Machalilla

Topics: National parks of Ecuador

The Machalilla were a prehistoric people in Ecuador, in southern Manabi and the Santa Elena Peninsula. The dates when the culture thrived are uncertain, but are generally agreed to encompass 1500 BCE to 1100 BCE. Machalilla also refers to Machalilla National Park in Manabi near Puerto Lopez and the town of Machalilla, a small fishing village in the vicinity of the park.

Machalilla Culture

The Machalilla were an agricultural people who also pursued fishing, hunting and gathering. Like many prehistoric cultures of coastal Ecuador, the people practiced artificial cranial deformation by using stones to flatten and lengthen their skulls. Ecuador/The Galapagos Background Lonely Planet Accessed August 2 2007.

Archaeologists focus on the unusual cemeteries of the Machalilla, in which bodies were settled beneath a ceramic turtle shell, and on their ceramic work in general, which represented artistic and technological advances in the art. The Machalilla are credited with adding to the ceramic bottle the stirrup spout, in which two spouts join together into one opening: an invention that would be prominent in northwest South American pottery for centuries. Archaeologists have also excavated ceramic pots, pitchers, whistles, candlesticks and human figures from Machalilla digs.

The date range of the culture is obscured. It is sometimes listed as early as 1800 BCE and as late as 800 BCE.. One of the problems with determining the proper date range is the method of cultural termination. According to archaeologists Betty Meggers and Clifford Evans, the Machalilla culture was altered by Mesoamerican contact until it blended into the Chorrera culture.Meggers, Betty J. and Clifford Evans. "The Machalilla Culture: An Early Formative Complex on the Ecuadorian Coast." American Antiquity'', Vol. 28, No. 2 , pp. 186-192.

Universidad de Especialidades Espiritu Santo UEES in Guayaquil, Ecuador has a collection of Machalilla artifacts.

Machalilla National Park

Established in 1979, Machalilla National Park near Puerto Lopez rests along the Pacific coast. It incorporates beaches, fog forest, dry forest, small islands and two larger islands, Salango and Isla de la Plata, the latter named for a legendary hoard of silver left by Sir Francis Drake.

In 1990 the park was named an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention. Wildlife includes armadillos, two species of monkeys and birds of more than 270 species. Many of the large mammals in Machalilla National Park are regionally and locally endangered. Machalilla National Park is the only habitat outside of the Galapagos Islands of waved albatross. The ocean regions of the park also provide a breeding ground for humpback whales. Vegetation includes opuntia cactus, palo santo trees, kapok trees and the algaroba tree. Most of the tropical scrub desert and forest of western Ecuador, once 25% but now only 1%, can be found in the park.

Machalilla National Park has been threatened by a number of factors, including deforestation, commercial fishing, poaching and the ecological impact of the tourist industry. In 1991, The Nature Conservancy, the United States Agency for International Development and a group of partner organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean began contributing funds for conservation as part of the Parks in Peril (PiP) program. Machalilla National Park opened an on-site center for educating visitors about the ecology of the park and conservation issues. The park also hired locals to serve as guards, increasing local awareness of the issues impacting the park. Machalilla's partner organization, Fundacion Natura, has also worked with local communities to provide training on environmentally agricultural and fishing practices.