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The Manteño-Huancavilca civilization (Los Manteños) were one of the last pre-Columbian civilizations in modern-day Ecuador, active from 850 to 1600 CE (1150–400 BP). It encompasses the area of the earlier Valdivia culture.

Scope
The term was coined in the mid-20th century by Ecuadorian archeologist Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño, to describe pre-Hispanic settlement near the town of Manta on the Pacific coast. Their historic area has been engulfed in part by more recent settlement.

Soon after Jijón y Caamaño published his findings, the term Manteño began to be applied to several distinct sub-groups: northern Manteño (Manteño del Norte, Sillas, or Manabita), southern Manteño (Huancavilca) and Punáe. Some archaeologists and historians reject this split, however, applying the term Huancavilca to all three groups; this term is of Incan origin, from the time of the first colonisation.

Little work has distinguished such groupings. Historian Cieza de León, however, says that residents in coastal towns north of Salango 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.

The Manteño chiefdoms – under the broad definition – extended over coastal parts of the present-day provinces of Manabí, Santa Elena and Guayas, including La Plata Island. The Bahía de Caráquez and Chone River mark the northern boundary of this territory, and the Guayas basin its southern boundary.

According to early colonial sources, the town of Picoazá was the site of a Manteño chiefdom. 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 and La Libertad.

Organisation
Many (if not all) were split into four major settlements, with the chief of the principal settlement overlord. These settlements were arranged in a pattern where settlements would be subordinated to other settlements in a hierarchy consisting of three or four tiers, suggesting a reasonable amount of social hierarchy and the possibility of a state apparatus of some kind. Caamaño believed that the Manteños operated like a trading ring rather than a kingdom or empire, and drew parallels to the Hanseatic League. However, conclusive archaeological evidence that the Manteños maintained large mercantile enclaves in the lands of their trading partners in the way that the Hanseatic League did is lacking, though there are sites in Jama-Coaque territory that suggest the possibility. Manteño settlements typically contain large quantities of characteristic pottery and large stone foundations.

Material Culture
The Manteños maintained a distinct material culture that had great influence on surrounding cultures. In addition to their own material culture, the sites of the northern neighbors of the Manteños, the Jama-Coaque, have had a number of Manteño ceramics found there as well. The ceramics created by the Manteños were distinctive because of the use of blackware.

Perhaps the material elements the Manteños are most known for are their stone seats. The seats are constructed in a U-shape, with large armrests on the sides causing them to appear like upside down omegas. These seats have been found throughout and exclusively within the southern portions of Manabí province. Archaeological evidence at the site of Agua Blanca suggests that these seats were involved in ceremonies involving the winter solstice, as several of these seats were found in a building whose door is aligned with the sunrise on the solstice, that included the ritual use of coca.

Alongside the stone seats, the Manteños also built stone stelae and crafted many different types of stone sculptures. These sculptures depicted both human and animal figures.

Lifestyle
The civilization primarily grew fruits and vegetables, such as maize, peanuts, tomatoes, and squash. The civilizations built their houses out of straw or palm leaves, 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 for Spondylus, 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. The Spondylus is unique to the warm waters of coastal Ecuador. Trade in Spondylus shells was a major part of the economy of the Manteños as well as for the other cultures who made their homes on the Gulf of Guayaquil such as the Milagro-Quevedo. However, the Manteños traded more materials than just Spondylus shells. They also manufactured resources such as mother of pearl to trade in exchange for resources such as copper, coca, obsidian, and pottery of both Inca and Chimú origin. In the execution of this trade, the Manteños used rafts made from balsa wood. Built around these rafts were seats and storage made out of cane and the rafts made use of cotton sails and rigging made of hemp. At the archaeological site of Cerro de Hojas, evidence has been found supporting the notion that the Manteños had people who specialized in the large scale production of textiles.

Architecture
The larger constructions made by the Manteños were made out of adobe bricks built on top of stone foundations. They were built on top of large platform mounds which can be found throughout Manabí province. At the archaeological site of Cerro de Hojas, the houses found consisted of single rooms with no evidence of any kind of interior walls. The largest of these houses measured 49 meters long and 12.5 meters wide. In these centers, buildings were often arranged in pairs facing each other, and groupings of up to four distinct buildings can be arranged in various groupings.

Inca Invasion
When the Inca invaded modern-day Ecuador during the reign of Sapa Inca Topa Inca Yupanqui, they were largely unsuccessful in securing control along the coast, including Manteño territories. Puná Island is the area of Manteño territory with the most significant presence of Inca artifacts, suggesting that it is the area in which the Inca had the greatest presence for the longest. Though the Inca were unsuccessful in conquest, they were able to maintain a degree of indirect control in order to maintain the supply of Spondylus shells. The independence of the Manteño principalities would ultimately come to an end following the arrival of the Spanish under the conquistador Francisco Pizarro during the conquest of the Inca Empire.