"The Manteño-Huancavilca Merchant Lords

of Ancient Ecuador: their predecessors and their

trading partners."

Jorge G. Marcos Ph.D.

Conference Presented at the
Pre-Columbian Society of Washington
Washington, D.C., April, 1998

The social formations of Ecuador differ considerably from

those occurring in the Central Andes, and although the existence
of professional traders in Ecuador seem to parallel Mesoamerica,
ancient Ecuadorian polities do not resemble in any manner the
sociopolitical institutions that developed there.

Archaeological and bibliographical research, coupled with

archaeometric analysis, permits us to propose a model for the
development of middle–range and long–distance trade in ancient
Ecuador since the Early Formative Period (c.3.800-1800 B.C.).
The model proposes that the forms of pre-Columbian societies
that developed in Ecuador responded to the accumulation of
merchant capital and regional control of trade relationships, and
considers that there are differences in the amount and quality of
ethnohistorical and archaeological data on trading groups during
the Initial Colonial Period. This model discusses the changes
introduced by the Inca imperial policy, according to the regional
duration of the occupation, and of the strength of the allegiances
between the Inca and the regional chiefdoms.

Ancient Ecuador

It has been pointed1 out that Ecuador fits 28 times into

Brazil, yet it shares with the South American giant 85% of plant

and animal species, and those which are not shared are

particular to the higher altitudes in the Ecuadorian Andes.

Alexander von Humboldt was owed struck by the variety of

1
ecological niches found in Ecuador. When he set himself in the

task of noting down his systematic observations of the plant and

fauna of Ecuador he concluded that:

Ecuador occupies one of the most bio–diversified areas in

the World; this small country multi-variant environment is the

result of microclimates that are modified by altitude, by variable

ocean currents and by changing trade winds. Tropical forests

below 900 meters above sea level, east and west of the Andes, in

general cover the lowlands. A humid rain–forest, covers the

flanks of the Andes, between 900 and 2000 meters. The upper

part is a cloud forest that interacts with Paramo vegetation

through the upper gullies and passes. Paramus occur between

3500-4700 meters in altitude, up to where snow covers

mountains and volcanoes. The Sierra Inter montane valleys

between 2000 and 3500 have been deforested and are dedicated

to agriculture. In the past, however, patches of foggy humid rain–

forest, covered them. The coastal area presented a combination

of different environments: The coastal cordilleras running from

o
Guayaquil to near the seashore, at 1 below the Equator, are

covered by foggy humid rain–forest form the foothills to the

upper–most hill–tops that barely reach 1000 meters above sea

level. However, it reproduces the same plant and animal

assemblage found on the flanks of the Andes between 900 and

2000 meters above sea level. This is caused by the cold air

inversion brought by the proximity of the cold Humboldt Current

from June to November. From December to May a few seasonal

rains alternate with scorching cloudless sun light. When it does

2
not rain it is because the cold Peruvian current has not given way

to the warm northern waters of the Panamic province, and the

foggy weather continues moistening the hilltops of the coastal

cordilleras. Every few years occurs an El Niño event, of variable

intensity, bringing extra–moisture into the area, recharging the

aquifers and greening the remnants of dry tropical forest and dry

savanna environments. When these events take place tropical

grasses and vines cover the countryside and seem to smother

the cactus population

Along the Pacific Coast from Inguapí in Colombia, to

Tumbes in Peru, the great estuarine environments, and water

inlets, are festooned by mangrove forests, the largest being that

of the estuary of the Guayas River, the Gulf of Guayaquil and the

island of La Puná. There, successful hunting–gathering lifeways

have subsisted since the Archaic until today, when is being

threatened by the shrimp–farm impingement on the mangrove

environment.

