Looking for Sites in all the Wrong Places: Finding Evidence of Preceramic Occupations in Northern Highland Ecuador

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Research and CRM Are Not Mutually Exclusive: J. Stephen Athens—Forty Years and Counting" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

J.S. Athens and colleagues recently published evidence of early maize (6,600 CAL BP) from a lake core in northern highland Ecuador. Deposits with maize phytoliths and pollen were interspersed with ash layers from volcanic eruptions. The various geological processes that have shaped the environment would have had a great impact on the people growing corn in the region, and on their dwellings or campsites. Thus early sites are difficult to find. The usual reconnaissance and survey methodologies rarely turn up evidence of preceramic materials, which would be deeply buried or obliterated by landslides, volcanic ash, and other volcanic debris. The identification of the earliest remains in the region usually happens by serendipity. J.S. Athens's work inspired me to embark on a project (assisted by a geologist) designed to identify possible sites that may reveal the presence of those early horticulturalists. My recent fieldwork, which aimed at finding those kinds of remains, has uncovered lithic materials not associated with ceramics that may be an indication of early sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Research and CRM Are Not Mutually Exclusive: J. Stephen Athens—Forty Years and Counting   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24058