Current research has shown that the building of the platform complexes was carefully planned, attending to the conditions and slope of the terrain. As a rule, plazas and platforms were built simultaneously. The procedure was to dig down 1 or 2 m and create a large quadrangular court, accumulating the dirt on the four sides of the perimeter to build the platform mounds. If needed, additional fill may have been taken from nearby road
Figure 15.5. Kilamope, a long platform complex with central platform in main plaza. (Ernesto Salazar)
Figure 15.7. Aerial photograph of Eden 1 complex. (Ernesto Salazar)
Figure 15.9. La Esperanza, a long platform complex, apparently disturbed. (Ernesto Salazar)
Construction, or from the nearest quebrada bank. The main complex of the Huapula site occupies a large surface area, most of which has been dug out and leveled, so we can appreciate that its construction may have taken several years.
It should be pointed out that not all the platforms of a complex are necessarily human-made. Often, the ancient Upano simply took advantage of a prominence, trimming the sides to give the impression of an artificial platform. On flat terrain, the construction of long and straight ditches (roads or “streets”?) at the perimeter of a rectangular piece of land, isolated a fake platform, not visible from the surface of the land (as no accumulation of dirt occurred), but appreciated as such by a passer-by using the deep road.
A striking feature of the upper Upano settlements is a road system connecting plazas within a site, complexes within an area, and occupied areas across the land (regional roads). Upano roads are usually long and straight U-shaped ditches, dug to different depths, depending on the area they are cutting across. “In town” they may be barely 50 cm deep and 1 m wide, but “in country” they are 2 m deep and 2-4 m wide (only on the walking path). To alleviate walking on slopes, the depth of a road may be 3 to 4 m. The dirt from ditches was usually accumulated on one or both sides of the road. Regional roads can be seen at stretches on both banks of the Upano River. They are much wider (10 m at least), dug at certain tracts, or, in open country, taking advantage of a stream bank, or the neck formed by two hills. Regional roads are more visible in the northernmost area of the Upano Valley, whereas in the south, modern highway construction and farming have obliterated them.
The spatial distribution of platforms and plazas depends heavily on local topography and, of course, the nature of the settlement. In the upper Upano there are at least three settlement modes. Single plaza sites, often with an additional central platform, are usually large,
Such as Tunanz, Domono, and Santa Rosa. Multiple plaza sites, such as Porras, Payra, Zamagolli, have an average of 8 plazas. Large complexes, such as Huapula, Mau and Carmen, have 20 and more plazas. An interesting feature of some multiple plaza sites and large complexes is the existence of a small plaza (or just a couple of platforms) isolated from the main complex, but linked to it by a road. As these plazas are located near a stream or a ravine, perhaps they served as check-points for visitors coming to the main complex.
The orientation of platform complexes, could be established only on large sites where an axis could be determined. Porras, for example, proposed that Huapula’s axis was oriented towards the northwest, where the Sangay Volcano is located. However, our survey indicates that the strips of land on which sites have been built are often oriented in a NWSB direction, precluding symbolic interpretation in favor of a practical use of topography.
Since the road system connects most upper Upano sites, it is reasonable to think that they are largely contemporaneous. Consequently, social relations between inhabitants of monumental complexes from both sides of the river imply routine crossings from one side to the other. However, the almost vertical cliffs of the barrancos make descent to, and crossing the river almost impossible. In this context it is interesting that in certain locations, steep, natural ridges descend from the uplands to the channel on both sides of the Upano River. At the present examples can be found at Domono and Bden (right bank), and Santa Rosa and Huapula (left bank), where the Upano channel reaches its widest: 2,400 m. Today, modern highways facilitate access to these localities, but the old ridges were used in the 1970s by the colonists taking the uplands of the upper Upano. Moreover, the Mau and Huapula complexes are located on the only section of the river where the barranco is somewhat less abrupt. The Huapula complex itself has several “exit” roads to the barranco, suggesting the existence in pre-Columbian times of other ridges, perhaps destroyed today. Crossing the turbulent river may have been by wading, if the water was low. However, more practical would have been the use of canoes, a vehicle known from the ethnographic present. During the colonization process in the twentieth century, highland colonists crossed the Upano in canoes managed by the skillful Shuar.
There is a long debate in archaeology about the function of mound centers. In the case of upper Upano settlements the issue is pretty much solved: mounds were habitation sites. Bxcavations in two Huapula platforms, carried out independently by the author and by Stephen Rostain (1999) revealed large numbers of potsherds and the presence of hearths, milling stones, and corn kernels. In long platforms, the use of space is not yet elucidated, but it is clear now that the superimposed quadrangular platforms on one or both ends of the mound are midden deposits of habitation sites. There is no indication yet about the function of central platforms in the middle of the plaza. As to the plazas themselves, potsherds have been found suggesting human activities. Plaza construction required the removal of the muddy upper layers to reach a deeper yellow layer that is slippery at first, but easy to walk on when dry (present day Shuar use the same technique to build their soccer courts). Therefore, it seems that communal activities took place in plazas, with spectators looking on from the top of the platforms.
A detailed chronology requires more excavations. As of now, dates available from several locations at the Huapula site fall into two groups. The excavation of Complex XI from Huapula (Rostain 1999: 65) shows that between 700 BC to AD 400-600 the site was occupied by the Upano, the builders of the mounds, whose pottery (Figure 15.10) is well known from Porras’ (1987) report. Subsequently, between AD 700 and 1200, a new culture, called “Huapula” by Rostain, occupied the site. The most salient pottery trait from this culture is the corrugated jar, found also at the La Providencia and Bulalia sites (Figure 15.11).
Figure 15.10. Upano style vessel from the Huapula complex. (Ernesto Salazar)
Considering that corrugated ware is a hallmark of Pastaza pottery, Rostain’s Huapula culture should be subsumed under this horizon style. Future research will eventually outline the history of mound building in the Upano region at large. For example, natural hills with summits artificially leveled, and complexes with platform layouts different from the ones described here, may prove to be earlier or later than the proposed chronology.
World History
