Least-Cost Approaches towards Reconstructing Pre-Hispanic Trade Routes in the Eastern Andes of Ecuador

In the eastern Andes, archaeologists and ethnohistorians have found evidence of pre-Hispanic long-distance trade. This study attempts to reconstruct the corresponding trade routes of the Quijos people in Ecuador by using least-cost approaches. In the study region, a long continuity of the main routes is likely. Historical travel accounts, two old maps, archaeological data and four short old footpath sections provide insights into past mobility patterns. Different least-cost path ( LCP ) approaches were tested to reconstruct the routes based on the old maps. The LCP s form narrow corridors in the north of the study area, but no obvious best paths could be found in the less steep southern landscape. This is explored by an accessibility map and a map of high local accessibility. The latter allows the identification of preferred movement corridors in areas of low variation in accessibility

Identification (biology · Movement (music · Path (computing · Regional variation · Variation (astronomy · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Migration, Education, Indigenous Social Dynamics

• Grand challenges for the quantitative study of past movement systems in the twenty-first century

  Open Access•Joseph Lewis, Francesca Fulminante et al.•Journal of Archaeological Science•2026

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