Infants wearing ‘helmets’ made from skulls of other children unearthed in Ecuador

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on November 20, 2019 / comment : 0 Americas, Archaeology, Ecuador, South America

Two infants were buried more than 2,000 years ago wearing strange “helmets” made from the skulls of other children, researchers found.

The researchers found a small shell and a finger bone sandwiched between the two layered skulls [Credit: Sara Juengst/UNC Charlotte]

Scientists, led by study co-author Sara Juengst at the University of North Carolina’s department of anthropology, discovered the remains at a site called Salango, in Ecuador and published their findings recently in the journal Latin American Antiquity.

The researchers believe this is the only known instance of children’s skulls being used as helmets for the burial of infants and they don’t know what killed the infants and children.

Archaeologists unearthed 11 burials in South America, two of which were infants with 'helmets' made from the skulls of other children [Credit: Sara Juengst/UNC Charlotte]

One infant’s face “looked through and out of the cranial vault” — the space that holds the brain — Sara Juengst noted.

The sciencists report that a “hand phalanx,” which is a type of hand bone, was found between the infant’s head and the helmet. Researchers reportedly don’t know whose hand was involved.

Lesions were found on the remains of both of the infants (a and d), suggesting they had suffered some kind of bodily stress. Experts suggest they may have been sacrificed or suffered from malnutrition [Credit: Sara Juengst/UNC Charlotte]

The archaeologists also noted that it’s probable that the children’s skulls had flesh on them when they were turned into helmets, because the helmets likely would not have held together without flesh.

Juengst was joined by a colleague at UNC, along with scientists from Yale University and Universidad Tecnica de Manabi, in reporting on these findings.

Author: Christopher Carbone | Source: Fox News [November 20, 2019]

Pottery related to unknown culture was found in Ecuador

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 24, 2019 / comment : 0 Americas, Archaeology, Ecuador, South America

Archaeologists of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS (Russia), Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) (Ecuador), and Tohoku University (Japan) found shards of ceramic vessels referred to the cultural sediments of early periods of Real Alto site. Findings date back to 4640 - 4460 BC, this period borders with Valdivia, one of the oldest pottery-featured cultures in North and South America. A related article is published in Antiquity.

Shard of an ancient ceramic vessel from the insufficiently studied San Pedro complex  found on Real Alto site, Ecuador [Credit: FEFU]

During the excavations at Real Alto site (Ecuador), Russian scientists found fragments of ceramic vessels at a depth of 75 cm to 1 meter. They belong to the insufficiently studied San Pedro complex. Radiocarbon analysis by mass spectrometer showed the pottery dates back to 4640-4460 BC. This period borders or coincides with the first stages of Valdivia culture, the worldwide famous ceramic figures, a kind of symbol of Ecuador, relates to. At the same time, fragments of San Pedro pottery differ from the Valdivian by decorative composition and way of its application.

The shards of San Pedro pottery correlate with fragments from Real Alto and other places of archaeological excavations retrieved in the 70s and 80s but attributed to no particular culture. Thus, the researchers received additional arguments to speak about new archaeological culture related to formative period. The one existed and developed simultaneously with Valdivia on the Pacific coast of Ecuador.

'The mass emergence of pottery was a kind of technical breakthrough associated with many aspects of human life and the level of economic development in different parts of the globe. Ceramic vessels belonging to different cultures developed simultaneously confirm that our ancestors had evolved in terms of cultural diversity. It is curious that, despite the different vectors of human development, in the technological sense we were moving in the same direction.' Alexander Popov said, Head of the Russian archeological expedition to Ecuador, Director of the Educational and Scientific Museum FEFU of the School of Arts and Humanities of Far Eastern Federal University.

The museum complex of Real Alto site, Ecuador [Credit: FEFU]

According to the scientist, at the next stage of excavation, the research team will look for additional artifacts of new culture. Such findings may well help to determine conditions for the culture development with more preciseness.

Researchers believe that pottery fragments related to even more archaic time can be found in Ecuador, i.e., the more archaic cultural layer may exist. From that point, one will likely to find out whether pottery was invented in South America at the same time as in the other cultures of the globe or may it probably have been imported. The information will help to comprehend the processes of parallel development of people on the different sides of the Pacific Ocean and, in general, the multi-vector development of human communities.

