction at Real Alto that wasmapped by the University of Illinois project in 1974-1975 (Figure 2).

At Loma Alta the investigation of the early village plan was accomplished by simple surfacecollection (as described in Flannery 1976a:5 1-62), shovel testing along transects (and study of severallocalized vandals' pits), and, most importantly, transecting the entire site in two directions with

controlled excavation units in order to depict the processes of deposition and village formation.Because Valdivia sites are typically somewhat deeply stratified (at least 1 m in depth), it is probably

577







AMERICANANTIQUITY

most rewarding to seek the pattern of household distribution through these transect samples (Flan-nery 1976b:68-72).

Two transects were established following the cardinal directions. The E-W transect sampled theentire width of the site (Figure 3). The N-S transect was placed with the aid of data from the simplesurface collection and the vandalized deposits. The N end of Loma Alta has been badly disturbed,and sherds are abundant there, but the area to the S was unknown until excavations revealed thelimit of the early Valdivia occupation. Full excavation along the N-S transect was suspended in theN section because I believed our testing there had provided sufficient information.

THE EARLY VALDIVIA DOMESTIC UNIT

Real Alto

Seven Valdivia I houses from Real Alto have been identified, primarily on the basis of post holedistribution in sterile clay that lies at the base of cultural deposits about 1 m below the presentsurface. The most carefully and completely excavated Valdivia I house at Real Alto is Structure 2-

77 (Figure 4). The associated ceramics attest to a Valdivia I affiliation, and a radiocarbon date of3545 ? 200 B.C. (GX-5267) pertains to the associated refuse. This, however, may be too early byseveral hundred years and other dates from higher strata indicate that Structure 2-77 is best dated

at around 3250 B.C. (Damp 1979:21; 1983).The early Valdivia house was a simple one-room abode measuring 450 cm on the northwest to

southeast axis and 320 cm on the northeast to southwest axis. Thirty post holes of 5 to 10 cm

diameter werere identified and several of them were paired, indicating a technique of placing poststhat presumably increased the tensile strength of the structure. A center post served in conjunctionwith end posts to support the framework. Three post holes and accumulated refuse are deflected

inwards from the outer edge of Structure 2-77 and delineate an entrance 1 m wide. The distribution

of shell in the entrance demonstrates a relationship to the house, and indicates that the Valdivia

inhabitants of Structure2-77

tossed their shell refuse outside their dwelling, where it graduallyaccumulated in an elliptical pattern around the structure. A number of sun-baked clay chunks was

also recovered from the level of the floor of Structure 2-77. These indicate that wattle in the form

of local grasses was applied to the framework of the house (see also Meggers et al. 1965:fig. 8).The average size of Valdivia I houses was different from that of the middle and late Valdivia

occupations at Real Alto. Later structures measured about 12 x 8 m, but were also elliptical. On

the basis of size alone it may be realistic to assume habitation by a nuclear family for each house

during Valdivia I and house occupancy by the extended family in the later, larger houses (Lathrapet al. 1975:43). However, early Valdivia houses were not small for their time. For example, a

contemporary but preceramic house from Chilca, Perufi,measured approximately 240 cm in diameter

(Donnan 1964:139).Several features were apparently included within the Valdivia I household cluster at Real Alto if

Structure 2-77 is representative. The 10 cm thick concentration of shell and other refuse markingthe outer edge of the structure defines a refuse toss zone. There was also a clean area inside the

house itself, and a pit situated within the wall of the northern part of the structure. Cairns of

unknown function or significance were erected bordering the structure, and a milling stone was also

found on the structure's periphery.The refuse zone extended about 150 cm away from the house to the north, but the extensions in

other directions were obscured by adjacent houses or by unexcavated portions of the site. The

beginning of the accumulated refuse about 40 cm away from the post holes suggests an intervening

space that was at least partly filled with the wattle and daub applied to the framework of posts. The

shell and other garbage apparently accumulated around and against the house.

