Team 6 Project in Archaeology: Boom and Bust: The Disappearance of the Ancient Guangalans
Ashley Landesman, Emma Latham, Jackie Lin, Alexandra Mairone, Jinal Patel, Sophia Rowland, Kellie Swadba, Sophia Wu
Advisor: Maria Masucci
Assistant: Tim McEvoy
ABSTRACT
Team 6 investigated the disappearance of an ancient people, the Guangalans, who were the ancestors of the Manteños, a powerful maritime people that inhabited the coasts of Ecuador when the Spanish conquistadores arrived in AD 1526. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Guangalan civilization expanded considerably over the course of 800 years, thrived agriculturally, and spread to areas previously unsettled. Around AD 600, the Guangalans vanished but the reason for their disappearance is a mystery. The region was not resettled for at least 300 years, until the arrival of the Manteños. To investigate the cause of the disappearance of the Guangalans, Team 6 analyzed charcoal samples from an excavation site near El Azúcar, a modern village located where the Guangalans once lived. The analysis of the samples would optimally give team members insight into the Guangalans’ use of the environment and whether misuse or destruction of the forest could be a cause for their sudden settlement abandonment.