Las Vegas Culture Emerges in Ecuador
8000 BC · Prehistoric
The Las Vegas culture emerged on the Santa Elena Peninsula of coastal Ecuador around 8000 BCE. This significant early society was among the first in South America to transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, with evidence of early domestication of plants including squash, bottle gourd, and primitive maize. They established permanent settlements and developed complex burial practices, leaving behind an extensive archaeological record of their lifestyle and customs.
Key Figures
Karen E. Stothert
Locations
Santa Elena PeninsulaOGSE-80 Las Vegas Site
Topics
AmericasNative americansearly Americasculturescivilization
Connected Events — 2 Connections
Established the deep precedent for complex burial practices that Las Vegas culture continued developing 52,000 years later, representing part of the long human trajectory toward ritualized treatment of the dead that became increasingly sophisticated in early agricultural societies Neanderthal Burial at La Chapelle-aux-Saints
Demonstrated elaborate Upper Paleolithic burial practices including grave goods and complex rituals that prefigured the sophisticated mortuary customs later developed by the Las Vegas culture as they transitioned to settled agricultural life Sungir Burial Site, Russia
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