A refuse pit, Feature 14-77, was placed below the northern wall of Structure 2-77. It was 10 cm

deep and excavated into sterile clay; included within the 89 x 70 cm area of the pit were bits of

refuse and severely shattered fragments of a human cranium (Burial 3-77). The feature was pene-trated by a post, probably when the wall of the house was moved to enable digging the pit for the

578 [Vol. 49, No. 3, 1984]







REPORTS

NT4 .Et4Z t:

IE cert perforaor-I. s rA4nt dOtW w

?I co

0

0H oOpt ^^

Figure 5. Structure 4 and the household unit at Loma Alta.

disposal of the human remains. Marcos (1978:39-42) notes that human bones buried below the

walls of Valdivia houses are a typical feature at Real Alto and these, he infers, were dedicatory or

guardian burials (Marcos 1978:39) serving as protectors of the structure.

Loma Alta

Several house structures were unearthed at Loma Alta in 1980. Structure 4 (Figure 5) is the best

preserved in terms ofcontent and feature/artifact provenience. The ceramics found with the structure

579







AMERICANANTIQUITY

are stylistically intermediary to Valdivia I and II and, appropriately, a date from a nearby hearth

(Feature 74) is 2680 ? 160 B.C. (GX-7699).Structure 4 at Loma Alta was also a small, elliptical, one-room dwelling. Its dimensions of 310 x

230 cmmay appear quite small,

but as Wiessner(1974:343) points out,

area under the roofs of

dwellings is not a meaningful measurement for groups who carry out most household tasks outside

their small dwellings. The Loma Alta data demonstrate that the living area of the household unit

must be considered to include the dwelling itself and related activity areas outside it.

The occupational surface of Structure 4 at 85-90 cm below the surface was carefully brushed and

continuously sprayed with a fine mist to reveal organic stains and color differences for the 36 m2

area that was excavated during a period of two months. A slight change in construction techniquefrom that at Real Alto is observable at Loma Alta. Instead of placing posts into the ground, the

builders dug a pit about 60 cm deep, placed the framework in the pit, and then refilled it with sterile

clay to enable subsequent bending of the posts above ground. A clearly demarcated periphery of

decayed organic material containing some post molds forms a ribbon-like feature that exactly

parallels the shape of hethe early Real Alto houses. (The later and larger Valdivia houses were also

erected after trenches were excavated to accommodate the framework of the structure; Lathrap etal. 1977).

There are several possible activity areas represented in the features associated with Structure 4.

The most conspicuous include: (1) a sheltered area within the house that probably served as a

sleeping area (Feature 88); (2) a cotton spinning area (Feature 86) and a cooking area (Features 25,

81, 83 and 85) outside the house door; (3) a lithic work area at Feature 19, which is also associated

with a discarded T-shaped ax (Feature 20); (4) a burial area near the door, which recalls the similar

positioning at Structure 2-77 at Real Alto; and (5) two other hearths (Features 74 and 80) and

several small filled-in pits (Features 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and 82) that contained fragments of bone

or shell and firebroken rock. These last are probably small pits excavated for refuse disposal, although

most of the refuse was jettisoned external, or downslope, to the village.The sheltered area inside the house contained several post molds, a refuse pit dug down from the

house floor (Feature 84), and an area all but devoid of debris and discolored in a shape and size

suggestive of a decomposed sleeping mat for at least two people. Another pit (Feature 72) lay

adjacent to this area in the house wall.

The entrance was formed by a discontinuity in the ribbon of organic debris, together with the

presence of two large rocks (Feature 87), which may have served to keep an entrance cover closed.

A cotton spinning area (Feature 86) is defined by the presence of two stone spindle whorls just

outside the structure's entrance. Similar spindle whorls were found throughout the early occupation

of the site, and many of them appear quite typical of the more conventional ceramic spindle whorls

except for the material from which they were manufactured. Four hearths were found outside the

entrance surrounding Feature 86. The hearths contain charcoal, ash, sherds, firebroken rocks, milling

stone fragments, shellfish remains, and butchered bone fragments, in other words, most of the debris

types that would be expected to occur in a cooking area. This, then, was probably a female specifictask area in which food was prepared and cotton was spun.