FEFU researchers seek for common details and local options concerning the development of human civilization on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean -- in South America and East Asia. Scientists compare the adaptation of the ancient man to environmental changes that influenced the economic, domestic and other aspects of the population.

Previously FEFU archaeologists in Ecuador have found ancient human remains dating back to 6 to 10 thousand years old. The excavations were carried out in Atahualpa canton, the findings belong to the Las Vegas archeological culture of the Stone Age.

Source: Far Eastern Federal University [July 24, 2019]

Ecuadorian mummy may hold clues to spread of rare malady

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on January 30, 2019 / comment : 0 Americas, Archaeology, Ecuador, Forensics, South America

A mummified body discovered in the central Ecuadorian city of Guano may be the missing link to understanding the spread in Europe of rheumatoid polyarthritis, according to French scientist Philippe Charlier.

Credit: EPA-EFE/Josw Jacome

The 42-year-old Charlier has participated in projects such as researching Adolf Hitler's remains, as well as in studies of the remains of Joan of Arc and reconstituting the face of Maximilien Robespierre, among others.

Charlie arrived in Ecuador this week to study the "Guano mummy" and in his first examination of the remains on Tuesday, he found that the well-preserved body has deformations in both fingers and toes that are typical of rheumatoid polyarthritis.

"It's a disease native to Latin America and this may be the oldest case discovered with this disease," he told EFE.

For that reason, this mummy could be the "missing link that permits us to better know the origin and natural history of this disease," which was brought to Europe by returning Spanish conquistadors.

Credit: EPA-EFE/Josw Jacome

Studies determine that at the time of the conquest there were many cases of rheumatoid polyarthritis in the Americas and simultaneously "very rare" cases in Europe and Asia, he said.

"We are going to look for confirmation of the disease and (perform) genetic studies to learn the man's home region, why he developed the disease and what other diseases he had that could have favored the development of rheumatoid polyarthritis," Charlier said.

"This man possibly corresponds to a time when the two worlds met and exchanged germs," he said.

Charlier also will try to verify if the mummy found between the walls of a monastery is that of Lazaro de Santofimia, a Spanish Franciscan friar who died in his mid-40s.

Ideal marriage partners drive Waorani warriors to war

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on December 03, 2018 / comment : 0 Americas, Anthropology, Ecuador, Indigenous Cultures, Society, South America

Why do people go to war when the consequences of warfare are so dramatic? Scholars have suggested that the motivations for participating in war either lie in the individual rewards warriors receive (to the victor goes the spoils) or because group members coerce them to participate for fear of punishment. Understanding the factors that motivate warriors to join war parties sheds light on some of the most fundamental aspects of human nature: How our ability to cooperate is linked to our most destructive tendencies.

In a new study, a team of researchers examined the social composition of raiding parties and their relationship to marriage alliances in an Amazonian tribal society, the Waorani of Ecuador [Credit: Pete Oxford/australscope]

In a new study, a team of researchers examined the social composition of raiding parties and their relationship to marriage alliances in an Amazonian tribal society, the Waorani of Ecuador. The Waorani formerly practiced lethal raiding, or small-scale warfare, as part of their social fabric. The anthropologists spoke in detail with tribal members about their raiding histories in an attempt to understand what drives individuals to participate in acts of war. Theirs is one of only a handful of datasets in the world with detailed information about what warfare looks like in small-scale societies prior to the intervention of the state.

They found that Waorani are actively joining raids with people who could provide access to ideal marriage partners for themselves as well as their children. Additionally, subtle coercion from in-laws appears to be a factor in joining raids. The relationships built through raiding resulted in meaningful bonds between the men, which could shed light on the evolution of friendship.

"A big debate in anthropology is what warfare and raiding groups look like in small-scale societies. Arguments have always been about this nice band of brothers--literally brothers, uncles, fathers all fighting side-by-side with one another," said Shane Macfarlan, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Utah and lead author of the study. "But sometimes, kin are not enough. Warfare is about alliance building, relationships with other people where there might be something else to gain by fighting with one another--like marriage partners."

