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Valdivia
(ca. 3500 – 1500 a.C.)
 Valdivia
is the most ancient culture of sedentary agriculturalists
and potters who inhabited the present territory of Ecuador,
and one of the earliest culture in South America.
The ruins of Valdivian towns are located along the river
basins of the Ecuadorian coastal strip. This fact leads us
to draw the conclusion that this people could take advantage
of the fertile river plains for agricultural purposes, as
gardening was their most important subsistence activity. Valdivian
inhabitants cultivated Indian corn (maíz), kidney beans
(fréjol), cassava, cotton-plants and archira (plant
of the Cannacae family whose roots are edible). The diet was
complemented with game (specially deer) and offshore fishing.
They also practiced the gathering of molluscs and crustaceans
along the beach, in mangrooves and estuaries.
The houses were built orderly around a ceremonial square.
Thus, a large village was formed, which become the nucleus
of numberless small hamlets.
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