The Chorrera culture, or Chorrera tradition, is an archaeological culture of the Late Formative period in Ecuador, usually dated to about 1300 to 300 BCE. It was among the most widespread cultures of ancient Ecuador, reaching from the Pacific lowlands up into the Andean highlands and as far as southern Colombia. It is best known for its fine pottery, especially whistling vessels shaped like animals and plants.
Roots and definition
Chorrera grew out of the earlier Formative cultures of coastal Ecuador, the Valdivia and then the Machalilla cultures. The boundary with Machalilla is blurred: the dates given for Machalilla vary widely, and the archaeologists Betty Meggers and Clifford Evans argued that it gradually blended into Chorrera. Because pottery and other remains differ from place to place, archaeologists divide Chorrera into regional phases, among them Mafa and Tachina in Esmeraldas, Tabuchila in northern Manabí, Engoroy on the Santa Elena peninsula, Chorrera proper in the Guayas river basin, and Arenillas in El Oro.
Pottery and metal
Ceramics are the hallmark of the culture. Potters made stirrup-spout vessels in the form of animals and plants that whistled when liquid moved inside them, and human figurines shaped in moulds. Even everyday wares were thin-walled and finely finished, with red or black slips polished to a shine. Bowls, bottles and cooking pots were incised, painted, burnished in patterns or stamped. Unusual techniques included resist painting and slips with an iridescent sheen. Clay ear spools and stamps, probably used for painting the body, served as personal ornaments.
Chorrera craftsmen also made some of the earliest metal objects known from Ecuador. Excavations at Salango on the coast found pieces of copper, silver and gold, mostly jewellery and other luxury goods.
Food and trade
Chorrera communities farmed maize, common beans, squash and gourds, as well as root crops such as achira and arrowroot. They gathered wild fruits, sedges and palms, fished, and hunted deer, peccary, armadillo, ducks and smaller animals. They kept up the trade networks of their predecessors, exchanging spiny oyster shells and other sea shells from the coast for obsidian from the Quito basin; gold entered this trade in the last centuries BCE.
Decline
The culture's decline is linked to the eruption of the Pululahua volcano, north of Quito, which is dated to 467 BCE and spread ash across much of the western Ecuadorian lowlands. Chorrera traditions faded in the affected areas, while some settlements in the far north and south lasted for several more centuries. These developed into the more complex societies of what archaeologists call the Regional Development period; the cultures usually listed as Chorrera's successors include Bahía and Tuncahuán.
On our maps
Our maps label the territory Chorrera on the 1000, 700, 500, 400, 323 and 300 BCE maps, an approximate outline across coastal and highland Ecuador and northern Peru.
From the atlas
Chorrera culture on our maps
Borders of Time draws Chorrera culture on 6 of its 54 world maps, from 1000 BCE to 300 BCE. Its largest extent is on the 1000 BCE map, covering about 262,000 km² (101,000 sq mi), roughly the size of the United Kingdom today.
On the map before it appears (1500 BCE), the same area belongs to Chorrera. On the map after its last appearance (200 BCE), it belongs to Chorrera.
- 1000 BCE262,000 km²
- 700 BCE262,000 km²
- 500 BCE262,000 km²
- 400 BCE262,000 km²
- 323 BCE262,000 km²
- 300 BCE262,000 km²
Measured from the historical-basemaps snapshots this atlas uses. Borders in those maps are approximate, especially for early periods.
Quick answers
- When did Chorrera culture exist?
- From 1300 BCE to 300 BCE, about 1,000 years. The atlas draws it on its maps from 1000 BCE to 300 BCE.
- Where was Chorrera culture?
- At its largest, on the 1000 BCE map, its land lies in today’s Peru (53%) and Ecuador (47%).
- How big was Chorrera culture?
- Chorrera culture was largest on the 1000 BCE map, at about 262,000 km² (101,000 sq mi).