North of the Equator, the dominant environment are humid

0
tropical forests, and from 1 North and along the Colombian

Coast is found one of the most humid tropics in the World. In

South West Ecuador, and in the Santa Elena Peninsula in

particular, it is expected to rain from December to March, but not

always, and further south in the northern Peruvian coast it almost

never rains. Because of the unpredictability of rain the Santa

Elena Peninsula native farmers are devoted to an image of Christ

they call "Señor de las Aguas", in the pre-Columbian past they

3
wished for water through rites involving an spectacular seashell

Spondylus princeps and a large conch trumpet. The first

association, in ceremonial contexts of Spondylus princeps and a

trumpet made of Strombus peruvianus comes from Real Alto at

3500 B.C.

The evidences for early trade

This environmental patchwork caused people with ready

access to some environments, to specialize in their exploitation,

and trade the produce of their activity for other goods not ready

available to them. Such was the case of the exploitation of

mangrove stands where mangrove oysters, black mangrove

clams (Anadara tuberculosa) and the fiddler crab have been

exploited since the Archaic Period.

At the Archaic Vegas site (10.000 to 6000 BP) 2 remnants of

bones of open sea tuna and snook, as well as intertidal and

estuarine fishes, land fauna from savanna and tropical bush, and

shells form the deep sub littoral as well as intertidal species are

found. They speak for a diversified, and some times specialized,

series of food procurement techniques, like open sea fishing,

deep sea diving, collecting the mangrove species, hunting and

snaring in the savanna and in the forest. This suggests that more

than one group of people must have intervened in food

procurement and distribution. Raw materials for several of tools

found in Archaic sites must have been also exchanged from close

and distant sources.

4
 The people that exploit the mangrove environment today, use

a technique probably initiated in the Archaic, it requires to dig-

out crabs and Anadara tuberculosa from the mud between the

mangrove roots, these people today, as in the past live on the

fringes of the mangrove and move to estuarine ports of trade,

where they exchange their time immemorial delicacies for what

ever they need. Today, it is for food, clothing, plastic and

aluminum pots, household goods and radios and TV sets from

Japan; In the past, they exchanged mangrove shellfish for plant

foods, and Guangala, Engoroy, Machalilla or Valdivia ceramics,

depending on the Period we may be observing.

At the Valdivia site of Real Alto (3,800–1,800 B.C.) markers of

trade have been identified:

1. The first obvious evidence of trade was the great

number of the hinge sector of Spondylus valves found,

while very few whole valves, still fewer beads and

pendants appeared, suggesting that residents at Real

Alto were manufacturing beads and pendants, but

were sending them elsewhere.

2 Another important shell remain found at Real Alto,

representing approximately 5% of all shells found

throughout the sequence, are inter-tidal species which

render a foamy secretion that oxidizes into a purple

dye.3

5
 3 At the very bottom of the excavation of trench “C”,

associated with Valdivia phase 1a ceramic shards, the

earliest evidence for spinning was found in the form of

several stone spindle whorls.

4. In the same area, but in late Valdivia contexts,

evidence for the use of the loom was found as imprints

of woven textiles.

Apparently, Real Alto weavers began using murices to dye

cotton purple as early as Valdivia Phase 1b. The use of these

shells is quite evident in the coastal Ecuadorian sequence, and

could have started in the Archaic period4, A few chroniclers from

the sixteen, seventeen and eighteen centuries indicate that the

Santa Elena Peninsula native population procured part their

livelihood by dyeing threads purple by the use of murices shells,

calling them “hilos de caracol”5. They, also recorded the use of

other dyes: blue, by ‘orchilla’, a lichen of the Rosella species

that still grows on the Chanduy hills, and red, by ‘cochineal’

(Dactylopius coccus), an insect that lives on the cacti Nopalea

coccinerifera that grows on the foggy hill sides of the Coastal

Cordilleras.

Other items that pointed out towards trade were small

vessels (57 cm. in diameter) with two side-by-side holes near

the rim, to pass a string through them for hanging. There was

evidence of lime inside these vessels, and some were quite full.

These lime-pots were found in association with burials from

6
Structure 7 in Mound B, named by D. W. Lathrap as the Charnel

House Mound, for the number of burials found in structure 7 at

the top of the Mound6. Most burials analyzed presented heavy

dental calculus similar to that found in coca-chewing

populations7.

Recent excavations at the northeast sector of Real Alto have

shown that an intrusive ware, identified as Mogote double line

Incised and punctate8 appears together with obsidian blades in

secure Valdivia 7 contexts, such as house floors, storage and

food preparation pits etc.9.

