tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10502485105347188522024-03-13T12:11:33.884+01:00Up and Down in MoxosA blog about the Amazon Basin as seen from the Llanos de Moxos - Bolivia // Mirando la Amazonia desde los Llanos de MoxosUmbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-71504976096996121582021-04-21T06:29:00.106+02:002021-04-23T10:42:16.193+02:00"People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years". Really?<p>This week, Ellis et al. published an important paper in PNAS (https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2023483118). Their main message is that people have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years. The paper comes with several maps that show how, already 12,000 years ago, places like the Amazon were mostly "Cultured anthromes" with only small parts of it classified as "Wildlands". These are defined as follows: "Wildlands are characterized by the complete absence of human populations and intensive land uses. Cultured anthromes are less than 20% covered by intensive land uses".</p><p>You can explore the maps here https://anthroecology.org/anthromes/12kdggv1/maps/ge/</p><p>One week before the paper was published, I was sent an embargoed version by a journalist working for an important scientific magazine to comment on the paper. However, none of my comments made it to the final version of the journalist's article. So I decided to post here the questions I was asked and my answers.</p><p>It could well be that I didn't understand important aspects of the paper, nevertheless, I read it and I formed an opinion that, even if wrong, might lead to some useful discussion.</p><p>Here it goes:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do I call you an environmental scientists? If not, then
what?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am a geographer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What impresses your about this paper and why?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The most impressive thing is the
scale of the analysis: the whole world during 12,000 years! It is a very
ambitious project.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What new ideas come from it?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, in terms of ideas, it is
pretty much in line with what some of the authors, and of course Ellis, have
being saying for a while now. They published a paper in Science less than two
years ago where they made the same point based on a collaborative assessment of
many archaeologists. This time, it is based on HYDE 3.2, a model of past land
use and past population density, but the main message is basically the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What surprises you about the paper and why?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is almost no change in the
amount of “wildland” across the last 12.000 years. This is quite surprising
because I would say that 12.000 years ago America was almost empty, far less
populated than it was by 1000 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What relevant work are you doing?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I study the evolution of the
landscape in the Bolivian Amazon, looking at both natural and human causes of the
change. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is the paper’s broad significance?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This paper shows that it is very
hard to establish baselines for what “natural” or “wild” actually mean. I think
most of the academic debate is just about setting that baseline. For example, can
I say that a forest is “natural” even if people where there and planted trees? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you expect it to be controversial? If so, why?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes. The fact that the amount of
what they consider Wildland is almost constant during the last 12.000 years will
be hard to accept. Of course, it depends on how they define the anthromes and the
methodology. Nevertheless, the figures in the paper will raise a few eyebrows.
Take for example Amazonia. They produced their maps by dividing the space into
96 km<sup>2</sup> hexagons, meaning that Amazonia, which is around 7M km<sup>2</sup>,
is made of 73,000 hexagons. However, based on a recent review (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43086-w), in Amazonia there
is only 1 site older than 11,000 BP (uncalibrated), 9 older than 10,000 BP and
46 older than 8000 BP. This means that by 8000 BP, only 0.06% of the hexagons
that make Amazonia contain at least 1 archaeological site. How is it possible that,
by 12000 BP, almost all Amazonia is classified as Cultured instead of Wildland?
And that there is almost no change in the size of anthromes between 12.000 and
8.000 years BP when the number of archaeological sites grow from 1 to 46? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are the paper’s shortcomings and strengths?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I said, the most important aspect
of this paper is the scale of the study. It is very important to make these
reconstructions. Even if the uncertainties are very large, someone has to start.
