Methodological Proposal for the registration of Archaeological sites in the Northern Andes of Ecuador. Regional Designation System and Prospecting File

Abstract

The increase in aarchaeological research in the Northern Andes of Ecuador, particularly during the last decade, has presented an almost exponential multiplication of the number of known archaeological sites. The need for a standard registration procedure has led the authors to propose: 1) a designation system for archaeological sites, and 2) a system for recording information from survey tasks. The first is a 10-digit tetranominal hierarchical code, whose components specify Province, Canton, Parish and order number of the site in the Province. The second is a 36-entry file, with instructions for its use.