Late Formative Shamans of the Ecuadorian Coast: Architectural, Mortuary, and Artifactual Evidence from Salango in the Middle and Late Engoroy Phases (600–100 BC)

Abstract

A Middle and Late Engoroy (600–100 BC) shamanic sanctuary at Salango, on Ecuador’s central coast, provides information at multiple interpretative levels on early north Andean ritual practices. Architectural settings included ceremonial floors, houses, and platforms. Two shamans were buried there, and their functions were understood to continue even after their death and burial. Shamanic identity was embodied in tusk-shaped pendants. There were significant changes in shamanic paraphernalia, practices, and settings. The ceremonial structures were ultimately configured as equivalents of shamans. While partly comparable with Early Formative Valdivia customs, Late Formative shamanism at Salango finds notable parallels in the ritual, iconography, and architecture of the Peruvian Andes and coast.