Between Sierra and Selva: Landscape transformations in upper Ecuadorian Amazonia

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.08.031

Quaternary International

Volume 249, 6 February 2012, Pages 31-42

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.08.031 Get rights and content

Abstract

Numerous pre-Columbian sites with artificial earth mounds have been found in the Upano valley, at the foot of the Andes, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Large-scale excavations conducted during a Franco-Ecuadorian project helped to reveal techniques in building, mound functions, chronology of occupation, and house plan and associated activities. Groups of the Upano culture built these mound complexes from 500 BC and left the valley ca. 400–600 AD. These groups transformed the natural landscape, building hundreds of earth mound complexes along terraces. Located at a key-area, the Upano people had strong relationships with the Andean highlands, where they traded their pottery. The most striking aspect is the existence of a spatial pattern organizing the mounds. The delimitation of a square or rectangular, low, and flat plaza is the basis of the spatial pattern in the Upano valley. It is closed on four sides by mounds, modified slopes, banks or dug pathways. Variations occur, but the basic pattern is generally the same. In several complexes, a central mound is built in the center of the plaza with four or six peripheral elevations.

Introduction

Some scholars recognized Amazonia not to be a pristine rainforest, but one managed and transformed by humans for millennia (Heckenberger et al., 2003, Balée and Erickson, 2006, Rostain, 2008a, Rostain, 2008b). Earthworks for habitation, defense, burial, strolling, agriculture and fishing have been found in many areas of Amazonia. For the last twenty years, archaeologists have increasingly studied earthworks, in particular mound sites, in lowlands of South America (Rostain, 2005, Rostain, 2008b).

In the Upano valley, on the eastern foothills of the Andes, a striking concentration of mound complexes exists. Little was known about pre-Columbian moundbuilders, so an archaeological project was conducted between 1996 and 2003 to augment knowledge of these societies. Innovative methodologies, such as large-scale excavation and ethnoarchaeology, were used to study these sites and the landscape. This project resulted in a better understanding of the prehistory of the Upano valley.

Section snippets

A specific landscape

The Upano valley stretches between two cordilleras in southern Ecuador: the Andes to the west and the Vieja Cordillera de Cutucú (2305 m) to the east (Fig. 1). Two different ecosystems meet in this region, where the environment is a mixture of the upper Amazonian rainforest and the Andes. The Upano River originates at the Laguna Negra in the Andes at an altitude of 3600 m before flowing northeast toward the Amazon. After passing the Sangay volcano, its course changes abruptly to the south, at

Materials and methods

The Sangay-Upano (1995–1998) and Río Blanco (1999–2003) projects involved scientific cooperation between France and Ecuador under the aegis of the French Institute for Andean Studies (IFEA). The research problem was centered on the artificial earth mound sites in the Upano valley. The main questions concerned the archaeological map, organization and functions of the mounds, and the identification of the pre-Columbian inhabitants (Ochoa et al., 1997, Rostain, 1999a, Rostain, 2008a).

During the

Chronology

Stratigraphies revealed in mounds and dating in combination with typological study of the pottery allow definition of new archaeological cultures and a continuous cultural sequence with four successive phases (Rostain, 2010):

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The first communities of the Sangay culture arrived ca. 700 BC in the Upano valley, but they settled directly without building mounds. Not many pottery sherds have been found because it seems that it was not a dense occupation and because of the poor quality of the

Conclusion

It has been possible to establish a chronology of the Upano valley occupation on the basis of strong evidence. The pre-Columbian occupation lasted at least two millennia with the succession of four phases: Sangay, Upano, Kilamope and Huapula. During the first millennium BC, Upano communities had profoundly transformed the natural landscape of the Upano valley building hundreds of earth mound complexes along the terraces. Three millennia ago, the altitude of the terraces was clearly lower, but

Acknowledgments

This interdisciplinary project was funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thanks to Dr. William Balée and to Dr. Manuel Arroyo-Kalin for correcting the text.

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