However, I think that there is an important issue with the definitions of the anthromes
they use. They say that Wildlands are characterized by complete absence of
humans, while Cultured anthromes are characterized by less than 20% of
intensive use. But, there should be something in the middle! There is a
threshold below which the presence of people should not count as causing any
permanent change. If we consider a tropical forest, a few groups of hunter gatherers do
not change the environment in any significant way, but still Ellis et al
include that forest into the Cultured anthrome. It is possible that for most of
the world, and for most of the time, Cultured anthromes were characterized by 0.5% or less of intensive use and people didn’t have any
permanent impact. I think that what they call Wildlands should have included
the presence of people as long as they did not cause any significant and
permanent change. Then, we would have probably observed much bigger changes in
the amount of Wildlands across the Holocene that would have likely been more in
line with the archaeological and paleoecological evidence. </span></p><p>P.S.</p><p>By zooming on the actual map that is online (https://anthroecology.org/anthromes/12kdggv1/maps/ge/), I see that I was wrong in saying that "almost all the Amazon is classified as Cultured" because it is roughly half of it. Anyway, my point is that it is a lot and doesn't change until 3000 BP. For large parts of the world, there are huge margins of error in their reconstruction. In my opinion, these are too big to justify the title of the paper and many of the comments I read in the press and on twitter. </p>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-37456670104137798312016-07-12T18:07:00.002+02:002016-07-12T18:08:15.303+02:00A multidisciplinary view of pre-Columbian Amazonia <div style="background-color: white;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;">In June 2016 a multidisciplinary group of researchers working in Amazonia got together in Barcelona to discuss to what extent and in what way pre-Columbian populations changed the landscape of ancient Amazonia. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 16.6667px; text-align: justify;"> The meeting was funded by the<a href="http://www.inqua.org/habcom/index.html" target="_blank"> INQUA Commission for Humans and the Biosphere</a> and <a href="http://simulpast.imf.csic.es/" target="_blank">SIMULPAST</a>. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;">Here you can find the talks that were given on the 8th of June. Unfortunately, the first talk, given by Marie-Pierre Ledru, was not recorded due to technical problems.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Marie-Pierre Ledru - Palaeoecologist: </b>Paleoecological changes in the Amazon basin during the Holocene</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amazonia supports the largest rainforest system in the world. However this rainforest-dominant basin is composed of several types of vegetation including savanna, dry forests and mangrove mostly found on the transition zones. We will examine the different responses of the plant assemblages that characterize each of these vegetal communities and, how the global climate and the sea level changes affected Amazonian landscape and plant diversity throughout the Holocene. Observed differences in tree cover, biomass, elevation, climate all over the territory altered the plant responses in different manners thus increasing the range of environmental responses.We will review and compare pollen records located in each vegetation type that compose the Amazon Basin. Hiatuses in sedimentation are common to all pollen records, although at different time intervals in function of their location. Expression of the environmental responses in northern, eastern, western and coastal Amazonia will be examined and compared to their adjacent biome evolution. Drier climate or drier soil conditions prevailed until the early Holocene although he re-start of lacustrine sedimentation is observed at different time intervals throughout Amazonia. The mid Holocene drought 8 to 5 kyr was prolongated in south and eastern Amazon until 3 kyr. Alternance of wet and dry episodes characterized the last millennia. We will also examine how the predicted increase of sea level and the global warming may affect this extremely moist and warm region in the future.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Umberto Lombardo - Geographer: </b>El paisaje antrópico de la Amazonia Boliviana (In Spanish)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Los Llanos de Moxos, en la Amazonia Boliviana, son un conjunto de sabanas inundables ubicadas en la parte más meridional de la cuenca Amazonia. Esta región se caracteriza por la presencia de numerosas obras de tierra pre-Colombinas, como lomas monumentales, terraplenes, canales de irrigación y drenaje, campos agrícolas elevados (camellones) e islas de monte. Todos estos restos arqueológicos son la expresión de sociedades de cazadores recolectores antes y agrícolas después, que vivieron allí antes de la llegada de los españoles, desde hace 10000 años. A lo largo de estos 10.000 años, estás sociedades pre-Colombinas han sido afectadas por cambios medioambientales, y al mismo tiempo, han afectado el medio ambiente de manera permanente, tanto que el increíble paisaje de los Llanos de Moxos es el resultado de las complejas interacciones entre gente, ríos y clima. En mi charla exploraré estas dinámicas y interacciones entre pre-Colombinos y medioambiente en distintos lugares de la Amazonia Boliviana, intentando mostrar como la variabilidad espacial de las obras pre-Colombinas se corresponde con cambios en las características del paisaje y en las propiedades del los suelos.