Espacios agrarios, asentamientos prehispánicos y tecnología LiDAR en el área costera central del Ecuador

Abstract

[EN] The use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology has revolutionised pre-Hispanic archaeology in large tracts of Central America (Canuto et. al. 2018; Fisher et al. 2016; Garrison et al. 2019; Chase & Weishampel, 2016). This contribution is especially significant in areas in which jungles and a complex orography had precluded the implementation of large-scale landscape archaeology studies. Although this technology has not been used in South America as intensively as in Central America (Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, among others), LiDAR is beginning to be used to answer questions concerning the interaction between the landscape, pre-Hispanic societies and their economic exploitation strategies (Amazonia, Peru) (Van Valkenburg et al., 2020). This work presents an analysis of one of the most important archaeological areas in central Ecuador, Cerros de Hojas-Jaboncillo (Figs. 1 & 2), which has traditionally been identified as a major centre of the Manteña culture. This culture spanned the current provinces of Manabí, Santa Elena and Guayas between the 8th and 15th centuries AD. Although the site was discovered in the early 20th century (Saville, 1907 & 1910; Estrada, 1957) on the slopes and summits of the Chongón-Colonche and Balzar hills range (formerly called Sierra de Bálsamo), has not been until recent moments that the characterization of its extension, its spatial conformation, and the main geoarchaeological characteristics of the site has begun to be possible (López, 2008; Delgado, 2009; Tobar, 2012; Lunniss, 2012; Veintimilla-Bustamante, 2012). The limitations of previous studies were largely due to the prevalence of thick sub-tropical forests, whose trees sometimes stand to 14 m tall.In 2016, a large-scale LiDAR flight covering 147.78 km² at a density of 9 ppm² has revealed the main features of the archaeological complex, including various sites that illustrate a multi-nuclear settlement pattern (Figs. 5, 8 & 10). The study suggests that settlements, between 0.5 and 3 ha in size (Fig. 8), followed a common pattern, standing on small long hilltop plateaus. The complexes were visually connected and were linked by a road network.There is little doubt that one of the most important discoveries concerns the relationship between archaeological sites and complex agrarian systems, which point to the exploitation of wide areas with irrigation systems that involved the retention of rainwater and the maximisation of water resources (Figs. 6 & 8). The system made intensive use of rainwater during the humid season (December-May) and also the coastal mists that ensure precipitations on the hilltops. At the same time, the LiDAR survey has established differences between the settlement pattern in the north-eastern sector, in which the interaction between settlements and the agro-system is not so obvious, and the south-western sector, in which settlements are clearly related to wide terraced systems. These results will allow for comparisons between Cerros de Hojas-Jaboncillo and other known Manteño sites, such as Japotó (Bouchard, 2010), Agua Blanca (McEwan & Silva, 1992) and Ligüiqui. All of them point to the continued occupation of the same areas, and the continuity of some sites at least between the Guangala period (500 BC.-600 AD) and the late Manteño period (12th-15th centuries), as we see in Salango and its territory (Béarez, Gay & Lunniss, 2012). Most research in the 20th century has argued for an increase in social complexity during the classic Manteño period (8th-11th centuries), following a diffusionist explanatory pattern (Estrada, 1957). However, the LiDAR analysis of the site of Cerros de Hojas-Jaboncillo points to prolonged periods of stable management of the environment, a response to the need to make use of the available resources. Archaeology, through large-scale landscape studies and the in-depth characterisation of sites through wide-ranging sampling methodologies can contribute to answering the question as to whether environmental management led to the formation of a “Manteño state” or whether this society can be better defined as a chiefdom (Touchard-Houlbert, 2010).

[ES] El empleo de la tecnología LIDAR (‘Light Detection and Ranging’) ha sido uno de los elementos más revolucionarios en la reinterpretación de la arqueología prehispánica en amplios sectores de Latinoamérica. Durante el año 2016, un amplio vuelo (147.78 km²) en el área central de la costa ecuatoriana, ha permitido ampliar el conocimiento del paisaje y la cultura material del periodo prehispánico tardío, perteneciente a la Cultura Manteña (s. VIII-XVI). Esta última se extendió a lo largo de las actuales provincias de Manabí, Santa Elena y Guayas. La investigación se ha focalizado en el complejo arqueológico más conocido de este periodo, el yacimiento de Cerros de Hojas-Jaboncillo (Portoviejo, Manabí). Gran parte de las limitaciones para una correcta identificación del yacimiento, desde principios del siglo XX, han estado unidas a la existencia de un tupido bosque subtropical, que alcanza en algunas áreas hasta 14 m de altura. El vuelo, con una densidad de 9 ppm², ha permitido identificar los elementos fundamentales del complejo arqueológico, detectando diversos asentamientos que señalan un modelo de ocupación polinuclear. El estudio también ha establecido un conjunto de analogías entre los distintos espacios, que señalan la estructuración del hábitat en pequeñas cimas de planta alargada, con un tamaño que se sitúa entre 1.3 y 3 ha. Los complejos mantienen una fuerte interrelación visual, y se ha localizado la existencia de viarios que mantendrían la comunicación entre ellos. Pero, sin duda, la observación de un complejo paisaje agrario inmediato supone una de las novedades más interesantes que permite integrar la investigación en el debate en torno a la explotación de los recursos hídricos en el área andina. Una cuestión que ha formado parte de la interpretación de los diversos modelos de estado y de jefatura prehispánicos tanto en Perú como en Bolivia.