Ancient Valdivia Stone Block Sculpture. An exceptional piece from Ecuador ca. 3500 - 1200 BC. The light greenish-grey limestone is carved with morphic human/owl figures on all surfaces, suggesting shamanic representations. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Provenance: Originally from the Peter Hacinto Collection in New York City, acquired by the consignor through Arte Xibalba in Osprey, Florida. 

Size: 3 3/4 x 3 x 5 1/2 in. 

#6307 . 

The Valdivia people, originating in what is now Ecuador, endured for nearly two millennia, from around 3500 BC until 1900 BC. Little is known about them aside from minor archaeological finds, as well as what survived in the legends and writings of later pre-Columbian cultures. They were the first formative civilization of the region to create figural art for ritual use, mainly working in stone and clay and later in ceramic. The Valdivia culture relied on a mixed agricultural economy centered upon cultivating crops such as maize, beans, manioc, chili peppers, and gourds in tandem with hunting and fishing and the gathering of wild plants, making their mythology, religion, clothing, and much more revolve around the seasons and the bounty of the earth. Their strong agricultural foundation allowed the Valdivia to construct ceremonial centers, boasting plazas and elaborate elite burials associated with shamanistic practices, communal meals, and the ingestion of psychotropic substances. Additional evidence indicates that the Valdivia were engaged in long-distance terrestrial trade into the Amazon basin, with settlements discovered on the Puná and La Plata islands showing they were capable of voyages into the wide Pacific Ocean as well. Their forms and technological advances influenced primarily later Andean cultures such as the Chorrera and Chavin, and the reason for their demise is still unknown, attributed possibly to environmental factors including earthquakes, volcanic activity, and decades-long periods of drought. Most surviving pottery pieces include stela, some of the oldest stone sculptures in the New World, and are often block-like and cubist in form, with recessed grooves in the grey-green sandstone indicating a depiction of shamans undergoing mystical transformations. Many later cultures borrowed from the rituals, designs, and architecture of the Valdivia, and to this day some folk art in the region heavily resembles the works made by the ancestors of the current indigenous peoples some five thousand years before. 

Commensurate with age.