2000 -Field Campaign

Overview

The first period of fieldwork took place in August and September 2000. After introductory seminars at the participating universities in Trujillo, the expedition left for Chachapoyas, capital of the province of Amazonas. Receiving the wholehearted support of the local authorities, the team continued to Rodriguez de Mendoza, from where a truck was hired for the last bit of dirt road to the village of Achamal on the southern bank of the Rio Huambo.

Arriving at Achamal on August 6th, the expedition was lodged with the local teniente governador and investigations were initiated in all modules. The spacious village was surveyed, households interviewed and various botanical and archaeological activities were carried out. Although Achamal is on the outskirts of the study area, its setting is extremely important being the main entry point to the Huambo valley and thus provides the downstream areas with occasional road transport to the provincial centre of Rodriguez de Mendoza. On August 9th, all the luggage and scientific equipment were loaded on mule backs and the journey along the Rio Huambo was begun.
In accordance with preliminary satellite imagery analysis, the northern part of the valley appeared to be heavily deforested and quite densely populated. It was immediately evident that population growth has been substantial within the last couple of years, as part of the investigation team passed though the valley in 1996, witnessing much less population and human impact. However, moving along the Rio Huambo, the impression of continuous fields dotted with sporadic forest cover was gradually reversed as the extent of forest increased substantially downstream. One factor explaining this is the infrastructural component, with easier access to markets and thus higher rentability in the northernmost part of the valley.

A striking feature of the entire valley are the widespread coffee plantations. This has actually resulted in an increased forest cover, owing to the fact that coffee plants require shadow. Consequently, the new cash crop is the either grown in disturbed primary rainforests, or in an agroforestry system consisting of fast growing timber trees, predominantly of the Inga family, and banana, papaya and manioc.
Along the Rio Huambo, the expedition was based in the villages of Zarumilla, San Antonio and Luz del Oriente, spending nearly a week in each place. Anthropological fieldwork was mainly carried out in and around the villages and off-lying seperate houses, while botanical and archaeological field work was not confined to the settlements. Indeed, archaeological sites were often found on remote ridge tops, while botanical fieldwork both required ventures into remote rainforest areas as well as ethnobotanical investigations around the population centres.
On August 27th, the second phase of the trip was initiated. The expedition team was ferried across the Rio Verde (Rio Jelache) on balsa rafts, and encountered a distinctively different area. Firstly, crossing the river involved ascending from the rougly 1000 meter altitude of the Huambo Valley up to almost 2000 meters. These areas were very much different, as the agricultural frontier has not yet expanded into the region, and human impact is predominantly confined to a few clearings by single families. However, plans are already laid out for new villages and thus, the area will serve as a laboratory for monitoring the environmental implications of immigration to the region..
The investigation team left the area through the Valle de los Chilchos, traversing the 3600 meter cordillera en route to the small town of Leymebamba at the foothills of the Andes. After approximately 500 kilometers of trekking from the starting point in Achamal, vehicle trasport was once again available and local busses provided for the transport back to Trujillo.