Evolving Identities in Early Andean Art: Figurative Ceramics from Ancient Ecuador

Summary

For nearly 5000 years, between c.4,000 BCE and 500 CE, a continuous tradition of figurative ceramics evolved in ancient present-day Ecuador. Though known only through now-anonymous archaeological remains, this tradition represents some of the earliest dated sculptural and ceramic art forms in all of ancient America. At least five distinct, chronologically sequential styles have long been recognized in this tradition, beginning with the earliest Valdivia style and continuing with subsequent Machalilla, Chorrera, Jamacoaque and La Tolita variations. Within each style, noticeably different approaches to establishing identity were employed, including body posture and gesture, basic clothing and skin adornment (cosmetic or tattoo), elaborate jewelry and costuming, display of status paraphernalia (sacred, utilitarian or ceremonial), or highly naturalistic anatomical renderings (individual portraiture?). This paper considers the evolutionary sequence of these differing identity strategies and the implications for interpreting changes in social organization, fashion and emerging cultural ideologies, such as (though not limited to) increased social stratification and specialization, elite power brokering, and long-distance trade..

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• See How We Are: Representing Identity in the Ancient Americas

Keywords

Spatial Coverage