Ruins of 3,000-year-old home found in Ecuador

Quito, Sep 10 (IANS/EFE) Remains of a nearly 3,000-year-old home were discovered by French and Ecuadorian scientists in Ecuador's Pastaza province.

The remains appear to be of the oldest home in the Amazon region, project chief Stephen Rostain said Monday.

"We found postholes and stoves and a few vestiges of ceramics and stones," Rostain said.

In archeology, postholes are the outline of a deteriorated post indicating the former location of some structure.

Rostain said they found the place two years ago and set up the camp in July when they excavated a metre (3 feet) deep over an area of 90 square metres (970 square feet).

"Stoves built with stones are generally extremely old, from the Formative Period (1800 BC-500 AD). We took some samples that go back to a date some 3,000 years ago, and this year we found all the marks of the posts and some materials, with which we could reconstruct how the house looked," he said.

With a diagram of the site, Rostain showed black dots that he said represented postholes.

"Connecting the dots, we have an oval house, similar to today's houses, but this house is 3,000 years old. It is the most ancient house in the entire Amazon region... More ancient even than those we know in Brazil," he said.

--IANS/EFE

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