Palanda Canton is a canton of Ecuador , located in the Zamora-Chinchipe Province . Its capital is the town of Palanda [ es ] . Its population at the 2001 census was 7,066.
9-397: This canton has a long history, from the earliest known humans occupation to one of the latest inca battle, just before the colonial time. The canton is administratively divided into 4 parishes The site of Santa Ana (La Florida) is located just to the north of Palanda. This is an important archaeological site going back as early as 3,500 BC. The work in this area was started in 2002 by
18-508: A ceremonial hearth, where a cache of greenstone offerings had been found. "Several tombs have been documented with fine ceramic vessels; exquisite polished stone bowls and mortars, as well as hundreds of turquoise and malachite beads fragments of Strombus sea shells, and small sculptures." A range of diverse objects have been found, such as ceramic bottles, plain or ornamented stone bowls, medallions and pieces of necklace in turquoise, malachite and other green stones. Major construction at
27-609: A team of French and Ecuadoran archaeologists. This Ecuador location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Santa Ana (La Florida) Santa Ana (La Florida) is an important archaeological site in the highlands of Ecuador , going back as early as 3,500 BC. It is located in the Palanda Canton , just to the north of its regional capital of es:Palanda , in the Zamora-Chinchipe Province of Ecuador. This ancient settlement
36-602: Is located on the eastern slope of the Andes, in a transitional zone between the highlands and the lowland jungles in a narrow Palanda River valley. The small Palanda River flows into Mayo - Chinchipe river , and eventually into the Rio Marañon . The two principal zones of the site cover an area of about 1 hectare. The work in this area was started in 2002 by a team of French and Ecuadoran archaeologists. Santa-Ana/La Florida has been studied by archaeologists since then, under
45-636: The Nature Ecology and Evolution journal reported from Santa Ana what is believed to be the earliest cacao ( Theobroma cacao L. ) use in the Americas. This evidence, comes from approximately 5,300 years ago (or 3,300 BC). Traditionally, cacao was thought to have been first domesticated in Mesoamerica . Yet it's known that cacao’s greatest genetic diversity is in the upper Amazon region of northwest South America. Thus, this region must have been
54-644: The leadership of Francisco Valdez. This represents a discovery of a new ancient culture in the Chinchipe river basin on the border of present-day Ecuador and Peru. It is now known as Mayo-Chinchipe culture ; its area extends from the Podocarpus National Park in Ecuador, to the area where Chinchipe River flows into the Marañon (near Bagua, Peru ). This ancient culture received its name from
63-577: The river names. In Ecuador, the river is known as Chinchipe, while in Peru it's known as Mayo. Carbon dated to 5,500 BP (3,500 BC), these discoveries belong to the early Formative Period in Ecuadorian chronology, and to the Archaic or Preceramic period of Peru. A village with a central sunken plaza has been discovered. One of the two artificial platforms features a temple with a spiral configuration, and
72-631: The site occurred from 2,600 to 1,700 BC. The related Montegrande (archaeological site) is also located nearby on the Peruvian side of the border. There was also trade between Santa Ana and the site of Huayurco north of Jaen, Peru . Distinctive Huayurco stone vessels were traded widely in neighbouring areas. The Jaén stone vessel tradition, and its participation within the Andean interaction spheres have now been dated as early as 2500 BC. The following agricultural crops have been documented, In 2018,
81-451: The ultimate centre of origin. But how it got from there to Mexico remained unknown. Now Santa Ana provides the missing link. The scholars used three independent lines of archaeological evidence (cacao starch grains, absorbed theobromine residues and ancient DNA dating) to confirm their findings. So far, this is the earliest evidence of Cacao use in the Americas. Also, this is the first clear archaeological evidence of its pre-Columbian use on
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