Manteño | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 600–1530 | |||||||||
 A map of the Manteno culture (red) within Ecuador (yellow). The eastern boundary was complex (not shown) | |||||||||
| Capital | Manta | ||||||||
| Historical era | Integration | ||||||||
• Established | c. 600 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1530 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
TheManteño-Huancavilca culture (Spanish:Los Manteños) were one of the lastpre-Columbian cultures in modern-dayEcuador, active from 850 to 1600CE (1150–400BP).[1] It encompasses the area of the earlierValdivia culture.
The term was coined in the mid-20th century by EcuadorianarcheologistJacinto Jijón y Caamaño, to describe pre-Hispanic settlement near the town ofManta on the Pacific coast. Their historic area has been engulfed in part by more recent settlement.[2]
Soon afterJijón y Caamaño published his findings, the term Manteño began to be applied to several distinct sub-groups: northern Manteño (Manteño del Norte,Sillas, orManabita), southern Manteño (Huancavilca) and Punáe. Some archaeologists and historians reject this split, however, applying the termHuancavilca to all three groups; this term is ofIncan origin, from the time of the first colonisation.
Little work has distinguished such groupings.[3] HistorianCieza de León, however, says that residents in coastal towns north ofSalango used a type of facial tattoo distinguishable from those to their south. Other proposed divisions have included coastal and inland areas, based on types of burial and subsistence.[2]
The Manteño chiefdoms – under the broad definition – extended over coastal parts of the present-day provinces ofManabí,Santa Elena andGuayas, includingLa Plata Island. TheBahía de Caráquez andChone River mark the northern boundary of this territory, and the Guayas basin its southern boundary.[1]
According to early colonial sources, the town ofPicoazá was the site of a Manteño chiefdom.[4] In addition, major sites have been found at the Cerro de Hojas and Cerro Jaboncillo, the Cerro de Paco, Cerro las Negras, Cerro los Santo, Bellavista,Agua Blanca, Loma de los Cangrejitos, López Viejo, Los Frailes, Montecristi, Olón, Salango andLa Libertad.[1]
Many (if not all) were split into four major settlements, with the chief of the principal settlement overlord.[4] Caamaño believed that the Manteños operated like a trading ring rather than a kingdom or empire, and drew parallels to theHanseatic League.[5] Manteño settlements typically contain large quantities of characteristic pottery and large stone foundations.[6]
The culture primarily grew fruits and vegetables, such asmaize,peanuts,tomatoes, andsquash. The civilizations built their houses out of straw or palm leaves,[7] and also used houses made of a type of bamboo native to the region, using river rocks as a foundation. The culture was also specialized in diving forSpondylus, a food that was said to be of the gods. They also used its purple and orange shell as a type of currency; this shell was traded throughout the region as far north as Mexico. TheSpondylus is unique to the warm waters of coastal Ecuador. The Manteños were such a unique culture that the Inca never conquered them and let the Manteños buy their way with the food and shell of the gods that they only knew how to find due to this specialization of diving.
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