4. Archaeological Sites in the Galápagos Group

Extract

The principal site discovered by the expedition is on the northwest coast of James Bay, Santiago Island. The local conditions for primitive settlement are conspiciously better in this bay than in any other coastal area visited by the expedition in the Galápagos. To a passing craft James Bay opens up wide and impressive, well sheltered by forest-clad mountains sufficiently withdrawn from the coast to leave space for a large and level plateau lifted up like a terrace above the fine sand beaches of the bay (Fig. 3). In the rainy season glittering streams of water appear on the sides of a cone-shaped volcano (Sugar Loaf) and reveal from far out at sea the likely location of waterholes. Even in the dry season there are one or 2 dependable waterholes a couple of miles inland at the foot of this hill.