Expanding the Archive: Buen Suceso and the Valdivia Tradition in Early Andean Interaction

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Cuando los senderos divergen: Reconsiderando las interacciones entre los Andes Septentrionales y los Andes Centrales durante el 1ro y 2do milenio AEC / When Paths Diverge: Reconsidering Interactions between the Northern and Central Andes, First–Second Millennium BCE" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Valdivia tradition of coastal Ecuador (ca. 3800–1450 BC) was one of the first sedentary, agricultural, and ceramic-producing traditions of the Americas. Valdivia holds an important place in regional (coastal) and national imaginings about the origins of Ecuadorian cultures and the Ecuadorian nation. While the modern border between Peru and Ecuador generally serves to silo the cultural traditions on either side of it, connections between Valdivia and traditions in Peru have long been noted, from the pyro-engraved gourd featuring Valdivia iconography found by Junius Bird at Huaca Prieta to similarities in the ceramic assemblages found in El Oro Province and far northern Peru identified by John Staller. Recently identified connections between the Valdivia occupation of the coast and the Mayo-Chinchipe- Marañón tradition of southern Ecuador and northern Peru suggest that further attention to the variety contained within the Valdivia tradition is warranted. We present insights from ongoing research at Buen Suceso (ca. 3750–1425 BC), a Valdivia site located in the Culebra-Colin (Manglaralto) Valley on the flanks of the Colonche-Chongón hills. Buen Suceso is one of the longest-occupied Valdivia sites and exhibits a unique history and social practices that expand the basis for comparisons of social traditions in Ecuador and Peru.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Cuando los senderos divergen: Reconsiderando las interacciones entre los Andes Septentrionales y los Andes Centrales durante el 1ro y 2do milenio AEC / When Paths Diverge: Reconsidering Interactions between the Northern and Central Andes, First–Second Millennium BCE   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40134.0