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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 146 
The pottery of these late cultures shows the simplifying and stand- 
ardizing effects of mass production. The beautiful and varied decora- 
tion of the previous period is replaced by simple geometric patterns 
created by incision, combing, applique, or burnishing. Beautiful nega- 
tive painted vessels continue to be made, and anthropomorphic jars 
are typical of the Manteno Culture. In general, vessel shapes are 
more standardized than in the preceding period. Pottery artifacts are 
also much rarer. Figurines are important only in the Manteno Culture, 
but are less abundant and less varied than before, implying a major 
alteration in the beliefs with which they were associated. 
Pottery vessels from the cemeteries attest to trade relations be- 
tween the Milagro farmers and the seafaring Manteno of the coast. 
Evidence that trade had passed beyond the stage of barter comes 
from caches of copper axe-money encountered in Milagro burial 
urns. These thin beaten copper plates with thickened edges, although 
different in form, are reminiscent of the axe-money of Mesoamerica, 
a resemblance that probably is not coincidental. 
Although the predominant use of perishable materials coupled with 
the destructive action of the tropical climate leaves little direct evi- 
dence, it cannot be denied on the basis of what has survived that a 
high level of urban civilization was attained by the coastal cultures of 
Ecuador in late pre-Spanish times. Reports from the highlands of 
artificial mounds, intricate metal objects, shaft tombs and other late 
coastal traits suggest a similar level of development may have existed 
there. 
In the latter part of the 1 5th century, the Inca empire was extended 
northward to encompass highland Ecuador. Stone structures in Azuay 
and Canar Provinces and sherds of Inca pottery types recovered as far 
north as Imbabura Province provfde archeological confirmation of the 
historical record. On the coast, however, with the exception of rare 
finds on the islands of Puna and La Plata, there is no evidence of 
Inca domination. Whether the tropical climate made the area less at- 
tractive, or the local groups were better organized and afforded greater 
resistance to conquest is not clear ; perhaps it was a combination of the 
two factors. Whatever the explanation, Milagro burial mounds, dated 
by the presence of glass beads at the end of the aboriginal period, 
show no variation from those of earlier times that could be attributed 
to Inca influence. It would not be surprising to find, however, that 
the coastal Ecuadorians of Inca times had learned from this latest 
group of foreigners as they did so often in the past, and readapted 
new ideas into forms uniquely their own. It was left to the Europeans 
to conquer and subdue them, once and for all. 
