Cultures of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in Ecuador

Abstract

Evidence for the earliest inhabitants of the territory known as Ecuador demonstrates the limitations of the archaeological record inthe highlands and along the Andean slopes, and the relative abundance of evidence for a long preceramic occupation on the Santa Elena Peninsula, including the Pre-Las Vegas phase. The Early and Late Las Vegas phases represent an early and well-studied adaptation to a rich coastal zone where people adopted the cultivation of plants at the beginning of the Holocene. Recent finds in the coastal lowlands (Guayas Basin) provoke this discussion of the peopling of Ecuador and an analysis of the development of regional adaptations in the Early Holocene.