This article shows a set of agroecological practices that were incorporated into the archeological landscape of the Chanchán basin by pre-Hispanic Kañaris societies for 1200 years (240–1438 AD), a millennium before the arrival of the Incas, and that continue to be used in this landscape by certain indigenous communities of the 21st century. The use of archeobotanical techniques, contrasted with ethnobotanical sources, has allowed us to interpret how these societies structured their cultivation systems, agroecological practices, and landscape management, for the conservation of agroecosystems in the western Andean foothills. Agroecological legacies show how the stability, adaptability, and elasticity of Andean agriculture can be sustained under models of progressive intensification without this causing irreversible environmental damage in the agroecosystems. Kañaris agroecological practices configured the Chanchán landscape as a great cultural artifact, wherein the non-human agency of plants (cultivated and wild) was more than a mere adaptation to the niches culturally constructed by human populations. Non-humans are active subjects in recovering the functional and structural integrity of agroecosystems after a social or ecological disturbance. All this is part of landscape management based on an “Ecological Diversification Model”, where plant species are adapted to the ecotones and ecological floors of the western Andean foothills, to diversify and increase the availability of food crops that are bioculturally appropriate given the present agrobiodiversity.

Although the importance of agriculture as a key factor in the economic development of Andean peoples and territories has been widely recognized worldwide, there have been few attempts to assess its historical importance in the construction of pre-Columbian agricultural landscapes in the Andes of Ecuador. This article presents the first results of the analysis of the Kañari agrarian landscapes in the upper Chanchán basin, showing a long historical trajectory that spanned almost 2000 years from the Late Formative Period (543-381 cal BC) to the final phase of the Integration Period (1386-1438 cal AD). Extensive and intensive farming systems (permanent fields and terraces) acted as a transforming agent of the space, imprinting an agro-sacralized cultural signature with the configuration of three types of landscapes: Domestic, Social and Sacred. The agriculturization of these landscapes shows how the intensification of agriculture under a unilinear progression model does not generally mean a natural retreat of ecosystem processes, due to human intervention for the production of its crops. The elasticity of the pre-Hispanic Kañaris agroecosystems could be sustained in the face of the historical processes of agriculturization throughout its historical trajectory.

Antecedentes y Objetivos: Los Andes Centrales del Ecuador han sido el escenario del desarrollo cultural de la etnia indígena Puruhá. Este desarrollo ha estado vinculado a la presencia de la cabuya desde la apropiación socio-ecológica de su paisaje (cabuyales) hasta sus ecosistemas xerófilos de la estepa espinosa. Investigaciones previas demuestran una multiplicidad de usos de la cabuya en la etnia Puruhá, pero no se habían focalizado en el análisis de la persistencia biocultural de esta planta para la reproducción de su ser social (relaciones, prácticas y patrones socio-ecológicos que se producen y reproducen para la existencia y pervivencia de un grupo étnico particular). Por ello, el objetivo del estudio fue registrar los indicadores de la cabuya como una etnoespecie clave. Métodos: Se realizaron 107 salidas de campo para la aplicación de metodologías participativas como la observación participante y la entrevista en lengua Kichwa. Un total de 135 indígenas fueron entrevistados en varias ocasiones (Máx.=94/ x̅=68/Mín.=32; 121 mujeres y 14 varones). Los usos históricos se documentaron mediante la revisión bibliográfica de literatura especializada. Resultados clave: Se registraron un total de 50 usos etnobotánicos asociados a los contextos actual e histórico de la cultura Puruhá, todos estos valorados altamente desde las funciones de la estructura psico-socio-cultural entre 86 y 93%. La etnotaxonomía registró una diversidad de 11 nombres vernáculos asociados a los usos etnobotánicos de la cabuya, mientras que la insustituibilidad fue registrada desde el periodo prehispánico de Integración (800 DC-1534 DC) hasta la actualidad (siglo XXI). Conclusiones: Los resultados confirman que el proceso tecnológico que conlleva la fabricación y uso socio-ecológico de los artefactos bioculturales de Furcraea andina, visibiliza una rutinización en las actividades habituales de los puruháes y una persistencia cultural identitaria de alrededor de 1200 años que ha posibilitado continuamente la reproducción del ser social Puruhá.

El Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial Para Generar Un Espacio De Reflexión Social. Estudio De Caso: Comunidad De Nizag, Provincia De Chimborazo, Ecuador

The aim of this study is to present the results of the identification of the cultural styles, social occupations, and cultural affiliates of archaeological sites such as Paccha, Piñancay, Puñay, and Joyaczhi that conforms to the archaeological area, Puñay. The objective of this study is to keep an archaeological record of the movable cultural property of tourist sites. This is done through the cataloging and characterization of movable property. In cataloging, the records of the archaeological assets of the INPC are applied. Also, in characterization, the methodology was considered as the Crockery for the determination of the Ceramic Cultural styles and the color of the external and internal pulp. In addition, the core of the Munsell tables was considered. The research allows the identification of 10 ceramic cultural styles in Paccha, 8 in Piñancay, 10 in Puñay sector, and 3 in Joyaczhi through typology and decorative techniques. Also, they are visualized chronologies which are related to the social contexts in which these archeological properties are materialized. The ceramic styles established for the archaeological area

Ecuador is one of the most biologically rich countries in the world. It is considered as a mega diverse country, meaning that it has the most varied life forms expressed in its flora, fauna, microorganisms, genetic diversity and a variety of ecosystems, which are formed thanks to the particular geographical conditions of location, relief and climate. According to the territorial location, Llagos is the last parish of the province of Chimborazo, it belongs to the Chunchi canton and is made up of 11 communities, is based largely on an irregular terrain of extreme slope in certain sectors, is rich in biodiversity of Flora and fauna. Joyagshi is one of the communities of the parish, which is made up of plains, plateaus and few hills. Thus, from the identification of the flora inventory of the Joyagshi community and in addition to the morphological and taxonomic identification of the plants, a study of agrobiodiversity in the community was elaborated. In conclusion, 44 species of flora of the community of Joyagshi were inventoried in a total of 170 hectares, which are destined for diverse purposes like: pastures, fodder, crops, and natural forests.