Coca ritual, aristocrats, and the landscape of power on the coast of Ecuador in the Early Regional Development period (100 BC–AD 300)

Abstract

Elaborate pottery figurines indicate that ritualized coca consumption was central to the function and identity of male aristocrats of coastal Ecuador during the Early Regional Development period (100 BC–AD 300). In parallel, lime residues, lime containers and lime dippers provide detail not only on the manufacture and circulation of ritual paraphernalia, but also on the symbolism and values attached to coca use. Drawing on evidence excavated at the Bahía II funerary precinct of Salango and elsewhere on the central coast, this article examines the role of coca ritual both in accessing the spirit world and in maintaining a system of authority based on sacred power.

Elaborados figurines cerámicos indican que el consumo ritualizado de la coca era fundamental para la función e identidad de los aristócratas masculinos de la costa ecuatoriana durante el periodo Desarrollo Regional Temprano (100 aC–300 dC). En paralelo, residuos de cal, recipientes para la cal, y palillos o espátulas para extraer la cal ofrecen detalles no solamente respecto a la manufactura y circulación de la parafernalia ritual, sino también acerca del simbolismo y de los valores ligados al uso de la coca. Acudiendo a la evidencia recuperada del recinto funerario Bahía II de Salango y de otros sitios de la costa central, este artículo examina el papel del rito de la coca tanto en acceder a los espíritus como en mantener un sistema de autoridad basada en el poder sagrado.

Acknowledgements

This article is a much expanded and reorganized version of a contribution to a paper presented jointly with Dr. Colin McEwan during the 71st Annual Meeting of the SAA, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006. I thank Colin for urging me to think about the evidence for coca consumption at Salango in the first place. Dr. Douglas Ubelaker identified the ages and genders of the individuals buried at Salango. I also thank Dr. Francisco Valdez and an anonymous reviewer for their comments, and Dr. Jerry Moore for his encouragement.

Notes

1 A third species, E. patens, is also reported by Dodson et al. (1985: 242, in Ledergerber [1992]) for the western foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes.

2 The possible use of the shell as a container is suggested both by the general context and by a pottery lime container in the form of a tree snail that was buried in a Middle Engoroy-phase ceremonial platform at Salango (Lunniss 2008: 223, Figure 7.8).

3 At Salango, anecdotal evidence suggests that, during 1975 construction of the factory which now occupies the core area of the ceremonial complex, large Bahía figurines were found along the beach front.

4 A remarkable pottery lime container, however, in the form of a four-legged being with an anthropomorphic head and the characteristic bulge of a coca quid in the right cheek, came from a Mayo Chinchipe phase tomb, contemporary with Middle Valdivia, at the Santa Ana – La Florida site, in the upper Amazonian region of southern Ecuador (Valdez 2007: 566–567, Figure 10).