An Archaeological History of the Tamaylacha (Jubones) River Basin, circa First Millennium BCE

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Innovations in Ecuadorian Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The earliest written descriptions of the Tamaylacha (Jubones) River and its surroundings were penned by the priest Pedro Arias Dávila (1582) during his journey(s) through Cañari territory. These were followed by the accounts of Francisco José de Caldas who joined the research expedition of von Humboldt and Bonpland in 1804, the accounts by Verneau and Rivet (1912), and a few other observers of what today is southern Ecuador and northern Peru. Beyond these chronicles and travelogues, archaeological analyses of this inter-Andean river basin further refine our understanding of the Indigenous history of the region. This talk outlines, first, the results of the compositional analysis conducted on the ceramic wares from the site of Potrero Mendieta, dated to around the first millennium BCE, which are interpreted as proxies of social interregional interaction. Second, the spatial configuration of the site, which lies on a flat hilltop overlooking the Jubones, will be discussed and the results of the preliminary excavations of the semi-sunken circular structures that were built at Potrero Mendieta will be presented. Finally, the regional significance of this human enclave will be contextualized with regard to the broader research on the Formative of southwestern Ecuador.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Innovations in Ecuadorian Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33143