Chobshi cave is near the town of Sigsig in Azuay
province,
at 03o 01' N, 78o 45' W and at 2,400 m
above sea level
54. Possible Relatives in the Americas
Chobshi site (Azuay, Ecuador)
by George Weber
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Chobshi cave is near the town of Sigsig in Azuay
province, |
Chobshi cave has yielded some very ancient traces of early man in South America. The site was discovered by Gustavo Reinoso and excavated over some years. Reinoso's collection of artefacts were analyzed by Bell in 1970 and a report published in 1974. The site was again investigated and studied in 1980 by Lynch and Pollock.
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The way to Chobshi cave. Photo © Sophie Robson (held under creative common licence )
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A full view of Chobshi cave. The cave entrance is 20 m wide and 9 m high. Its depth is 15 m. |
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Detail of Chobshi cave showing traces of archaeological excavation work done. Photo © Sophie Robson (held under creative common licence ) |
The stratification of human cultural deposits was shallow and mixed and confined to the top 50 cm of the top meter in the 2 m deep excavation so that separation of age groups acccording to the depth in which they were found was impossible.
The oldest established date at Chobshi cave (by C14 method, using charcoal and bones) indicates the earliest presence of humans there at 10,010 ± 430 years before the present.
The tools found at Chobshi are so similar in type, working methods and date to those found at El Inga cave further north that it is likely that the Chobshi people were in fact El Inga people - or at least people of the same early culture. But while almost 3,800 stone tools were found at El Inga, Chobshi yielded only 670 (if "tools" of doubtful human manufacture are included). Pollock classsified the 670 Chobshi tools into 46 types of artefacts.
There were also some not very surprising indications that the people occupying Chobshi cave also had cultural connections to Peru - which geographically is much closer to Chobshi than is the El Inga site. The main difference between Chobshi and El Inga appears to be that that at the former chert was used preferentially for tool making while in the latter obsidian and basalt was more common.
Tools of the Ayampitin type are quite common at Chobshi. These are bifacially worked stone missile tips of willow-leaf outline, made and used by early hunter-gatherers of the Peruvian and Ecuadorian highlands and coasts 11,000 to 9000 years before the present. Typical examples of such tools range in length between 6 and 7 cm.
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A lanceolate stone point of Ayampitin type found at Chobshi. |
Among web-sites with further information are:
- http://www.dlh.lahora.com.ec/paginas/historia/historia1d.htm
- http://www.doaks.org/Ecuador/Ecuador11.pdf
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Last change 20 May 2007
