In his survey of the Santa Elena peninsula undertaken in the 1930s Geoffrey Bushnell (1951) first reported Manteno sites near La Libertad. Estrada’s surveys (e. g., Estrada 1962) helped place Manteno culture within a stylistic and chronological framework for Ecuadorian coastal cultures. The formal seriation of La Libertad pottery subsequently undertaken by
Paulsen (1970) described the Manteno ceramic assemblage consisting of polished black-ware bell-rimmed jars, bowls and pedestal plates along with a range of modeled animal and human forms all with varying combinations of incised, engraved, painted, resist and burnished decoration (see also Stothert 2001).
Coastal ethnic divisions have traditionally been conceived in terms of a northern Man-teno confederation centered on central and southern Manabi with southern Manteno or Huan-cavilca neighbors occupying the Santa Elena Peninsula. There are few direct observations made by the chroniclers about linguistic differences or ethnic affiliations but Cieza de Leon (1962 [1550]: Chapters XLVI and L) claimed that a distinctive form of facial tattooing was practiced on the coast in towns north of Salango, distinguishing the inhabitants from those to the south (see also Holm 1953). Based on contrasting burial patterns that first became apparent at Loma de los Cangrejitos, Marcos identifies a distinction between the inhabitants of the hilly interior relying predominantly on bottom land farming supplemented by hunting, and enclaves of coastal fisherman exploiting marine resources (Marcos 1986, 1993). This fundamental dichotomy is likely to have played out along the length of the coast because Silva’s (1984) scrutiny of the ethnohistoric documents also emphasizes symbiosis between interdependent farming and fishing communities that underpinned Manteno subsistence.
Marcos surmises that the mastery of maritime technology would have conferred a decided advantage in the control of long distance exchange, but claims advanced for the existence of a Huancavilca state appear extravagant (Marcos 1995). Huancavilca ports and inland settlements seem to have formed a distinct ethnic configuration but to have operated nevertheless within the Manteno sphere of influence if not direct control. Three carved wooden posts, on which superimposed pairs of male and female figures are surmounted by a large reptilian, represent rare surviving examples of what must have been a rich tradition of Huancavilca wooden sculpture (Zevallos 1995: 335-355; Alvarez and Garcia 1995; Stothert and Cruz 2001: 59-61).
World History