Source area analysis, destined to determine the provenience

of the Mogote ware, and associated obsidian blades; point out to

the Valley of Quito as their probable origin.10

Such an early evidence for a trade relationship between the

Quito Valley people, with those inhabitants of Real Alto, settling

the northeast sector of the site during Valdivia phase 7, suggests

the raise of trade specialists since late Valdivia.

The rise of trading specialists is the result of a successful

system of production. Formative Period trade in the New World,

or in the Neolithic trade in the Old World, could be doomed to

stagnation because of the differential rate of consumption of the

different goods exchanged. For instance, while plant-foods, fish

and game, could be consumed on a daily basis, hard stone axes

lasted much longer. It has been pointed our that Formative, like

Neolithic societies had a problem to face, and avoid, when some

7
extensively need material might be unavailable because of a lack

of items to exchange for them. In overcoming this, the

circulation of non-utilitarian goods plays a vital role in mobilizing

demand. In the Northern Andes, as in Central Europe, Spondylus

shells played a central role as a ‘fly-wheel’ of the incipient

economy11

Mindalaes and Cañar traders

We know through the work of Oberem and Salomon the

name and the nature of the overland traders that moved goods in

late pre-Columbian and early Colonial times from the coast to the

northern Sierra, they were called Mandalas, but we don’t know

the name of those who connected the coast and the Southern

Ecuadorian highlands, although, we may have plenty of proof of

their existence.

While the existence of Mindalaes is quite evident from the

Chronicles and early Colonial documents, there is no historical

register of Southern Sierra traders. The archaeological record of

the Santa Elena Peninsula and the Southern Sierra, however,

gives ample proof of groups of armed traders joining these two

areas.

Southern Highland evidence of Spondylus princeps early

trade are found at Cañar and Azuay provinces, in Early Cerro

Narrio Context (c. 1600–800 B.C.), where valves and objects

made from the thorny oyster shell appear. And at the Oriente, in

Los Tayos cave a large Spondylus princeps cache was found by

8
Porras in Machalilla-like association (c. 1400–1000 B.C.). In the

Peruvian Coast, at La Galgada and other coeval sites, Valdivia 8

(c. 1800–1500 B.C.) Spondylus necklace plaques were also found.

However, the appearance of Spondylus at Kotosh since the Wyra

Jirka phase, and the consolidation of a "Mullo" ( Spondylus

princeps ) – "Pututo" (Strombus galeatus) in Chavin art (c. 1200–

1000 B.C.) suggest a Southern Ecuadorian–Northern Peruvian line

of trade relations during this period. At about 500 B.C. sodalite,

and other green stones, including turquoise appear in Engoroy

(Coastal Chorrera)–Guangala transitional contexts (c. 500-300

B.C.) in the Santa Elena Peninsula and Southern Manabi sites,

like the island of La Plata.

These data, point out to a consolidation of trade between

Coastal Ecuador, the Southern Ecuadorian Sierra and the

Northern Highlands of Peru. The accumulation of merchant

capital by the Southern Ecuadorian Highland intermediaries

strengthened their polities, growing in power, and allowing for

the establishment of stronger segment of traders in these

societies. At the same time, however, the coastal long-distance-

trading polities also became more powerful, and a rise of

complex regional chiefdoms took place. Contradictions arose,

and the Southern Sierra merchants armed themselves.

There is ample evidence around 500 B.C., in the Santa Elena

Peninsula and in Southern Manabi, of attacks on coastal

settlements by armed people with stone tipped atlatls. The

projectile points are quite intrusive in the area, although

9
sometime were made of the local chert. Laurel leaf points do not

appear before or after this short period on the Coast of Ecuador,

while in the Southern Sierra they constitute a long-term tradition.

Identical points have been found in Cañar and Azuay continuously

from Archaic period sites to sites from the Regional

Developmental Period. In the Coast, the best evidence comes

from the Los Cerritos site. There, Carlos Zevallos Menéndez

excavated a Late Engoroy–Guangala transition burial with a

projectile point wound on the forehead, on top of the right frontal

sinus. There was evidence of trepanation on top of the wound.

