Mountain Plowed and Terraced: The Alchemy of Agriculture in the Andean Chanchán Basin

We submit evidence of intrinsic transformation of the mountain landscape by the application of agricultural techniques that helped modified the slopes, both by enriching the soil organic matter and by allowing construction of flat cultivation areas prone to receive irrigation and continued weeding prior harvesting. By highlighting the role of social pressure for labor organization upon the steep terrain and challenging meteorology, in the Chanchán river basin of Chimborazo province, Ecuador, we posit that the mountain landscape has become domesticated imprinting a rural economy with ancient traditions.