The identification of a previously unknown early archaeological culture in the Upper Amazon frontier zone between southeastern Ecuador and northeastern Peru has shown evidence of early complexity that suggests that the tropical forest groups were actively participating in the initial process that characterized the Formative period in the Americas (Olivera Nunez 2014; Valdez 2008, 2013; Valdez et al. 2005). The material remains of this new culture have been identified throughout the Mayo Chinchipe hydraulic drainage basin, which flows down the eastern flanks of the Andes to its confluence with an important tributary of the Amazon, the Maranon River. Thus the newly discovered culture has been given the same name as the basin : Mayo Chinchipe- Maranon.