On the inside of the cranium, an infection scar was also evident.

The operation had been successful, for both the arrow–point

wound and the trepanation had healed. At the nearby residential

area several projectile points appeared imbedded in the ground

showing that an attack had taken place. This evidences may

imply that when the coastal groups began changing the

reciprocity rules that had governed long distance trade between

the Coast and the Southern Sierra the armed trading merchants

tried to enforce them.

Soon after (c. 300–100 B.C.), trade relation differences were

resolved, for no more projectile points appeared in Coastal sites,

and Coastal and Sierra polities continued to grow. During the

following millennia, Spondylus and Strombus trade into the

Central Andes increased exponentially, and the need to supply

such trade strengthened the Coastal Ecuadorian communities,

especially those that traded northward to obtain these shells.

10
Balsa-raft Trading Sailors

The earliest chronicle of the conquest of Peru is known as

the Samano–Xerez Chronicle, consists of a report written by Joan

de Samano, secretary to the Emperor Charles V. In it, Samano

abstracted the news that reached the Court about the Pizarro's

expeditions before 1528. It summarized part of Bartolomé Ruiz's

shiplog.

Bartolomé Ruiz, from the port of Palos de Moguer in

Andalucía, was Pizarro's pilot in his second voyage of

exploration. According to the account, Pizarro sent him to

explore south of the river San Juan, while he remained there with

his soldiers at camp. Ruiz sailed with a crew of seven, until he

reached Cancebí, before returning to report to Pizarro. One of the

most important finds Ruiz and his crew made was that of an

Ocean-going balsa–raft, which he found and boarded near the Bay

of San Mateo. There, he captured three members of the balsa

crew and left the others on shore. He made a detail description of

the balsa–raft and its contents. The chronicle quotes Bartolomé

Ruiz saying that he took these prisoners for interpreters. These

native mariners must have been proficient in several languages

and must have spoken Quechua, for the three of them baptized

Martinillo, Felipillo y Francisquillo) acted as interpreters for

Pizarro in his later journey to Cajamarca. It appears, that they

spoke other general languages, or trading–pidgin, that allowed

them to communicate with people from the Colombian and

Central American Pacific coast. Ruiz, certainly was able to

11
understand them, most likely through an interpreter from

Panama,, since, without having reached the Manabí coast, Ruiz

gave the only accurate account of the Señorío de Çalangome and

the towns and seaports under Çalangome's control.

Archaeological research in South West Manabí province has

proven that the Señorío de Çalangome existed, centered between

the archaeological sites of Agua Blanca, Lopez Viejo and

Salango12. The northernmost town in Çalangome's orbit was

Tacámez (Atacames in the southern coast of Esmeraldas

province). Archaeological research by the Spanish Mission led by

Jose Alcina Franch in the 1970's has demonstrated a clear

Manteño–Huancavilca occupation there13. Other authors have

noticed Manteño-Huancavilca occupation and agricultural

terracing at the Cojimies estuary and on the nearby; and at the

Cerro de Los Liberales north of the Jama drainage14.

Archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the

Southern Ecuadorian Coast has shown that the Manteño-

Huancavilca constituted an expanding polity 15. That from the top

of the Coastal cordilleras confederated trading lords ruled the

coastal valleys, and the Sea. While maritime trade carried them

along the Pacific to Central and Mesoamerica, overland trade

was carried by Specialists packing Llama caravans as is

evidently clear in the Late Period burial site of Ayalán. In this

manner, Manteño-Huancavilca political and economic power

hinged between maritime trade, especially to the North, and

overland trade inland and to the South.

