JAMBELI CULTURE — ESTRADA, MEGGERS, EVANS 489 



from the former shoreline (pi. 3, a). Most of the salitre sites are 

 exposed to wind action and are badly eroded. Many are reduced 

 to small remnants and were identified with the Jambeli culture by the 

 characteristic occurrence of shells of the mangrove oyster {Ostrea colum- 

 biensis), no sherds having been found. Since the seriated sequence 

 shows these Guayas Province sites to be of equivalent age to those 

 in the Province of El Oro, it is evident that a change has taken place 

 in the elevation of the coast here with a silting up of the bays and 

 inlets that has not affected the area to the south. Whether or not 

 the progressive desiccation of the bays and destruction of the man- 

 grove swamps are related to the abandonment of the area by the 

 Jambeli culture, or whether this alteration occurred at a later date, 

 is uncertain. 



Some of the Jambeli sites on Puna Island and all those on the 

 islands of El Oro Province are on small areas of high land scattered 

 through what is predominantly mangrove swamp (pi. 4). At P-2: 

 Campo Alegre on Pund Island, the situation is like that on the Guayas 

 mainland: a shell midden bordering a fiat now dry except in the rainy 

 season (pi. 5). Except that their exposed condition resulting from 

 the lack of covering vegetation makes them subject to damage from 

 erosion, these salitre sites are not significantly different from those in 

 living mangrove swamps. 



Only three sites had sufficient depth of deposit and were sufficiently 

 undisturbed to permit stratigraphic excavation. Two are on the 

 Guayas mainland and the third on the coast of El Oro. The center 

 of the modern town of Posorja (G-84) is a site of the Valdivia culture 

 reoccupied by the Jambeli culture. A 2 X 1 m. excavation, made 

 by Estrada, showed that the upper 40 cm. of the refuse deposit con- 

 tained Jambeli material, with sherds more abundant than in any 

 other Jambeli site. The midden contained characteristic shell refuse 

 of mangrove oyster {Ostrea columbiensis) , small clams (especially 

 Anomalocardia subimbricata) , and miscellaneous other shell species. 



The site of G-86: La Manguita is located northeast of the town 

 of El Morro on a branch of the Salitre San Miguel, which connects 

 with Lagarto Salitre. The site occupies a hill about 100 m. from the 

 salitre. Another shell midden occupies a rise 200 m. to the south. 

 G-86 has a diameter of 14 m. The refuse is densely compacted with 

 large quantities of mangrove oyster with some admixture of small 

 clams and other species of shellfish. A 2.0 X 1.5 m. test was begun 

 on the east side of the midden near the top and excavated in 20-cm. 

 levels (pi. 3, b). The shell was pulverized and mixed with dirt, some 

 showing traces of burning. All refuse was sifted, but the only arti- 

 facts encountered were a fragment of a stone bark beater (pi. 6, 6) 

 in Level 60-80 cm. and a perforated shell in Level 80-100 cm. 



