First russian archaeological expedition in south america: preliminary results of the excavations in ecuador in 2014-2015 and 2017

The article presents preliminary results of the research at Real Alto, principle site of the early agricultural Valdivia culture (Santa Elena Province, Ecuador), conducted by the first Russian archaeological expedition in South America in 2014-2015 and 2017. The main goal of the project was to study the initial stages of the history of this site, the features of the transition from hunter-gather to early agricultural model of economy and the context of the first pottery origin. Archaeological and anthropological materials from the site along with the new series of carbon dates allow suggesting that during the transition from Archaic to Formative period (5800-5000 BP) there were more than one early pottery traditions («Valdivia», «San Pedro») on the coast of Ecuador.