Abandonment Processes in Manabi, Ecuador: Ethnoarchaeological Interpretations from the Cloud Forest

Summary

The purpose of this research is to determine the manner in which site abandoned occurred in Manabí, Ecuador. The Manteño were one of many pre-Hispanic cultures exchanging local resources, engineering new technologies, and mass-producing goods along the coast of Ecuador. Successful in their chiefdom and independent from the expanding Inca Empire, the Manteño remained culturally uninterrupted for more than 800 years. The focus of this research is to understand the interruption and thus abandonment of the cloud forest. In order to understand abandonment processes in the Las Tusas valley, this research uses behavioral and contextual lines of evidence. Areas of activity are established by comparing soil chemical indicators (phosphate and pH), with ceramic analysis, and overall artifact distribution. Pre-abandonment behavior will then be examined within the social, political, and environmental context of the last occupation at site C4-044. The sum of this information will be further assessed in accordance with ethnohistorical perspectives from individuals whom participated in the abandonment of a modern day village in the cloud forest. This investigation supports a gradual and planned abandonment of site C4-044, with evidence for ritual abandonment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22771