Land settlement patterns

The present study identifies settlement patterns of the Manteño culture within the cloud forest of
southern Manabí by surveying, recording and analyzing the stone architecture found within the drainage
basin of the Las Tusas River, Ecuador. The statistical methods used were: Triangulated Irregular Networks
or TIN (for topography interpretations), K-means (to determine natural groups for structures based on their
dimensions, shape, and wall thickness), Ripley’s K (to determine spatial nature of these groups) and Kernel
Density (to visualize their spatial organization). The cloud forest ecotone of southern Manabí was an
anthropogenic landscape during the late Integration period. The alluvial valleys of the upper Rio Blanco
drainage basin do not represent a hinterland or a periphery occupation but a series of Manteño nucleated
settlements raised on terraces and interconnected by strings of linear settlements and dispersed settlements
throughout the rugged terrain of this landscape.

The manner in which human settlements are arranged across the landscape holds clues to a society's internal social relationships and may indicate how a society fits into its environment. This research investigates settlement patterns during the formative pre-historic periods in Southeast Florida, the three Glades Periods (BC 500- AD 1750). During this time span, the inhabitants of the region adapted to a changing climate and environment by occupying places that were conducive to their particular hunter-gatherer way of life. However, while the Glades people moved from one locale to another, they never altered the manner in which they primarily sought sustenance; fishing and hunting. Evidence suggests substantial population increases beginning in the Glades II Period and shift of habitations due to flooding of earlier and lower sites.