The small Museo y Centro Cultural in central Esmeraldas, run by the Banco Central, holds the best collection on the coast of artefacts from the La Tolita and Tumaco cultures — the people who lived along this stretch of coast and adjacent Colombia from roughly 600 BCE to 400 CE.
The standout objects are gold pieces: nose rings, masks, and a famous platinum-and-gold sun face that has been reproduced on the back of Ecuador's currency. The ceramics are wonderful too — expressive figurative pieces, often with deliberately exaggerated facial features. The museum is small enough to see in an hour and a useful counterweight to the highland and Inca focus of most Ecuadorian collections.