Lot 68
Pre-Columbian, South America, Ecuador, Valdivian, Earliest Horizon, ca. 2300 to 2000 BCE. A hand carved, light grey limestone palette of a somewhat rectangular form with incised, string-cut diagonal and straight lines as well as myriad drilled concave circular depressions delineating a star chart. A very rare find, from the Valdivia culture which existed from approximately 3500 to 1800 BCE - only about 1700 years in total! Custom stand. Size: 10.5" W x 7" H (26.7 cm x 17.8 cm); 8.25" H (21 cm) on stand
The ancient Valdivia culture of Ecuador was initially discovered by archaeologist Emilio Estrada in 1956, fairly recently in historic terms, and it is regarded as one of the oldest cultures of the ancient Americas. Interestingly, this culture still poses a bit of a mystery to scholars as no finite end to this culture has been identified yet; what's more, no sign of a cultural migration has surfaced. Most plausible is that the population somehow dwindled inspiring members of the communities to leave their settlements in search of opportunities elsewhere.
Ancient stone steles from Ecuador like this example are the oldest stone sculptures known to exist in the Americas, dating as far back as 3500 BCE. Certainly each stele is unique; however, they do share a few common characteristics. They are usually carved from a pearly grey colored stone and are for the most part "blockish" in form, though this example shows rounded contours. The four most prominent themes include the owl, the serpent/arrow, the sun chart, and the star chart.
The meaning of decorated stone objects like these - although they are called "star charts" by some - is unknown. Are they early forms of writing, roughly contemporary with cuneiform in Sumer and hieroglyphs in Egypt? Abstract designs? Decoration? To date, there have been very few scientific archaeological excavations of the Valdivian culture, leading to quite a few spectacular theories - including that the early pottery was influenced by shipwrecked sailors from the Jomon culture of Japan! Excavations at the Real Alto site in the 1970s and 1980s put that theory to rest, but this culture remains understudied; hopefully, future study will shed more light on the true meaning of this object and others like it.
Provenance: Ex-Private AZ collection
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#118813
- Condition: Losses to one side periphery and back of top end as shown. Some depressions on verso more than likely inherent to the stone. Expected surface wear with areas of encrustation. Nice burnishing marks and mineral deposits.
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