The Waorani

The Waorani are indigenous Ecuadorians from the lowlands of the Amazon Rainforest made up of 2,000 individuals today. When people of Euro-American descent first made contact with members of the tribe in 1958, the population consisted of 500 individuals residing in four mutually hostile territories. Within the territories, Waorani lived in neighborhoods of longhouses, called nanicabo. Each neighborhood was separated by a one- to two-days walk, and each nanicabo was separated by a 30- to 60-minute walk.

The Waorani formerly practiced lethal raiding, or small-scale warfare, as part of their social fabric [Credit: Kleverenrique/WikiCommons]

For the Waorani, the ideal marriage partners are bilateral cross cousins--for example a man's mother's brother's daughter or his father's sister's daughter. One of the ways to make alliances is through raiding. Lethal raiding was quite common amongst the Waorani; when an individual decided to raid, he would convince followers to join him.

"The benefit of making an alliance outside of your direct kin is that it expands your social universe for getting the things that you need, and one of the things that people need in all societies is mating partners," said Macfarlan.

Between 2000 and 2001, co-authors Jim Yost, Pam Erickson of University of Connecticut and Steve Beckerman of Pennsylvania State University interviewed almost all of the Waorani population aged 49 years or older--65 women and 55 men. The researchers collected detailed genealogical information from multiple generations, and cross-referenced the data with existing Waorani genealogies. They also collected raid histories that included the men who participated, the organizer, the victims, and the rationale for the attack. The researchers used marriages and births to establish a timeline of the raids. From 1917 to 1970, there were 550 raid reports. The researchers consolidated them into 49 separate raids that involved 81 people.

In-laws, brothers and marriage

Macfarlan and senior author Stephen Beckerman analyzed the make-up of the raiding groups and the raiders' marriage histories. If the "bands of brothers" model holds, then the raiders should include mostly direct ancestors or descendants of each other, known as lineal kin. If the groups were strategic alliances, then the individuals should consist of men who can provide marriage opportunities for each other--genetically related, but outside of lineal kinship. Because the researchers needed to be able to distinguish cousins, they only used individuals for whom they had grandparents' information. They analyzed the social composition of the 49 raids, including the 1041 individual relationships that emerged from the 81 men who participated.

Co-author Jim Yost (right) with a Waorani man discussing Waorani  territory during the data collection component of the project [Credit: Jim Yost]

Although males had a plenty of lineal kin to choose from for forming raiding parties, they selectively raided with non-lineal kin. They also found that men raided more frequently with men who were generically related to them, but from different lineages--the ideal marriage exchange partners. Indeed, the raiding alliances resulted in marriages for both the raiders, and for the raiders' children.

Yet another motivation to join raiding parties seemed to include some coercion. Macfarlan found that sometimes men got married first, then raided more frequently with his in-laws.

While scholars have typically assumed that warfare was either about individual rewards or coercion we find that this is a two-way street. "Sometimes people go to war to find alliance partners that gives them access to marriage opportunities, but other times guys get married first and then these marriage ties are leveraged to coerce people into warfare."

Evolution of friendship

Humans for the most part have three kinds of relationships: kinship, marriage and friendship. Traditionally, anthropologists only considered kinship and marriage as important. Recent interest has looked into the evolution of friendship itself. A common feature of friendship across cultures is that it promotes cooperation between people who are neither are kin nor our lovers, with our friends providing us with benefits that kin and lovers cannot. One context where friendship is extremely important is helping us deal with conflict from other people and groups, known as the Alliance Hypothesis.

The study's findings provide evidence for this hypothesis, Macfarlan said.

"The act of killing another human is a really traumatic act, which causes people to share something in common psychologically that establishes trust and fosters things like friendships," said Macfarlan.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Source: University of Utah [December 03, 2018]

Oldest burials in Ecuador found

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on November 26, 2018 / comment : 0 Americas, Archaeology, Ecuador, South America

Archaeologists of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) found three burials of the ancient inhabitants of South America aged from 6 to 10 thousand years. The excavations were carried out in Atahualpa Canton, Ecuador. The findings belong to the Las Vegas archaeological culture of the Stone Age.

