The Las Vegas culture, the first known…
4653 BCE to 4510 BCE
The Las Vegas culture, the first known in Ecuador, lives on the Santa Elena Peninsula on the coast of Ecuador between 8000–4600 BCE.
The skeletal remains and other finds show evidence the culture once flourished in the area.
Scientists have classified three phases of cultural development.
The earliest people were hunter-gathers and anglers.
Approximately 6000 BCE, the culture were among the first to begin farming (bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria, and an early type of maize, Zea mays L.) The best-known remains of the culture are The Lovers of Sumpa.
These human remains and other items can be seen at Museo Los Amantes de Sumpa y Centro Cultural in Santa Elena.
Bone points and a spatula have been discovered that may have been used for making nets or textiles, along with various tools and containers shaped of shell; archaeologist believe that wood, bamboo, reeds, and bark were used in the tool industry.
Although mummies have not been documented from coastal Ecuador, the Las Vegas people were contemporaneous with and similar to the people whose remains are preserved as the Chinchorro mummies of the north coast of Chile.