The lithic work area (Feature 19) lay off to the side of the house and contained within it two

hammerstones, a core, a hearth with firebroken rock and heat-treated lithic material. In addition,

a T-shaped ax fragment was found nearby and was probably discarded in association with Feature

19. The ax is quite typical of the Valdivia variety of ground stone axes (see Meggers et al. 1965)

and it was probably used for clearing fields for farming. This association of a lithic work area and

the ax might be taken to suggest performance of two normally male specific tasks at or near this

locale.

Three burials were located in proximity to Structure 4. One of them (Burial 9) consisted of a

disarticulated skeleton placed in a pit behind the house. The two other burials (Burials 10 and 11)

were fully articulated and within 50 cm of one another outside the entrance to Structure 4. It would

seem that burials associated with houses are such a commonplace feature as to be almost a diagnosticcomponent of the Valdivia household cluster.

580 [Vol. 49, No., 1984]







REPORTS

Additional features include small refuse pits, which perhaps contain the garbage of single meals,two hearths (Features 74 and 80), a small pile of rocks (Features 68), and a refuse pit with another

T-shaped ax (Feature 47). Other artifacts were scattered across the occupational surface, and include

two more stone spindle whorls, perforators, milling stone fragments, lithic flakes and sherds (ubiq-

uitous). Furthermore, some post molds that originated in upper deposits cut into this lower unit.

In one case, Feature 44, there is a post mold centered within a pit outline. Perhaps the pit was

excavated to facilitate placement of the post.

Summary

The grouping of associated activity areas and house structures at Real Alto and Loma Alta providesa clear picture of certain aspects of daily life within the Valdivia village. The household cluster

reveals activities relating to economic pursuits and social groupings on the small household level.

The two household clusters just described are quite similar in shape and structure. Early Valdivia

houses at both Real Alto and Loma Alta were elliptically shaped with dimensions of 450 x 320

cm and 310 x 230 cm. Entrance ways were similarly located and at both sites spaces inside the

houses were kept relatively clean of debris.

Burials took place within the household either below the walls or just outside the houses. Stone

spindle whorls were found outside the entrance at Loma Alta, but were located in anomalous stone

cairns at Real Alto (Marcos 1977). The cairns may be associated with houses at Real Alto but theyare not found with Structure 4 at Loma Alta.

In conclusion, the early Valdivia house was a small one room structure built with posts and thatch

and covered with daub. The sleeping area inside was kept clean and the area immediately outside

was used for activities such as cooking, stone working, burials, and perhaps cotton spinning. Thus,as an entity the household unit delimits economic activity and social ordering of a small domestic

unit such as a nuclear family.

THE VILLAGE LAYOUT

Early Valdivia

The arrangement of houses within the early Valdivia village is not perfectly known, but the generalshape is clear at Loma Alta (Figure 5). As previously noted, transecting was found to be the mostefficient measure. Our two transects demonstrated the long term buildup of refuse and fine ashysediments on the west, north, and east edges of Loma Alta. This fine, ashy material composes a10-15 m wide strip of deposits on the edge of the Loma Alta hill top. Intermixed with the ashydeposits were early Valdivia ceramics from approximately 50 cm below the surface to sterile depositsat approximately 100 cm. The evidence of household units lay within this same zone. The interiorof the site is nearly devoid of early Valdivia material, but the external hillside deposits contain early

Valdivia grinding stones, large sherds, and other artifacts discarded in abundance away from thehabitation area.The preliminary documentation from Loma Alta indicates that the early village formed a horse-

shoe or U-shaped pattern about 145 x 90 m in Valdivia I and that it grew to about 175 x 115 m

by the end of Valdivia II. Near the end of Valdivia II at least three caches of sherds accumulated

at the open end of the U in the southern portion of the site. These caches, measuring 1 or 2 m in

diameter, were concentrations of broken pots piled in at least three discrete locales. Most of thesherds were from storage or cooking pots and not from the other class (bowls) of early Valdivia

pottery vessel shapes (Lathrap et al. 1975; Norton 1977; Damp 1982b). The surrounding area wasotherwise kept clean and excavation revealed no evidence of the typical fine, ashy soil that char-acterizes the area of the house structures.

