NO. 1 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA 
87 
The devastation of native life by European settlement and the 
destruction of material remains by the rigors of a tropical climate have 
been so complete that archeologists 400 years later are still prone to 
deny that civilized life was ever attained by the prehistoric peoples of 
Ecuador. It is now apparent that we must grant these aboriginal cul- 
tures not only this, but also a major role in the establishment and 
maintenance of contacts with Mesoamerica beginning in the Forma- 
tive Period — the results of which appear to have been of basic signifi- 
cance for the development of culture in the Andean Area as a whole. 
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