Loma Alta

Information

This is one of the earliest Valdivia culture sites and is located in the Valdivia River Valley, approximately 9 km inland from the Pacific coast. The remains of house floors, pits, middens, and burials occur in deposits up to 1.5 m deep (Damp 1984a). Few maize macroremains have been recovered from this site, but microremains (phytoliths and starch grains) are abundant (Zarrillo et al. 2008; Damp 1984b).

ID Other ID Type Subtype Uncal BP (years) ± 1 σ (years) Median cal BP (years) Lower cal BP (years) Upper cal BP (years) δ13C Contaminated?
419 Beta-198622 MicroSample starch grain 4460 40 4982 5276 4857 No
417 Beta-198623 MicroSample starch grain 4470 40 5001 5279 4861 No
418 Beta-198621 MicroSample starch grain 4470 40 5001 5279 4861 No
494 GX-9460 MicroSample starch grain 4700 270 5317 5982 4584 No
491 SFU-123 MicroSample starch grain 4920 200 5598 6174 5042 No
496 GX-9458 MicroSample starch grain 4960 210 5647 6182 5055 No
495 Beta-9561 MicroSample starch grain 3820 40 4129 4288 3980 No
492 SFU-110 MicroSample starch grain 4790 160 5443 5887 4975 No
493 GX-7699 MicroSample starch grain 4630 160 5233 5596 4852 No
497 Beta-9564 MicroSample starch grain 4510 40 5109 5290 4881 No
498 Beta-9566 MicroSample 4180 70 4656 4838 4441 No
60 Beta-103315 MacroSample kernel 2450 70 2466 2719 2317 -9.2 No

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References Cited

Damp, J. E.
    1984a    Architecture of the Early Valdivia village. American Antiquity 49(3):573-585.

Damp, J. E.
    1984b    Environmental Variation, Agriculture, and Settlement Processes in Coastal Ecuador (3300-1500 B.C.). Current Anthropology 25(1):106-111.

Zarrillo, S., D. M. Pearsall, J. S. Raymond, M. A. Tisdale and D. J. Quon
    2008    Directly dated starch residues document early formative maize (Zea mays L.) in tropical Ecuador. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 105(13):5006–5011.