Evaluating Precolumbian Contact between Ecuador and Costa Rica: A Ceramic Approach

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeologists have long noted similarities in ceramic technologies and traditions between Costa Rica and Ecuador. These are relevant for models of culture change, whether the result of direct interactions or parallel cultural processes in the emergence of social complexity. We test the alternatives of direct, long-distance contact along the Pacific coast or traditions that are parallel but independent. To date, assertions of relationships have been based upon inductive observations of similar ceramic traits such as polychrome fine-paste wares. However, the possibility that these were the result of direct, long-distance contact has yet to be tested through a systematic evaluation of specific hypotheses based upon contextualized evidence. In this paper, we focus upon archaeological data from the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica and Ecuador during the period of ca. 200 – 1200 CE as a means for testing whether, when, and how ceramic styles and technology of southern Greater Nicoya during the Bagaces and Silencio Periods were either directly or indirectly related to that of the Guangala ceramic phase of coastal Ecuador. Our analysis draws upon data from style, design, and iconographic data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23643