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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 146 
striking. Furthermore, the dates in Japan fall between approximately 
3000 and 2000 B.C., making the two cultures contemporary. We conse- 
quently feel that however radical it may seem to postulate a trans- 
pacific contact as early as 3000 B.C., this is the only conclusion that ad- 
herence to the principles of comparative analysis will allow. 
The Valdivia Culture apparently endured about 1,000 years. Except 
for a southward expansion near the end of the period, it was re- 
stricted to the portion of the coast between Valdivia and the Santa 
Elena Peninsula. During this time, the ceramic complex underwent a 
considerable amount of change. The relatively crude decorative tech- 
niques of Period A gave way to broad line incision and excision on 
beautifully polished surfaces, and these in turn were superseded by 
brushing and applique fillets. Some of the early vessel shapes and rim 
forms died out and new ones took their places. The stone figurines 
gave way to a unique and highly standardized type of pottery female 
figurine distinguished for its combination of nudity and varied, often 
elaborate, hair treatment. Except for circular shell fishhooks, and 
stone tools associated with their manufacture, the surviving non- 
ceramic artifact inventory of the Valdivia Culture is nondescript. 
Sometime between 2000 and 1500 B.C. a second shellfishing group 
appears on the same portion of the Guayas coast. This is the Ma- 
chalilla Culture (Meggers and Evans, 1962). Like its predecessor, it 
is characterized by a primarily hunting, fishing, and gathering pattern 
of subsistence coupled with strikingly beautiful and well-made pot- 
tery, with thin walls and polished surfaces. The pottery complex is 
completely unlike Valdivia. Decoration is by fine incision, thick red 
painted bands, blurred and streaked by pebble polishing, and puncta- 
tion. Vessel shapes include strongly carinated bowls (composite sil- 
houette) and stirrup spout jars. No similar complex has been reported 
to our knowledge from either side of the Pacific, so that its derivation 
is at present unknown. The presence of sherds of Machalilla pottery 
types in Valdivia sites of Period C and also of Valdivia pottery in 
Machalilla sites, suggests that the two groups were able to maintain a 
peaceful coexistence for several centuries, without effecting any ma- 
jor alteration in either complex, as far as the material remains are 
able to show. 
This simple way of life was destroyed by a third invasion, coming 
this time from southern Mesoamerica. No carbon-14 dates are avail- 
able and obsidian dates are not entirely in agreement, but the intro- 
duction appears to have taken place around 1500 B.C. For reasons that 
are not yet apparent, the Valdivia Culture becomes extinct, while the 
new elements are amalgamated with the Machalilla Culture. The result- 
