Tolas, terraces and houses: Archaeology of the Upano Valley

Abstract

The narrow Upano Valley, which runs along the eastern foothills of the Andes, preserves magnificent pre-Hispanic monumental assemblages on the high terraces bordering the river. Often earthmounds (locally called tolas) are arranged in a recurring pattern of three, four or six elevations around a low central plaza, with a possible mound in the center.

 Large-scale archaeological excavations carried out by the author at two different sites during the 1990s and 2000s have shed light on several aspects of these original occupations of the Amazonian lowland and have provided insight into the construction mode of and the domestic function of the tolas, previously considered purely ceremonial.

 Two house plans from different periods were studied, at the two extremes of the chronological sequence. The older one, from the Kilamope culture, is dated between 2565 and 2225 BP: that is to say, this settlement, found in the lower level of the stratigraphy, dates from the beginning of the construction period of the mounds. The most recent, from the Huapula culture, is dated between 1210 and 770 years BP and was found in the upper part of the stratigraphy. It corresponds to a reoccupation of a tola by a proto-Shuar group after the valley had been abandoned centuries earlier by its original Upano culture builders. This work highlights the socio-cultural specificities of the early Amerindian inhabitants of the Upano Valley sites.