Basis of the exchange between north peruvian and south ecuatorian societies: a transitional zone between 1500 B.C. and 600 A.C. Abstract This paper is a collaborative effort by researchers working in Ecuador and Peru, to explore the relationship between two clearly differenciated cultural areas (North and Central Andes) on the basis of a definition and study of the prehistory transitional zone located between Río Jubones in Southern Ecuador and Río Olmos in Northern Peru between 1500 B.C. and 600 A.C.

Borders set among valleys of the north and central highland "cultural areas" and the coast of the Peruvian extreme north An attempt to gather, compare and discuss archaeological information on the coast and valleys of the Peruvian extreme north is going to be made through the following pages, in order to trace the displacements of borders among the north and central highland "cultural areas". This frontier constitutes a septentrional limit for the "Andean organization" and the "Andean order" of the production which allows to ensure social reproduction.

The representations of «torture» on the Mochica vases are analysed and compared with the rites of the Uma Raymi Quilla celebrated by the Incas after the equinox of the dry season, as the chroniclers describe them. This comparison permits the different interpretations of such representations to be reviewed, showing that the iconographie data reveal several nivels : mythic, ritual, and customary.

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