A regional development on the central coast of Ecuador which flourished from c500 bc to ad500. Characterized by large stone-lined platform mounds and unique pottery forms, Bahia represents a well developed socio-political and religious unit. Some continuities with earlier Formative Period ceramics are evident (e.g. Machalilla) but new elements such as the everted, perforated rim and polypod legs are introduced. Particularly elaborate anthropomorphic vessels give information on dress and ornamentation (nose discs and tusk-like pendants). A possible Mesoamerican influence can be discerned in these motifs. The La Plata Island site is almost certainly a ceremonial centre, with huge volumes of figurines, geometrically incised blocks of volcanic material and hardly any evidence of day-to-day living. Ceramic models of houses with high gables and low down-curving roof ridges together with elaborately carved head or neck rests have a notably exotic flavour and indicate possible contact with Asia. Unfortunately, Bahia centres are located close to present-day centres of population and many sites have already been lost to modem development.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied