Karanki Monuments of Northern Highland Ecuador: A Cultural History in Peril

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Barbacoan World: Recognizing and Preserving the Unique Indigenous Cultural Developments of the Northern Andes" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The inter-Andean landscape of northern highlands Ecuador, including the western upper montaña region, is dotted with clusters of large earthen mounds, many of monumental proportions that reach over 100 m on a side, 15 m in elevation, and have long ramps extending 150 m or more from their platforms. These sites are the legacy of the Karanki culture, which thrived between AD 1250 and about AD 1500. The Karankis met their demise with the Inka conquest, which soon after met its own demise with the arrival of the Spanish in 1534. Little is known from historical sources about the Karanki. In recent times, intensive archaeological studies have been carried out at several sites, but because of the monumental scale of these sites, this work can only be described as limited. This paper focuses on the sad fact that monumental Karanki sites, as extraordinary as they are, are rapidly disappearing from the landscape. In this sense, the Karanki culture is being steadily erased from history. What should be a proud reminder on the landscape of Ecuador’s indigenous past is in danger of becoming but a footnote in Ecuador’s cultural patrimony. This paper documents the ongoing destruction of Karanki monuments.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Barbacoan World: Recognizing and Preserving the Unique Indigenous Cultural Developments of the Northern Andes   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39583.0