Las figurillas zoomorfas de cerámica del litoral pacífico ecuatorial (región de La Tolita, Ecuador; y de Tumaco, Colombia)

TL;DR

Because organic remains do not survive in the humid equatorial Pacific littoral, this paper uses pre-Columbian zoomorphic ceramic figurines from the La Tolita (Esmeraldas, Ecuador) and Tumaco (Nariño, Colombia) regions to attempt identification of the region's pre-Columbian fauna. The authors diagnose a series of figurines to order, family, genus, or species using comparative zoological criteria, while discarding eroded, fragmented, or over-simplified pieces.

Key findings

• Fish: figurine No. 1 (plate I) is identified as a shark (order Pleurotremata) on the basis of its tooth row and elongated pointed snout with terminal nostrils; no finer diagnosis is possible.
• Amphibians: figurine No. 2 (plate I) is identified as *Bufo marinus* (family Bufonidae) by its two dorsal parotoid glands; figurine No. 3 is also Bufonidae but a different, undetermined species.
• Reptiles: figurines 1–4 (plate II) show anthropo-zoomorphic figures whose lower limbs resemble a caiman head, diagnosed as *Caiman crocodilus chiapasus* (babilla/tulisio) by snout structure, head protuberances, tooth row and eye form; plate III figurine No. 1 is a terrestrial turtle of the family Emydidae, genus *Geoemyda* (chibigüí/palmera/bijaoguera); figurine No. 2 is a lizard (Squamata) with scaled tail and hachured head scales; figurines No. 3 and No. 4 are snakes — a boa (Boidae: no nostril pits, triangular head, large round eyes) and a Viperidae (ejecting venom fangs).
• Birds: plate IV figurines 1–3 are owls of the family Strigidae (large round eyes, body form, feather crests); figurine No. 4, lacking the crests, is *Tyto alba* (Tytonidae); plate V figurines 1–2 are diagnosed as Fregatidae by body form, beak and round eyes.
• The paper's plan also lists mammal sections (Marsupialia, Chiroptera, Primates, Edentata, Rodentia, Carnivora) and a conclusions section, but the provided text is truncated before those sections.

Methods

• Study of a selected sample of pre-Columbian ceramic figurines from the Tumaco region (southern Nariño, Colombia) and the La Tolita region (northern Esmeraldas, Ecuador), held in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Bogotá and the Museo del Banco Central del Ecuador in Quito.
• Figurines that were eroded, fragmented, extremely simplified, stylized, or obscured by added ornament were excluded; only pieces with sufficiently obvious or diagnostic plastic features were retained for diagnosis.
• Identification proceeds by morphological comparison against zoological literature cited in the text (Norman 1966; Dunn 1944; Medem 1968 and 1962; Roze 1966; Meyer 1948), and the authors note the two regions' figurines are stylistically practically identical.

Limitations

• Stated: near-permanent humidity combined with relatively high temperature has prevented preservation of identifiable faunal bone remains, so archaeological excavation in both regions yielded negative results for studying fauna through such remains.
• Stated: many zoomorphic figurines are eroded, fragmented, extremely simplified, stylized, or covered with added ornament, preventing reliable identification; these were excluded, and several retained pieces could only be diagnosed to order or family (e.g., the shark, the second Bufonidae toad, the lizard).
• Evident from the text: the study is based on museum collections rather than controlled excavation contexts, and the provided text is truncated, so the mammal identifications and the authors' conclusions cannot be assessed here.