Civic Committee for the Historical Memory of Manta Visit

25 people from the Civic Committee of the Historical Memory of Manta and Museum employees stand and sit in two rows in the Hall of South American Peoples.

Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

The American Museum of Natural History welcomed members of the Comité Cívico de la Memoria Histórica de Manta (Civic Committee for the Historical Memory of Manta) on August 8 and December 16, 2024, and June 17, 2025, as part of ongoing discussions about adding more information to the exhibit of an iconic ceremonial stone chair from the Manteño culture.

The chair, which dates to 800-1535 CE, is of great cultural significance and is on view in the Museum’s Hall of South American Peoples.

Many people now living in Manabí, a province of Ecuador on the Pacific coast, are descendants of the first Manteños, who created a society of long-distance traders and artisans that flourished for approximately 1,000 years up until the arrival of the Spanish, and whose memory, material culture, and traces on the landscape continue to form an integral part of the identity of this region’s residents.

As part of this collaboration, Víctor Arias Aroca, Vladimir Zambrano, and David Ramírez, members of this Civic Committee from the city of Manta, Ecuador, provided important historical context for the stone chair, which is part of the archaeological collections stewarded by the Museum.

The Manteño Chair: An Icon of an Amazing Civilization

Chairs, like the one you see here, are the most prominent vestiges of the Manteño culture, the last pre-Hispanic society that developed on the coast of Ecuador between 800 CE and 1535 CE.

These U-shaped stone chairs were used as ceremonial seats for religious, governance, or ritual meetings by the chiefs or tribal leaders. Chairs were made in a single piece, carved with precision from volcanic rock (andesite), limestone, or sandstone, with two armrests formed from the sides of the “U”, and without a backrest (Gutiérrez Usillos, 2016, p. 14).

A U-shaped stone chair with a carved base in a display case, with carved stone figure above.

This ceremonial stone chair is from the Manabí Province of Ecuador.
Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNH

The tallest chairs reach a height of approximately 27 to 35 inches (70 to 90 cm), while the lowest are approximately 8 inches (20 cm) high. The seats themselves measure approximately 24 inches (60 cm) wide from arm to arm, and the depth varies between approximately 8 and 16 inches (20 and 40 cm) (Gutiérrez Usillos, 2016, p. 20). Their creation is believed to have required months of hard work by skilled artisans.

According to archaeologist Colin McEwan (1992), these U-shaped stone chairs were a symbol of power and religiosity, as, by sitting on them, leaders came into contact with sacred wisdom and demonstrated a respect for nature. Supporting this interpretation, many of the recovered chairs have a base, found underneath the seat itself, comprising an anthropomorphic figure, reflecting the power of the chieftains over men and women, as well as zoomorphic figures, representing dominance over animals and other aspects of nature.

This hypothesis regarding the meaning of forms depicted on the sacred Manteño chairs is also supported by the historian Joselías Sánchez (Sánchez, 2017), who has studied Manteñan ancestry and daily living conditions at the time the chairs were made. Indeed, when the Spanish, under conquistadors Francisco Pizarro and Bartolomé Ruiz, arrived on the Ecuadorian coast in 1526, they found an organized and sophisticated culture. These Spaniards’ descriptions of Manteño society came to form an important part of the set of historical documents known today as the “Chronicles of the Indies.”

An outdoor sculpture of an intricately designed, U-shaped chair on a large street in Manta, surrounded by trees and buildings.

A monument celebrating the u-shaped chair stands on the main avenue to the city of Manta.
Ángel Tayo

The Manteño Territory

The studies and research of M. Saville (1907, 1910), E. Estrada (1962), and J. Jijón y Caamaño (1941-1946, 1951) indicate that the settlements of the Manteño culture were established along the Ecuadorian coast. They are classified today as chiefdoms (señoríos) and were situated in the modern-day provinces of Manabí and Santa Elena, reaching the Gulf of Guayaquil. Their boundaries extended from the so-called Cabo Pasado in Bahía de Caráquez, to the south, reaching Puná Island and the foothills of the coastal mountain range. Among the principal settlements were Picoazá, also known as Cerro Hojas-Jaboncillo, and prominent ports in the Señorío de Jocay (present-day Manta) and the Señorío de Salangome.

