The study of historical archaeology research on “Afro-Andean Identities and Racial Domination in the Northern Andes,” authorized by INPC DBM-2013-100, was carried out in several stages.

The study area focused on the parish of La Concepción, located in the Ancestral Afro-Ecuadorian territory of the Chota Mira Valley, within the Chota and Mira Basin in the Western Cordillera of the Northern Andes of Ecuador.

We focused on the historical archaeology work of the parish of La Concepción, the ancient Jesuit estate of La Concepción (17th-18th centuries). We also studied the post-Jesuit period (18th-19th centuries) and some remnants from the early 20th century, still visible in the landscape.

Between 2013 and 2014, archaeological surveys and excavations were conducted specifically in the parish of La Concepción (Mira Canton, Carchi Province), related to the 17th-18th centuries. In 2015, work was done on the Cemetery Garden of Memory Martina Carrillo, 18th-1932 (La Concepción, Carchi), and between 2016 and 2017, analyses were conducted on the ceramic and zooarchaeological components of one of the excavation units in relation to the study of Afro-descendant domestic units (17th-18th centuries).