La Representación Zoomorfa en la Cultura Guangala. Un Análisis Pre-iconográfico en el Período de Desarrollo Regional en la Costa Central Ecuatoriana

The zoomorphic representation in the Guangala culture launches a suggestive look at the pre-Hispanic past of Ecuador. This study aims to rescue the meaning of the archaeological remains of a culture belonging to the regional development of the Ecuadorian coast, the Guangala The object of this research corresponds to the zoomorphic motifs of the ceramic remains of this culture. The interrelation between the production of images with the physical and spatial contexts, as well as the symbolic dimension of the zoomorphic imaginary are always present. Therefore, the reader will notice in these pages that the structuring of the reality encoded in the ceramic signs is presented in an accessible and orderly way. The text makes a complete classification of the zoomorphic motifs present in the ceramic samples of this culture and offers the reader a rich catalog of images. Far from the antiquarian intention, this text wants to make the reader reflect on the life and the symbolic universe of a culture that has already disappeared. Archaeological remains allow us to recreate the past. Hence, the systematic exposition of the iconographic features of the Guangala animal imaginary will undoubtedly help the knowledgeable and the curious to know the past better and to reflect on the present and the universes of meaning in which we are immersed.