A New Civilization

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1906, the American archaeologist Marshall H. Saville carried out research and excavations pertaining to the Manteño culture in the province of Manabí, which he recorded in his scientific work The Antiquities of Manabí, Ecuador (Vol. I, 1907; Vol. II, 1910). A professor of archaeology at Columbia University, a scientific staff member at the Museum of the American Indian, and former curator at the American Museum of Natural History, Saville made important contributions to the study of pre-conquest Manteño society. In September 1907, The New York Times reported in broad strokes on Saville’s "discovery" of a “new civilization” in South America (subscription required), referring to the Manteño culture. Thanks to his dedication and prestige, the importance of Saville’s research was recognized by universities and museums that today exhibit some of the most notable vestiges of this culture, including the Manteño chair in front of you.

Navigation and Trade

A model of a Manteña raft and red shell in a display case accompanied by exhibit text.

Two significant objects of the Manteño culture, a Manteño raft (model) and Spondylus shells, are on view in a separate case in the Hall of South American Peoples (through the doors to your left).
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

During their first contacts with the Manteño culture, the Spanish conquistadors were impressed by the commercial and social organization of this civilization. The Manteños built large rafts equipped with sails, which allowed them to harness winds to overcome currents, sailing along the Pacific coast from present-day Mexico to Chile. These vessels were used for exploration and trade in food, ceramics, textiles, and precious metals. They used small ax-shaped copper pieces (“axe-monies”) and red shells of the spiny oyster Spondylus prínceps, called “mullu” (Marcos Pino, 2011) as instruments of exchange and pre-monetary currency. Inhabitants of the region recognized a lineage of authority and were organized into chiefdoms. However, these chiefdoms appear to have been linked, through a league of maritime merchants along the coast, into a complex structure resembling a confederated state. Within this confederation were the Manteños of the north, called Paches; those of the south, called Guancavilcas; and the insular Punaes (Regalado Espinoza, 2016, pp. 23-29; Véliz Alvarado, 2021, pp. 41, 44).

An archival image of a vertical stone slab carved with geometric figures and a human figure.

Manteño stelae, along with the stone chairs, are the emblematic lithic elements of this culture.
Marshall Saville, The Antiquities of Manabí, Ecuador. (Vol. II, 1910), Plate LII

The Manteño people excelled in utilitarian and ceremonial ceramics, depicting both human and religious figures. In addition, they were expert artisans in cotton textiles, goldsmithing and the creation of musical instruments. In terms of lithic art, the Manteños are considered to be among the most masterful stone carvers on the Ecuadorian coast, and are especially notable for their manufacture of large ceremonial pieces. Manteños created vertical structures called stelae and monoliths, carved with geometric figures and human representations, which likely had ritual or symbolic functions. They made stone instruments such as axes, grinding stones, and fishing implements, essential for an economy based on agriculture and maritime trade. They also made urns and objects associated with funerary rituals and spiritual practices (Hidrovo, 2016, pp. 118-215).

The staple foods of this society included corn, yuca (also known as manioc), peanuts, beans, and vegetables from the region. In addition, the Manteños practiced fishing and collected shellfish, including Spondylus prínceps, whose bright red, spiny shell was used to create jewelry highly valued along the Pacific coast and throughout the Andes, where it was traded (Herrmann, 2022).

Additionally, Manuel Castro-Priego and Lauro Olmo-Enciso, of the University of Alcalá de Henares, have led research since 2018 revealing that pre-hispanic Manteño communities, such as those of Ligüiqui, built stone sea corrals in the intertidal zone that functioned as sophisticated passive fishing systems (Castro-Priego and Olmo-Enciso 2022).

