Date of Award
Summer 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Submission Date
August 2025
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Anthropology
Abstract
This research explores archaeological soil micromorphology as an experimental method for studying the effects of intensive landscape transformation in the Manteño inland urban clusters of the Las Tusas River Valley of Rio Blanco, Manabi, Ecuador. Specifically, during this period, the Manteño society expanded its influence along the Ecuadorian littoral, incorporating the cloud forest of the Chongón Colonche cordillera as part of its settlement strategy. Micromorphology could provide detailed information about the cultural processes that formed the soil structure of the archaeological midden of N4C4-044. This work presents the results of soil micromorphology in a Neotropical Forest of Central Coastal Ecuador, showing that pre-Columbian human activities directly impacted soil structure and played a crucial role in the landscape pathway.
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Clifford Brown
Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair
Valentina Martinez
Recommended Citation
Velasco, Janny Mauricio, "MANTEÑO LANDSCAPE IN CONSTRUCTION: GEOARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CLOUD FOREST, COASTAL ECUADOR" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 150.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/150