12
 Maritime trade was made possible by the development of

the Ocean-going Balsa-raft. Although Bartolome Ruiz description

of the Balsa is quite accurate and Oviedo y Valdéz version is

even more detailed, the best technical description of the Balsa

seamanship is given by Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan,

"…the greatest singularity of this floating vehicle is, that it

sails, tacks, and works as well in contrary winds, as ships with a
keel, and makes very little lee-way. " This advantage it derives
from another method of steering than by a rudder; namely, by
some boards, three or four yards in length, and half a yard in
breath, called Guaras, which are placed vertically, both in the
head and stern between the main beams, and by thrusting some of
these deep in the water, and raising others, they bear away, luff-
up, tack, lay to, and perform all the motions of a regular ship.…
and sometimes they use five or six Guaras, to prevent the Balsa
from making lee-way, it being evident, that the more they are
under water, the greater resistance the side of the vessel meets
with; the Guaras performing the office of lee-boards used in small
vessels. The method of steering by these Guaras is so easy and
simple, that when the Balsa is put in her proper course, one only
is made use of, raising and lowering it as accidents require, and
16
thus the Balsa is always kept in the intended direction."

This way the Manteño–Huancavilca "balseros" could go

wherever they pleased in high–seas.

Spondylids, to grow their thick shells and spines, as well as

produce the cement with which to attach themselves to the

rocky substrate, need to filter large quantities of calcium

bicarbonate. The elements that constitute calcium bicarbonate

suspend in larger concentrations in warm water, in cold water

13
they precipitate and the concentration is reduced drastically.

This is the main reason why Spondylus princeps is only found in

the warm waters of the Panamic–Pacific funal province, and none

appear in the cold waters south of the Gulf of Guayaquil.

At La Plata island, torpedo–shaped diving weights were

made since the Engoroy period around 800 B.C., and continued to

be made until the arrival of the Pizarro and his men to the Coast

of Peru. During these 1700 years these diving weights were

perfected and were made increasingly streamlined. The

evidence of Spondylus princeps trade with the Central Andes is

quite evident form cut 14 at La Plata, there 600 clean valves of

Spondylus were found overlying Inca and Manteño–Huancavilca

pottery. This seemed to be the last shipment Spondylus to

Northern Peru, and evidence of a trade interrupted by Pizarro's

arrival in the Inca's domain. Prior to Spanish arrival, however,

middle-range and long distance trade, and the accumulation of

merchant capital not only helped developed complex trading

societies, but seem to have brought about a form of incipient

coinage, represented in the form of non-utilitarian copper axe-

shapes. The earliest axe–moneys appear in coastal Ecuador

during the XI Century AD, however by the XIV Century fractionary

currency seem to have been in use, for small pieces of copper

sheets cut in Axe-shapes were found tied in stacks of 5, 10 and

more frequently 20.

Trade with the North, is reputed to have brought

Northwestern South American metallurgical techniques into West

14
Mexico, as well as South American "Harinoso de ocho" maize. It

is claimed that it diffused iridescent paint between Guatemala

and Ecuador, and shaft–chamber tomb construction from West

Mexico to South America17, however, the best evidence so far of

actual South American sailing rafts in West Mexico, might be the

find of Balsa–raft anchors and Spondylus diving weights,

identical to those fund in La Plata Island, in a Spondylus work–

station at Punta Mita in Nayarit18.

15
1
Peter Stahl (1995)

2
Stothert (1988)

3
Thais (Vasula) melones (2.6%), Thais (Stramonita) chocolata (1.3%) and Purpura
pansa (1.1%) were used the same way that other species of murices were used in the
Mediterranean sea. At the type-site (G-31) increasing numbers of Thais crassa ,
another murice, appear at the end of Valdivia A, augmenting during Valdivia B, and
being most popular during Valdivia C, where it reached a 2.6% level of popularity.
Other colors, from deep-brown to tan, were obtained from several varieties of native
cotton (Gossipiun barbadense) that still grow in the area.

4
It is important to point out here that, at the Archaic Period Vegas site (G-80)
Stothert (1988:192) identified the purple dyeing murices conch Thais kioskiformis, ,
suggesting that this practice might have begun in the Late Archaic between 8000 and
6000 years ago.

