Las Vegas culture (archaeology)

See the section Las Vegas#Culture for information on the American city in Nevada.

The Las Vegas culture was a complex of late-Pleistocene and Holocene settlements along the coast of present day Ecuador, which emerged between 8000 BCE and 4600 BCE (10,000 to 6,600 BP). The Las Vegas culture represents "an early, sedentary adjustment to an ecologically complex coastal environment."^[1] Thirty-one Las Vegas sites have been identified on the Santa Elena peninsula of Ecuador, a biologically complex, tropical ecotone; radiocarbon dating has securely confirmed the evidence for Las Vegas.^[2]

The Las Vegas people practiced hunting and gathering, and also developed primitive agricultural techniques. 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; wood, bamboo, reeds, and bark are also believed to have been used in the tool industry.^[3]

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.

Las Vegas social groups were small, but the local community probably had relations with similar people across the region. The Vegas people were healthy and their way of life endured with little change for 3,000 years. The small size of their shelters is evidence that the nuclear family may have been the main unit of production and consumption in Vegas times. ^[4]

Deer, fox, rabbit, small rodents, weasel, anteater, squirrel, peccary, opossum, frog, boa constrictor, indigo snake, parrot and lizard were exploited for food. Intertidal species and crab were also harvested in small quantities. The Las Vegans were broad-spectrum hunters and were able to hunt these many different species and not rely on any one source of food.

Approximately 6000 BC, these peoples were among the first to begin farming; among their early crops were bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria, and an early type of maize, Zea mays L.^[5]

References

↑ Stothert, Karen E. (July 1985). "The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador". American Antiquity (American Antiquity, Vol. 50, No. 3) 50 (3): 613–637. doi:10.2307/280325. JSTOR 280325.
↑ Stothert, Karen E.; Dolores R. Piperno; Thomas C. Andres (Fall 2004). "New Evidence of Early Holocene Agriculture from the Coast of Ecuador: A Multidisciplinary Approach". Culture & Agriculture 24 (2): 31–41. doi:10.1525/cag.2002.24.2.31.
↑ Bryan, Alan L. (2000). "Chapter 2: The Original Peopling of Latin America". General History of Latin America. UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
↑ Stothert, Karen E. (July 1985). "The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador". American Antiquity 50 (3): 613–637. doi:10.2307/280325.
↑ Stothert, Karen E. (July 1985). "The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador". American Antiquity 50 (3): 613–637. doi:10.2307/280325.

Pre-Columbian civilizations and cultures
Americas	Paleo-Indians · Genetic history · Archaeology of the Americas · Indigenous peoples of the Americas
North America	North American pre-Columbian cultures – Caddoan Mississippian – Chichimeca –Hopewell tradition – Coles Creek – Fremont – Marksville – Mississippian – Mogollon – Plaquemine – Plum Bayou – Poverty Point – Troyville – Weeden Island –
Mesoamerica	Mesoamerican pre-Columbian chronology – Capacha – Cholula – Coclé – Epi-Olmec – Huastec – Izapa – Mezcala – Mixtec – Olmec – Pipil – Quelepa – Shaft tomb tradition – Teuchitlan – Tarascan – Teotihuacan – Tlatilco – Tlaxcaltec – Toltec – Totonac – Veracruz – Xochipala – Zapotec
South America	South American Indigenous people – pre-Columbian chronology – Cañaris – Chachapoya – Chancay – Chavín – Chimú – El Abra – Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia) – Las Vegas – Lima – La Tolita (Tumaco) – Manteño-Guancavilca – Mapuche – Moche – Mollo – Muisca (Chibchas) – Nariño – Nazca – Norte Chico – Quimbaya – San Agustín – Shuar – Sican – Taino – Tairona – Tiwanaku – Tierradentro – Valdivia – Wari
	Aztec	Maya civilization	Inca Empire – Andean civilizations
Language	Nahuatl	Mayan languages	Quechua
Writing	Aztec writing	Maya script	Quipu
Religion	Aztec religion	Maya religion	Inca religion
Mythology	Aztec mythology	Maya mythology	Inca mythology
Calendar	Aztec calendar	Maya calendar
Society	Aztec society	Maya society	Inca society
Infrastructure	Chinampas	Maya architecture	Inca architecture (road system) Incan agriculture
History	Aztec history		Inca history
People	Moctezuma I Moctezuma II Cuitláhuac Cuauhtémoc	K'inich Janaab' Pakal Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil Jasaw Chan K'awiil I	Manco Cápac Pachacuti Atahualpa Manco Inca Yupanqui Túpac Amaru II
Conquest	Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (Hernán Cortés)	Spanish conquest of the Maya Spanish conquest of Yucatán (Francisco de Montejo) Spanish conquest of Guatemala (Pedro de Alvarado)	Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (Francisco Pizarro)
See also
Portal:Indigenous peoples of North America – Portal:Mesoamerica – Columbian Exchange – Mesoamerican writing systems – Native American cuisine – Native American pottery – Population history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas – Pre-Columbian art – Painting in the Americas before Colonization