The ancient skull excavated in Loma Atahualpa, Ecuador, 2018, by archaeologists of the Far Eastern Federal University [Credit: FEFU]

Analysis of artifacts will help scientists understand the development of ancient cultures on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and clarify the origin and development of ancient American civilizations. Research is being jointly conducted by FEFU and Primorsky Polytechnic University in Guayaquil (ESPOL, Ecuador).

Previously, FEFU scientists investigated the famous Neolithic settlement in Real Alto. In 2018 they decided to study an earlier site in order to trace the development of ancient cultures on the Pacific Coast opposite to the Pacific Coast of Russia (Russian Far East).

"The archaeological site of Loma Atahualpa is more archaic than Real Alto, its materials are transitional from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic. We excavated three burials that were probably made at different times. This will make it possible to compare their materials and retrieve the new information on the development of ancient cultures in the period from 10 to 6 thousand years ago," said the head of the expedition Alexander Popov, director of the Educational and Scientific Museum of The School of Humanities of FEFU.

Expedition materials are processed by experts from several countries. The stone tools found were examined at Tohoku University (Japan) for traces of mechanical activity in order to understand how they were used. There were also sent samples for radiocarbon dating. Simultaneously, anthropologists from The Kunstkamera (Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St. Petersburg) and the Institute of the Problems of Northern development, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Tyumen, Russia) began to study the morphological features of the human remains found.

"In the course of working with Ecuadorian colleagues, we have learned that our research attracted the obvious attention of scientists. Last year's symposium, which was organized at the Real Alto Museum, was attended by colleagues from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Poland and other countries. We also cooperate with partners from several European countries and the Russian Academy of Sciences," added Alexander Popov.

Source: Far Eastern Rederal University [November 26, 2018]

Tropical trees in the Andes are moving up -- toward extinction

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on November 14, 2018 / comment : 0 Argentina, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Colombia, Ecosystems, Ecuador, Natural Heritage, Peru, Rainforests

In the most comprehensive study of its kind, an international team of scientists led by University of Miami biologists has found that tropical and subtropical forests across South America's Andes Mountains are responding to warming temperatures by migrating to higher, cooler elevations, but probably not quickly enough to avoid the loss of their biodiversity, functional collapse, or even extinction.

An international study led by University of Miami tropical biologists reveals that tropical trees are migrating upslope to escape climate change, but not fast enough [Credit: Wake Forest University]

Published in the journal Nature, the study confirmed for the first time that, like many other plant and animal species around the world, trees from across the Andean and Amazon forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and northern Argentina have been moving upward. But unlike species from the world's temperate or boreal forests, which are far more accustomed to dramatic seasonal shifts in temperature, tropical trees are running into environmental roadblocks at higher, cooler elevations that are thwarting their migration and threatening their survival.

"In the Andes, the ecosystems can change very fast and very dramatically, for example, from sunny and dry premontane forests to sopping-wet cloud forests. These changes, called ecotones, appear to be blocking species migrations," said lead author Belén Fadrique, a Ph.D. candidate who designed and carried out the study with her advisor, Kenneth J. Feeley, UM's Smathers Chair of Tropical Tree Biology. "These ecotone barriers make it hard for plants to relocate their populations -- and if they can't relocate, they will go extinct."

For the Nature study, Fadrique and Feeley set out to answer a scientific call to include more tropical plants in studies that investigate and predict the effects of climate change -- the very call that Feeley and his fellow tropical biologists have been issuing for years because, as he notes, "the tropics include most of the world's species and we know next to nothing about what those species are doing or how they are responding to climate change."

Aiming to fill that void, the UM researchers joined forces with 18 other researchers from around the world to create a new database that tracks the livelihoods of thousands of highland trees in 186 plots of land situated throughout what is known as the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot.

Sitting at elevations from 300 to over 3,000 meters above sea level, most of the plots are about the size of an American football field and have been inventoried multiple times over the past couple decades. Collectively, these forest plots contain an astonishing diversity -- a total of 120 different plant families, 528 genera, and more than 2,000 tree species. As Feeley notes, that's more species of trees than are found in all of the United States and Canada combined.

