ArcheoLOGY
restoration and preservation of pre-Columbian cultivation terraces

OVERVIEW

Caliata is a Kichwa-Puruwá community in Ecuador’s highlands, surrounded by a vast terracing system. Caliata relies on subsistence agriculture characterized by a variety of traditional Andean crops. Demographic phenomena and extensive-intensive monocultures are threatening Caliata’s terracing system. These threats may compromise their food security, traditional knowledge, cultural identity and, ultimately, their future.

Testimonials by community members claim that these terraces have sustained a steady biodiverse agri-food system throughout generations (possibly Pre-Inca), with crop survival against pests and strong climate fluctuations. These terraces are a potentially remarkable biocultural space due to continuous long-term interactions of culture and ecosystem.

We hypothesize these terraces are: i) a pre-Columbian biocultural space with the capacity to uphold sustainable food systems, ecological services and biodiversity; and ii) an ancient Andean technology that may still be suitable for the highlands. Combining methods from ecology and archaeology, we propose to study the terraces in terms of change, continuity and response to environmental shocks.

We will generate 3D simulation models using drone photogrammetry, field-based chemical and physical surveys, and excavations to research the structure and performance of the terraces. Our study will be instrumental to rehabilitation, conservation and replication strategies for terracing in rural Andes.

GOAL 

Through combined systematic ecological and archaeological methods, we aim to understand Caliata’s terracing structures, and their physical and agroecological conditions in terms of change, continuity and response to environmental shocks.

OBJECTIVES

i) To understand the architecture of terraces in Caliata, we will document and develop a 3D model with the use of UAV systems-based remote sensing methodology.

ii) To date the terracing system in Caliata and elucidate its history of usage, we will conduct archaeological investigations combining fieldwork, laboratory and statistical analysis.

iii) To assess the current conditions and behavior of the terracing system in Caliata, we will apply ecological-based protocols to systematically measure and compare [with non-terraced farming land] diversity, crop pests and diseases, soil health and response to climatic events.

iv) To assess change and continuity on the use of this agrarian technology by the community of Caliata, we will conduct a crossover analysis connecting chronometric and agroecological data with ethnohistorical information.

v) To gain insights about the feasibility and the benefits of rehabilitating full-scale terracing in the current Caliata community and surroundings, we will develop and test simulation models for agricultural production and responses to environmental hazards.