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Pre-Columbian Andean animal domesticates at the edge of empire

Native South American animal domesticates appear in the northern Andes well before the area was occupied by the Incan and, later, Spanish empires. They include camelids and cuy (guinea pig), both of which are allochthonous to the northern Andes, and muscovy duck. Throughout Ecuador, pertinent skeletal specimens at various sites in contexts antedating the first millennium AD tend to be rare, are often associated with specific non-utilitarian contexts, and are usually uncovered in locations to and from which spondylid oyster shell was circulated. Their early appearance in Ecuador suggests that non-native animals were imported via terrestrial and/or marine routes controlled by elites who were motivated by the acquisition of exotic resources from distant lands.