Using newly developed modeling techniques that combined the data from all the plots into a single comprehensive analysis, the researchers confirmed that, as temperatures in the high Andes rise due to global warming, heat-loving tropical trees are seeking more optimal conditions by migrating to higher and cooler altitudes. Consequently, the abundance of these heat-loving, or thermophilic, species in the study plots is increasing over time while, in contrast, the abundance of cold-loving species is declining.

The researchers were also surprised to learn that, while this phenomenon of thermophilization is widespread across the Andes, the rates of the change in forest composition are not uniform across elevations. They suggest "ecotonal roadblocks" may be, in part, responsible. In other words, as Andean species get pushed upslope by rising temperatures, they may quickly find themselves out of their comfort zones as other aspects of their habitat, such as rainfall and cloud cover, become intolerable.

"Thermophilization is a mouthful of a word but it means that forests are becoming more heat-loving over time because, as the world warms up, the species that prefer the cold are being kicked out or are dying off and the heat-loving species are moving up and taking their place," Feeley said. "Everything is moving up the mountain so the species near the tops of the mountains are running out of places to go and may soon face the risk of mountain-top extinction."

Feeley and his colleagues have published other studies examining the effects of climate change on tropical forests in different areas, but none with such a broad continental scope. Which gives Feeley both confidence -- and pause -- over the study's conclusion: "Andean forests must be added to the growing list of ecosystems and species that lack the ability to quickly and cohesively respond to climate change and thus face high risk of extinction, biodiversity loss, and functional collapse."

Feeley and his co-authors hope to conduct follow-up studies that will analyze how climatic factors are impacting specific Andean species, many of which have not even been identified or named yet, and what the consequences will be if they are lost.

"Tropical forests are one of the most important players in the world's global carbon cycle," Feeley said. "They slow down climate change by taking a lot of carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it into their growth. So the faster climate change happens, the faster we will lose our tropical forests, which in turn means that climate change will happen even faster."

Source: University of Miami [November 14, 2018]

Indians of the Ecuadorian Amazon were using cocoa 5300 years ago

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on October 29, 2018 / comment : 0 Americas, Archaeology, Ecuador, Genetics, Indigenous Cultures, South America

An international team associating archaeologists, anthropologists, biochemists and geneticists recently found for the first time archaeological traces of cocoa use in South America in pre-Columbian times. This result is published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Ceremonial site of Santa Ana La Florida archaeological site near Palanda, Ecuyador [Credit: © C. Lanaud, CIRAD]

Traces of cocoa dating back 5300 years have been found in ancient pots in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This is the oldest proof of cocoa use ever found. It predates the domestication of cocoa by the Olmec and the Maya in Central America by some 1500 years.

This evidence was collected in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon, at the Santa Ana La Florida (SALF) archaeological site near Palanda, discovered 16 years ago by the archaeologist Francisco Valdez and his Franco-Ecuadorian team (IRD/INPC) (2). The Mayo Chinchipe, the oldest known Amerindian civilization in the upper Amazon, had consumed cocoa almost continuously from at least 5300 years to 2100 years before present. Traces of houses and of a ceremonial site remain.

Ancient cocoa DNA found in ceramic vessels dated back more than 5300 years

“Evidence of cocoa use was found by analysing the starch grains characteristic of the genus Theobroma, traces of theobromine, a biochemical compound specific to mature cocoa beans, and ancient cocoa DNA found in ceramic vessels, some of which dated back more than 5300 years” , says Claire Lanaud, a geneticist from CIRAD specializing in cocoa, who is one of the lead authors of the study. “The vessels came from tombs or domestic settings; they clearly showed that cocoa was used both as a funerary offering and for daily consumption.”

The ancient DNA analyses were conducted by a team of geneticists from CIRAD, in collaboration with the INPC, the IRD, and INRA, as part of a project on the past and present domestication of cocoa funded by Agropolis Fondation. After sequencing, the team demonstrated the presence of DNA fragments specific to the species Theobroma cacao, despite their severe degradation due to the humid tropical environment in which they were found.