Evidence from Real Alto (Figure 2) is not so complete as for early Valdivia, but it implies a

similar situation. The northern limit of the Valdivia settlement yielded the early house previouslydescribed, but no such information was forthcoming from the rest of the site. However, the beginnings

581







AMERICANANTIQUITY

of Valdivia III-IV mounds ( Fiesta and Chamel Houses ) were delineated by a minor buildup ofcultural debris, and an accumulation of Valdivia II sherds (Marcos 1978) quite similar to the three

ceramic caches at Loma Alta at the opening of the U. It is probable that similar structures are

evident here and that the layout was similar. If this is the case, the extrapolated measurement forReal Alto during Valdivia II from the houses at the north end toheorth end to the begnings of the ceremonialmound to the south along the central axis of the projected U is 145 m, with the surrounding house

ridges perhaps 90 m apart. The similarity in predicted measurements between Real Alto and LomaAlta seems more than coincidental.

Any population estimate for the early Valdivia sites of Real Alto and Loma Alta may be prematureas spacing between contemporary houses is not known. An estimate of 150 to 200 village inhabitantsseems reasonable, and equivalent to the calculations of population sizes for ethnographically-known,tropical forest villages provided by Roosevelt (1980:217-219).

Interpretation

Thearrangement

of the houses within thevillage may be interpreted structurally. Two distinctspheres are represented with the outer part of the village occupied by domestic refuse and house

structures and the inner part kept clean and seemingly used for special functions. Domestic refusedoes not clutter the inner plaza and only at the open end of the U is there any cultural refuse awayfrom the house structures. Thus, two opposing realms were perhaps expressed in the early Valdivia

village.The similar layouts that are found among some groups today may provide a clue as to the meaning

of the dichotomy between the center and the periphery. For example, the Apinaye village of central

Brazil shows an opposition that signifies that the sphere of the family, economics, and socialization

of the young is a domestic and daily order; while the ceremonial order, along with the groups formed

to conduct it, is a public order essentially outside daily routine (daMatta 1979:98). And the villageof the related Kraho contains the same dualism; here again, the plaza (having ritual significance)

... is in clear opposition to the periphery of the village, where food is prepared, meals are eaten,and domestic life takes place (Melatti 1979:48).

Other ethnographic examples of distinctions between the plaza-center and the house-peripheryinclude: the interaction of moieties; the association of females with the periphery and males with

the center; and the burial of the dead close to or inside the houses, thus asserting the differences

between the living and the dead, and the center or ideological realm and the periphery or domestic

realm (Melatti 1979:48). The structural relationships are only suggestive for the early Valdivia

community because the study of village plans in Formative Ecuador is still undeveloped; however,it is hoped that the suggestions can be tested in the future.

Thus, I interpret the early Loma Alta and Real Alto U-shaped villages as early prehistoric examplesof organized communities in northwestern South America. Although rare, there are other excavated

early Valdivia sites that attest to the emergence of organized village life. For example, Punta

Concepcion was laid out in the shape of a ring, suggesting that family groups distributed themselves

around an open area and discarded their rubbish adjacent to their living areas (Stothert 1976:94).El Encanto on the Isla de Puna in the Gulf of Guayaquil is another early Valdivia site that was

probably arranged in the same way (Porras 1973; Spath 1980). Unfortunately, the most telling

testimony is that of the local huaqueros (looters) who know the archaeology most intimately. Theyrepeatedly assert that there is nothing in the middle of Valdivia sites, and they back up their claims

by ravaging the sites in U-shaped patterns. Many of these destroyed sites lie in the vicinity of the

Colonche hills, and their disturbed deposits provide an all-too-obvious plan of the community

layout.

