Palmitopamba: yumbos e incas en el bosque tropical al noroeste de Quito (Ecuador)

Abstract

Research at the Palmitopamba site in the western montaña of Pichincha province (Ecuador) has uncovered a monumental center occupied for several centuries by the Yumbos, the natives of the zone. The arrival of the Incas in this region around A.D.1500 allows us to study the relationship between the Incas and this tropical forest chiefdom. The expansion of Tahuantinsuyu seems to have taken a distinct course in Yumbo country. This paper presents some interpretations on the importance of the site for the Yumbos as well as for the invaders from the perspectives of landscape archaeology and ethnohistory. It also studies the fate of this interaction after the Spanish conquest of 1532 and the possible role of the site in a failed indigenous uprising.

Keywords

• Incas
• Ecuador
• Yumbos
• tropical forest
• Late Period