The Santa Ana-La Florida archaeological site in Ecuador

The Santa Ana-La Florida archaeological site is located within the area of origin of the Nacional cocoa variety grown on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, from which all the fine cocoa produced in the country originated. The presence of seashells, such as spondylus and strombus, from the Pacific coast, at the archaeological site demonstrates that there were communication links between the peoples of the Pacific coast and those of the Amazon, such as the Mayo Chinchipe. “This latter group may therefore have played a major role in domesticating cocoa in general and the Nacional variety in particular.”

Source: CIRAD [October 29, 2018]

Newly discovered hummingbird species already critically endangered

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on September 26, 2018 / comment : 0 Ecuador, Endangered Species, Natural Heritage, Wildlife

In 2017, researchers working in the Ecuadorian Andes stumbled across a previously unknown species of hummingbird -- but as documented in a new study published in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, its small range, specialized habitat, and threats from human activity mean the newly described Blue-throated Hillstar is likely already critically endangered.

This photo of a previously unknown species of hummingbird led to the discovery of the critically endangered Blue-throated Hillstar [Credit: F. Sornoza]

Hillstars are unusual among hummingbirds -- they live in high-elevation habitats in the Andes and have special adaptations to cold temperatures. Francisco Sornoza of Ecuador's Instituto Nacional de Biodiversida, first observed and photographed a previously unknown hillstar during fieldwork in southwest Ecuador in April 2017. After this first expedition, Francisco engaged fellow researchers Juan Freile, Elisa Bonaccorso, Jonas Nilsson, and Niels Krabbe in the study of this possible new species, returning in May to capture specimens and confirm the finding. They dubbed the new species Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus, or the Blue-throated Hillstar, for its iridescent blue throat.

The Blue-throated Hillstar is found only along bush-lined creeks in an area of about 100 square kilometers, and the researchers estimate there are no more than 750 individuals, perhaps fewer than 500. Threats to its habitat include fire, grazing, and gold mining, and it meets the criteria to be considered critically endangered. "Complete support from national and international conservation agencies is needed in order to save this species," says coauthor Francisco Sornoza-Molina. "The action plan for the conservation of this bird is creating a network of protected areas along its geographic range."

"The hillstar hummingbirds occur in the most rugged, isolated, and inaccessible parts of the Andes, where they roost in caves, forage on the ground, and spend half their lives in hypothermic torpor, so the discovery of a new species in this group is incredibly exciting. This striking discovery confirms that life in the high Andes still holds many secrets to be revealed," according to the University of New Mexico's Christopher Witt, a hummingbird expert who wasn't involved in the study. "The location is fitting for a new species of hillstar, because it's a remote, high mountain range that is isolated and is sandwiched between the ranges of two other hillstar species. The authors did a thorough job comparing the new form to its relatives in every respect."

Source: American Ornithological Society Publications Office [September 26, 2018]

Ecuador displays priceless artifacts recovered from Germany

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 26, 2018 / comment : 0 Americas, Archaeology, Central America, Ecuador, Germany, Heritage

Ecuador began on Wednesday exhibiting 13 pre-Columbian artifacts illegally transported to Germany after they were taken from archaeological digs, bringing to an end six years of legal wrangling.

The National Institute of Cultural Heritage (INPC) recovered 13 pre-Hispanic archaeological pieces which were to be auctioned in Germany [Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP]

The priceless artifacts included human and animal sculptures as well as vases, some dating back more than 5,000 years.

They were found after being put up for auction by the Kuchenmueller family in Germany, who eventually agreed to return them.

The statues and vessels had been acquired by a private collector and taken  illegally to Germany [Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP]

A member of that family was a university professor in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, and had taken part in several archeological digs along the Pacific coast.

"He was German and when he returned to his country, he took the artifacts," Cesar Molinaro, secretary of Ecuador's committee combating the trafficking of cultural heritage property, told AFP.

Both human and animal sculptures were among pre-Columbian artifacts illegally transported to Germany [Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP]

Joaquin Moscoso, executive director of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, said the recovery was a boost to the defense of Ecuador's "cultural rights and heritage assets."

Since 2010, Ecuador has recovered more than 12,000 looted artifacts, sculptures, canvases and documents, almost 5,000 of which had been whisked out of the country, mostly to Britain, France, Belgium and the United States, said Molinaro.

Source: AFP [July 26, 2018]