The archaeology of domestic sites dating to the Spanish colonial period in the Andes is a very new, and, so far, a very limited field.  My excavations in the Cuenca area are one of the first attempts to expand this area of research into the Andean region.  There is a great need for more excavation of such contexts in the Andes in order to create a wider picture of Spanish colonialism in the area.

Previous research on urban Spanish colonial domestic sites has revealed several factors of urban discard patterns that are of relevance to the archaeologist.  The first is that throughout the Spanish colonial world refuse on urban sites was usually discarded within the individual lot where it was generated, either along the back wall of the compound or in large depressions in the ground.  The maintenance of discrete property boundaries in the discard patterns is very useful for us when attempting to match archaeological contexts to the people represented in the colonial documentary record.

Much of the material we recover consists of colonial ceramics.  In the early colonial period we see several imported wares.  Large botijas were exported from Spain, coming to Cuenca via the Caribbean, across the Isthmus of Panama, and down the Pacific Coast by ship.

Majolica ceramics manufactured at the city of Panama Vieja also traveled this Pacific route, imported to Cuenca until the end of that industry in the 1650s.

Here we see some examples of the ceramics manufactured in Cuenca.  A local majolica industry, using tin glazes and a green, brown and yellow palette, provided later colonial tables with much of their needs.