The Goddess Umiña

The goddess Umiña, one of the principal deities of Manta, is associated with health, fertility, abundance and the harvest. She was represented as a large sacred emerald that was considered a symbol of her power and an object of worship, guarded by priests and shamans in a sanctuary located in Manta (Cedeño Sánchez, 1985, pp. 88-90; Hidrovo, 2011, p. 256). According to the chronicles of conquistador Pedro Cieza de León (1922, pp. 174-176), the veneration of Umiña included healing rituals and drew pilgrims in search of well-being.

Date: December 2024

Body responsible for the report: Civic Committee for the Historical Memory of Manta

Written by: Víctor Arias Aroca, Vladimir Zambrano, and David Ramírez

Bibliography

McEwan, C. (1992). Sillas de poder: evolución sociocultural en Manabí, costa central del Ecuador. En P. Norton, 500 Años de Ocupación - Parque Nacional Machalilla (págs. 53-70). Quito: Abya Yala.

Cedeño Sánchez, V. (1985). La Confederación Manteña. Manta: Offacoda Color.

Cieza de León, P. (1922). La crónica del Perú (1553). Madrid: Calpe.

Estrada, E. (1962). Arqueología de Manabí Central (Vol. No. 7). Guayaquil: Museo Víctor Emilio Estrada.

Gutiérrez Usillos, A. (2016). Reinterpretación de una silla manteña de piedra, ¿tronos para caciques o asientos para la eternidad? En Museo de América, & A. G. Usillos (Ed.), Sillas manteñas del Ecuador prehispánico (págs. 6-54). Madrid: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.

Herrmann, C. (2022). Manteño. Obtenido de UC Berkeley: https://orias.berkeley.edu/resources-teachers/societies-americas/mante%C3%B1o

Hidrovo, T. (2011). Espacio cultural de Cancebí o Puerto Viejo y el "Sistema Umiña". En J. Marcos Pino, & T. Hidrovo, Arqueología y etnohistoria del señorío de Cancebí en Manabí central (págs. 113-299). Manta: Mar Abierto.

Hidrovo, T. (2016). Tras las huellas de la Ciudad de los Cerros. Montecristi: Corporación Centro Cívico Ciudad Alfaro.

Holm, O. (1986). Cultura Manteña-Huancavilca. 4th ed. Gyayaquil: Museo Antropológico y Pinacoteca del Banco Central del Ecuador

Jijón y Caamaño, J. (1941-46). El Ecuador interandino y Occidental antes de la conquista Castellana. Quito: Editorial Ecuatoriana.

Jijón y Caamaño, J. (1951). Antropología Prehispánica del Ecuador. Quito.

Marcos Pino, J. (2011). La historia de Manabí prehispánico. En J. Marcos Pino, & T. Hidrovo, Arqueología y etnohistoria del señorío de Cancebí en Manabí central (págs. 9-109). Manta: Editorial Mar Abierto.

Olmo , L., & Castro, M. (2022). Conoce las realidades de la costa ecuatoriana central de los siglos XVI y XVII. Obtenido de Fundación Palarq - Paleontología y Arqueología: https://fundacionpalarq.com/conoce-las-realidades-de-la-costa-ecuatoriana-central-de-los-siglos-xvi-y-xvii/

Regalado Espinoza, L. (2016). Indigenismo e identidad en Manabí. Quito: Abya-Yala.

Sánchez, J. E. (2017). Los manteños y su cultura en la ciudad de Manta del siglo XXI. Tema 5.1.: Cultura Manteña. Obtenido de MANABÍ BICENTENARIO 2024: https://joselias2022.com/2017/09/12/los-mantenos-y-su-cultura-en-la-ciudad-de-manta-del-siglo-xxi-5-1/

Saville, M. (1907). The antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador. A Preliminary Report (Vol. I). New York: Contributions to South American Archeology. Obtenido de https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/antiquitiesofman00savi

Saville, M. (1910). The Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador. Final Report (Vol. II). New York: Contributions to South American Archeology. Obtenido de https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/antiquitiesof00savi

Véliz Alvarado, J. (2021). Grupos etnicos en la costa ecuatoriana: Arqueología-etnohistoria. En Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Historia (Vols. XCIX-No. 206-B, págs. 19-57). Quito: Academia Nacional de Historia del Ecuador.