NO. 1 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA 135 
merly agricultural groups repeatedly reverted to a major dependence 
on the sea when they moved from the interior to the coast. 
Indirect evidence similar to that used to infer the introduction of 
maize onto the coast of Ecuador supports the conclusion that maize 
was brought to the Caribbean coast of Colombia around 500 B.C. 
Here, in the complex designated as Momil II, appear a number of 
Mesoamerican ceramic traits representing both decoration and vessel 
shape, and including artifacts traditionally associated in the latter area 
with the preparation of maize. The appearance of polychrome dec- 
oration and vessel forms such as the tripod in the Tocuyano Culture of 
western Venezuela some 300 years later probably reflects diffusion of 
maize cultivation as well. Beyond this its dissemination eastward is 
not easily charted, but historical evidence attests to its presence in the 
Greater Antilles in pre-European times. 
An attempt to trace the origin and spread of manioc cultivation 
forces us onto more shaky ground. Except for the coast of Peru, there 
is no place in the vast region over which manioc cultivation is his- 
torically attested where the climate permits its archeological preserva- 
tion. One method of preparation of bitter manioc utilizes a distinctive 
artifact — the griddle — fortunately made of indestructible pottery, and 
this is almost the only direct evidence upon which we can draw. Sweet 
manioc, more widely distributed and by inference older in cultiva- 
tion, is represented by no such ceramic counterpart. 
Nevertheless, a review of the archeological evidence produces a 
picture worth considering.^ Griddles are present at the mouth of 
the Orinoco in the Saladoid Complex, dated at about 800-1000 B.C. On 
the Caribbean coast of Colombia, they occur in Momil I and in the 
Malambo Culture, the latter with a date of 1200 B.C. After 1000 B.C. 
sweet manioc was present on the coast of Peru. The appearance of 
^ These reconstructions of the origin and diffusion of domesticated plants, 
based on archeological evidence unavailable in 1952, are strikingly parallel to 
Sauer's reconstruction of that date made from botanical inferences (Sauer, 1952). 
Fig. 17 — Relative antiquity of selected pottery traits suggesting direct contact 
by sea between Ecuador and central Mesoamerica around 1200 B.C. The ap- 
pearance of the traits forms a random chronological distribution consistent with 
gradual and independent diffusion except in central Mesoamerica and later in 
Peru. In these two areas, a clustering pattern implies simultaneous introduction 
best explained as the result of direct influence. Since the only region where all 
of the traits are of greater antiquity is coastal Ecuador, this is presumably the 
source. In Mesoamerica, this influence appears to be the counterpart of a contact 
that brought maize, napkin ring earplugs, obsidian flake tools and certain pot- 
tery elements to coastal Ecuador between 1200 and 1500 B.C. Data were derived 
from Appendix Table 2. Lines above the a.d. 1500 marker indicate absence of the 
trait in the area involved. 
