Machalilla Culture

Machalilla Culture [CP].
Formative Stage farming culture thriving in coastal Ecuador during the later 2nd and early 1st millennia bc. Machalilla ceramics, in contrast to earlier Valdivian wares, are painted (red banded and black on white), and figurines are rare and crudely made. Wattle–and–daub fragments in middens indicate something of the nature of their houses, but no foundations have been defined. These communities appear to be the earliest maize cultivators in this part of South America. Successors to the Valdivia Culture; succeeded by the Chorrera Culture.