Significance

Neither space nor available information are sufficient to document and interpret fully the role ofthe early Valdivia village structure in the evolution of settled and planned village life in the Americas.

582 [Vol. 49, No. 3, 1984]







REPORTS

However, the village topography is highly suggestive of certain relationships in architectural and

ideological structure.

Lathrap et al. (1977) have interpreted Real Alto as evolving from a small egalitarian settlement

into a complex hierarchical society with ceremonial mounds and a sacred public plaza. Marcos(1978), following Wheatley (1971), believes that the ceremonial architecture (precinct) formed thebasis for organizing time and space at Real Alto. The ceremonial architecture formed the Axis

Mundi or pivot around which the society organized itself through ideology.Isbell (1978) has extrapolated certain formal relationships and meanings of U-shaped structures

in ceremonial centers in South America. He suggests that the early ceremonial sites of Peru (i.e.,Chavin de Huantar, Garagay, etc.; Rowe 1967; Tello 1960), the structure of Inca Cusco (Zuidema1964), and the cosmological and structural axes of the Desana longhouse of Amazonian Colombia

(Reichel-Dolmatoff 1971) all mapped the ideological structure of the community into a U-shaped

configuration.The U-shaped arrangement of the early Valdivia village, the deposition of ceramic caches, and

the beginning of mound construction at Real Alto imply a formal relationship between the early

Valdivia village layout, the evolution of Valdivia ceremonial centers and the relationships of laterSouth American ceremonial structures noted by Isbell (1978). Thus, I believe that architectural

relationships may be helpful in delineating the organizing principles of secular and sacred existence

(Fritz 1978:55-56).

CONCLUSIONS

The Valdivia culture, which appeared on the Ecuadorian coast between 3500 and 3000 B.C.,marks the earliest known appearance of the village in South America. Two sites with occupationsbeginning at this time were partially excavated. These sites, Real Alto and Loma Alta, furnishedhouse patterns and other archaeological features referred to as the household unit or the householdcluster. Household units at Real Alto and Loma Alta show great similarity in shape, size, and

content. Although the sample is small, these similarities pertain not only to construction techniques,but also to activity area location and debris distribution.

The village layout is also under investigation in order to document the relationships amongclusters of domestic units, refuse, and ceremonial places within the community. The results fromReal Alto and Loma Alta indicate that the village organization was rather carefully planned. Furtherfield testing will help to clarify the significance of the U-shaped village layout.

The available information provides a -basis for delineating lifeways in the early Valdivia com-munity. The analysis of domestic structures and economic data may be added to a study of thegeometrical relationships of settlement plans and architecture. This procedure will help to documentthe relationship of house and village patterns at Real Alto and Loma Alta and how they reflect the

beginnings of settled life in the context of an agricultural economy in northwestern South America.

Acknowledgments. I thank SantiagoBemabe, Persis Clarkson,TiburcioCruz,Don Lathrap,Olaf Holm,Alison Landals,JorgeMarcos,PresleyNorton, DeborahPearsall,ScottRaymond,KarenStothert,JeffTilton,Pabloand GuillermoTorres,Jim Zeidler,severalanonymousreviewersand the Editorof AmericanAntiquity.Otherrepresentatives f the Universityof Calgary ndthe towns of ElReal, Pechiche,SanPedro,Valdivia,andLomaAlta also providedassistance.Fundingcame from the Museodel Banco Centraldel Ecuador,Guayaquil,the NationalScienceFoundation, heFordFoundation,CanadaCouncil, heExplorer'sClub, he SocialSciencesand HumanitiesResearchCouncil(Canada),he Program orEcuadorianAnthropology, ndtheadministrationof the Universityof Calgary.

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Architecture of the Early Valdivia Village

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