NO. 1 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA 79 
coast. Some of these can be identified with later cultures through the 
presence of pottery. Others, especially a considerable number com- 
posed principally of mangrove oyster shells, have yielded no artifacts 
or other evidence of human association as yet. Since the deposits are 
highly eroded, positive identification may never be possible. There is 
no reason to doubt, however, that the southern coast at least was in- 
habited in Preceramic times by small groups of hunters, gatherers, 
and fishermen. Their existence may be inferred not only from evi- 
dence of such a way of life to the south on the coast of Peru, but also 
from the events that resulted in the inception of the Formative Period 
on the Ecuadorian coast. 
Formative Period. — The Formative has been defined as beginning 
with the advent of pottery making, represented by the appearance of 
the Valdivia Culture (Evans, Meggers, and Estrada, 1959). Carbon- 
14 dating places this introduction at about 3000 B.C. The word "intro- 
duction" is used purposely, since Valdivia pottery is too well de- 
veloped to constitute a local invention. Characteristic of Period A of 
the Valdivia Culture are decoration by combing, finger grooving, 
shell stamping, fingernail punctation, corrugation, fine and broad in- 
cision on a red slipped surface, zoned beveling of the rim, and finger 
punching from the interior producing an exterior boss. Distinctive 
vessel-shape features include small tetrapod feet, castellated rims, and 
folded-over, finger-pressed rims. The most diagnostic artifact is a small 
stone figurine, often the form of a thin polished slab, but sometimes 
with incised stylization of facial features, arms, and legs. 
This complex, restricted to the northern shore of Guayas Province, 
is associated with a shellfish-gathering subsistence supplemented by 
collection of other kinds of wild plant and animal foods. The popula- 
tion appears to have been small and relatively sedentary. Both the 
pottery complex and its preagricultural context are unusual in the 
New World Formative, and the carbon-14 dates have been ques- 
tioned on this basis. However, there is a remarkable similarity in 
both of these respects between Period A of the Valdivia Culture and 
early middle Jomon of southern Japan (Estrada, Meggers, and 
Evans, 1962). 
The preagricultural shellfishers of Jomon time made pottery dec- 
orated with finger grooving, fingernail impressions, corrugation, shell 
stamping, shell scraping, incision, and polished red slip, as did the 
early Valdivians. Also present are folded-over finger-pressed rims, 
castellated rims, and small tetrapod feet. Differences exist between the 
total ceramic complexes of early Valdivia and early middle Jomon, but 
even when these are taken into consideration, the similarities are 
