One of the oldest settled cultures in the Americas, the Valdivia of coastal Ecuador produced some of the hemisphere's earliest pottery and distinctive female figurines between roughly 3500 and 1500 BCE.
The Valdivia culture of coastal Ecuador dissolved into the succeeding Machalilla culture around 1500 BCE, with Late Valdivia dispersal into smaller villages and increased maize dependence indicating gradual cultural transformation rather than abrupt collapse.
In-print survey covering the Las Vegas-to-Valdivia coastal Ecuadorian transition through the Formative period.
Covers the full arc of Ecuadorian pre-Columbian cultures from Valdivia through Chorrera, with particular attention to ceramic innovation.