5
Lenz-Volland and Volland, (1986), Marcos, (1995b).

6
Lathrap, Marcos and Zeidler (1977)

7
Kleppinger, Khun and Thomas (1977)

8
This thin, yellowish-red ware, originally called Protomachalilla by Lathrap and by
Zeilder, noted Zeidler, is somewhat similar to the Machalilla Incised and Punctated
type defined by Meggers, Evans and Estrada (1965: plate 144 w-z; plate 147 e-f) and
to Porras (1977) type “M” Alausí Zone Punctated. However, these vessel shapes are
quite different from the Real Alto sample (Zeidler, op. cit.) and both Lippi and Bischof
have not found them in the Machalilla sequence.

Because there is no close similarity between this thin yellowish-red ware with any
actual Machalilla ceramic complex, it is felt that the use of Protomachalilla to identify
this unique Real Alto ware should be dropped in favor of another label. I have
proposed elsewhere (Marcos and Michzynski, 1996) to identify this ware by the
geographic name for the bluff where Real Alto is located, Loma del Mogote. Refering
to it as Mogote ware; calling the undecorated samples Mogote thin yellowish-red
ware, and the decorated ones Early Cotocollao ceramics corresponding to
Formal Class I Curvilineal Incised Punctate (Villalba, 1988:fig 87, plate 2 k, l) and
Formal Class II Incised Zoned Punctate (ibid:fig 92, plate 8 a-e, j, ñ), are other
similarity worthy of note.

9
Marcos (1992)

10
The mineral fraction in ceramic on the Santa Elena Peninsula and the western Guayas
is quite distinct from those found in Mogote ceramics. X-ray diffraction and polarized
light petrographic analysis showed that the non-plastic fraction in the Mogote
samples was made up of volcanic materials - zoned plagioclase, clean-transparent
quartz, abundant basaltic hornblende and, sporadically, olivine and garnet. The size of
the non-plastic component is also different in Mogote shards, being larger than in the
Valdivia, Machalilla and Chorrera samples from the Santa Elena Peninsula. In this,
 Mogote ceramics resemble the Sierra Formative ceramics, like Cotocollao and La
Mena, in the valley of Quito, or the Cerro Narrio, Chaullabamba or Pirinkay complexes
of the southern Sierra. This is due to the erosive process, which is different in the
Sierra because the shorter distance geological materials are transported, while in the
Coast, minerals travel through white-water rivers and waterfalls, down the Andes and
along the coastal plain throughout the Guayas riverine system. Further microscopic
comparison between Mogote and Sierra ceramics showed a clear affinity in fabric with
those from the valley of Quito, being quite distinct from those of the southern Sierra,
which fabric is made up of kaolin mixed with small quantities of montmorillonite .
Surface treatment and decoration of the thin (2.5-3 mm.), yellowish-red, incised and
punctated, Mogote ware (c.2000-1800 BC) resemble the later (1500-800 BC), thicker,
brownish-red, linear incised and punctated component of the Early Cotocollao style,
suggesting that an earlier antecedent may have been manufactured 500 years before,
somewhere in the Valley of Quito.

The associated obsidian blades also were from the Quito valley, G. Bigazzi of The
Institute of Geochronology and Isotopic Chemistry, National Research Council, Pisa,
Italy, studied seven samples of obsidian, five were collected in the Chanduy area and
two came from the Valdivia 8 levels at San Isidro, Manabí. The provenience of the two
samples associated with Valdivia 7 and Mogote ceramics from Real Alto according to
Biggazzi is the Loma Quiscatola flow in the Cordillera Real.
Ceramic source area analysis was carried out at the Archaeological Materials Service,
Geology Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. While, obsidian blades
were treated by G. Bigazzi at the Geochemical Isotope Laboratory, Pisa, Italy.
11
Sherrat, (1976:558-560).

12
McEwan (1982, 1992); Currie (1995a, 1995b, 1997).

13
Guinea (1982, 1994), Marcos (1995).

14
Mudd (n.d.), Tobar (1988).

15
Marcos (1995), Zevallos (1992)

16
Jorge Juan( [1711], In Ulloa, 1760: 190-193).

17
Hosler, (1994); Wellhousen, et. al. (1957); Coe (1960); Bischof (1982); Zuidema
(1977/78).

18
Beltrán (1997).