Ecuador’s Amazon region covers approximately 130,760 km2. The eastern slopes of the Andes drop gradually to 1,200 masl forming a hilly plain through which rivers, such as the Quijos, Pastaza, Palora, Upano, and Zamora flow. Then the land begins to ascend to the east, to a height of 2,500 m, forming a broken chain of mountains known as the Third Cordillera. This elongated plain is known in Ecuador as selva alta or montana, beyond which the land drops to 300 masl where the great Amazon plain, or selva baja, begins.
The archaeological literature of the region is rather scarce. Prior to 1950, we find mostly reports by travelers, missionaries and anthropologists of the discovery of pottery in the selva baja and monumental sites in the selva alta (Porras 1971). In 1956, Meggers and Evans (1968) carried out a short archaeological survey along the Napo River, finding several sites which they grouped in four phases: Yasuni (50 BC), Tivacundo (AD 510), Napo (AD 1168-1480), and Cotacocha (Contact era). Later on, Porras (1971, 1975) carried out research at sites located both in selva alta and selva baja, establishing several archaeological phases, among them Tayos (1500 BC), Cosanga, Pastaza (2200-1000 BC), and Upano (2750 BC to Contact era).
By the 1980s, Ecuador’s Amazonian archaeology was, at most, disjointed, and very little could be said about cultural development in terms of a regional perspective. Archaeological interpretation was built largely from small pottery samples from equally small excavations or surface collections; chronology was inaccurate; and interpretations were drawn from ethnography rather than from archaeological evidence. In formal terms, it is apparent that a “fluvial” influence permeates archaeological phases. Each Amazonian river seems to have its own archaeological phase, replicating an old ethnographic model in which ethnic groups were designated by the name of the river where their settlements were located.
Contemporary research now shows that the Napo Phase extends over to the Aguarico river valley as well. On the other hand, the Pastaza Phase needs urgent redefinition. Established by Porras as a Formative phase of limited geographic distribution, it now appears to have a much wider distribution. Sites with Pastaza pottery abound in a 40-80 km-wide corridor along the base of the Andes, from the Upano River to the south, to the Guames River and San Agustin (Colombia) to the north. With such a distribution, apparently continuous, it will be difficult to maintain Pastaza as a phase. It is probable that we are dealing here with a stylistic horizon characterized by local variations and late chronology, basically contemporaneous with the Napo Phase. Large sites with huge amounts of pottery, post holes, funerary urns, and other materials are becoming a common feature of Ecuador’s Amazonian archaeology, which no doubt will allow a better understanding of tropical forest settlements.
In the selva alta, the eastern slopes of the Andes may provide new insights on population movements and complex societies. Chiefdom archaeology and ethnohistory have focused on the vertical control of biotic zones of one ecosystem, the Andean range, overlooking the fact that certain groups may have practiced a wider economy based on the control of several ecosystems. We know that a group of the Jivaroan linguistic stock, the Palta, occupied the highland province of Loja. On the other hand, the highland Canari occupied the lowland stretch of selva alta, at least from the Paute River, southward to the Rio Cuyes. The highland Puruha are also known for exploiting lowland enclaves. Finally, the lowland Cosanga, according to Porras (1975), may have emigrated to the highlands. Although this hypothesis has met harsh criticism, it still remains possible that the Cosanga may have controlled at least the Pillaro region where most highland Cosanga pottery is found. The
Control of ecosystems strategy is clearly shown in the ethnographic present by the highland Saraguro Indians who have occupied the lowland Yacuambi Valley.
In pre-Columbian Ecuador, long distance trade took place between highlands and lowlands. The Andean slopes (both eastern and western) are located in the frontier between major ecosystems and played an active role facilitating the flow of goods from “ports of trade” (sensu Chapman 1976:164), located along, or in the vicinity of, mountain passes.
Today, a string of towns (Papallacta, Baeza, Tena, Puyo, Macas, Mendez, among others), runs along the eastern montana, providing highland and lowland goods across ecosystems.
A similar pattern occurred in Colonial times, with towns such as Archidona, Sevilla del Oro, Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Logrono de los Caballeros, Valladolid, among others.
With the same purpose, no doubt, large pre-Columbian settlements were established along the eastern slopes. Monumental sites discovered in the Cosanga region (Porras 1975), mounds and agricultural terraces in the upper Pastaza Valley (Mera 1919), mound villages in the upper Upano region (Salazar 1998a, b; Rostain 1999), and monumental sites with stone masonry in the Rio Cuyes area (Ekstrom 1975; Salazar 2000) are only a few known instances of the presence of montana chiefdoms in pre-Columbian Ecuador. The remainder of this paper will deal with preliminary investigations carried out in the Upano Valley, in a project funded by the Institut Frangais d’Etudes Andines (IFEA).
World History
