In the course of excavations in Ecuador Russian archeologists have found traces of cultures that are over 5500 years of age.

      The digging works were carried out in the territory of the historical monument Rial Alta aka the Royal Hill near the city of Manta. The expedition involved scientists from the academic institutes of Moscow and Novosibirsk and the Far Eastern Federal University.

      As reported by scientists, they managed to find traces of the Valdivia culture that is 5,5-4 thousand years old and even an earlier culture of South America of the San Pedro epoch.

      They found a range of artifacts, including remains of ceramics and labor tools, clamshells and animals carcasses, as well as clay figures, which assumingly stood for ancestral spirits and were buried together with the deceased, the head of expedition Alexander Popov said. Two burials unearthed there make it possible to assume that scientists have come across an ancient burial ground.

      "The found artifacts of different eras enable us to carry out comparative analysis and arrive at the sources of ceramics origin on the coast of the Pacific Ocean", - he added.

      The exhibition will open the day after tomorrow and will work within a month.