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KoXER4SM8mk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KoXER4SM8mk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Eduardo Góes Neves - Archaeologist</b>: En búsqueda del año 6K en la Amazonia Antigua: Evidencias Tempranas de Cambios Paisajísticos (In Spanish)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Investigaciones arqueológicas recientes en la cuenca amazónica enseñan que esta región estuvo densamente ocupada en el pasado precolombino y que las poblaciones que allá vivían hicieran cambios en las condiciones ecológicas de la región. Si correcta, tal hipótesis sugiere que lejos de prístinos, los ambientes amazónicos tienen una larga historia de manejo hecho por los pueblos indígenas. Aunque tales formas de cambio sean visibles en los hallazgos arqueológicos relacionados a ocupaciones de pasado relativamente reciente, al rededor de 2 mil años BP, poco sabemos sobre ocupaciones mas antiguas fechadas al rededor de 6 mil años BP, o 6K. De hecho, por razones que todavía no son claras, en la arqueología amazónica asimismo como de otras partes de las tierras bajas de Sudamérica, parece más fácil encontrarse evidencias de ocupación humanas fechadas de la transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno, al rededor de 12-10 K BP, que del Holoceno medio, alrededor de 6K. Esta charla presentará los resultados preliminares de un proyecto de investigaciones el SW de la Amazonía, donde contextos fechados al rededor del año 6K han sido identificados. Los resultados preliminares nos permiten identificar algunas formas tempranas de manejo en la Amazonía e proponer hipótesis más amplias sobre la relación de largo plazo entre cambios climáticos y dinámicas culturales en la Amazonia antigua.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Va5ZOjqnE-s/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Va5ZOjqnE-s?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Charles R. Clement - Biologist</b>: Plant domestication and dispersal in Amazonia (In English)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Throughout history, humans have developed uses for some 5000 native Amazonian plant species, and at least 85 of them have also been selected and propagated, which is the beginning of domestication. Domestication is a process in which humans select and propagate plant populations with traits that are useful to them; the interaction between human agency and natural selection results in anthropogenic plant populations embedded in landscapes that are increasingly useful to humans. In these populations, domestication can create subtle or dramatic changes in morphology, biochemistry and genetics. Likewise, landscape domestication may be subtle or dramatic, from modest changes in forest species composition to complete transformation of the landscape in swiddens and settlements. In recent years, studies combining molecular genetics and biogeography have allowed the identification of centers of domestication and routes of dispersal of some important Amazonian domesticates. Manioc (Manihot esculenta) was domesticated in southwestern Amazonia and selected for minimum toxicity; this ‘sweet’ manioc was widely dispersed quite early, arriving in Pacific coastal Peru by 8000 BP. ‘Bitter’ manioc appears to have been selected later in swiddens and was important in central and northern Amazonia. Cacao (Theobroma cacao) was semi-domesticated by 5000 BP in Amazonian Ecuador for the sweet pulp around the seeds and was dispersed both to Mesoamerica (where chocolate was invented) and to eastern Amazonia, which went unnoticed until recently because there was no chocolate there! Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) was also domesticated in southwestern Amazonia and dispersed both northwestward to Central America, becoming a major starch crop used for fermented drinks, and northeastward to central and eastern Amazonia, where it was used as a snack. Guaraná (Paullinia cupana) is a stimulant and the only crop known to be domesticated in central Amazonia; it is a high level polyploid with very little genetic diversity, suggesting a very recent domestication (1000 BP). Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) was used by 11,200 BP, and is incipiently domesticated and widely dispersed across central and eastern Amazonia in forest stands associated with archaeological sites. Its center of domestication is not yet confirmed, with southwestern and northeastern Amazonia being considered. Future integration with archaeology, especially archaeobotany, and palaeoecology will increase the relevance of these studies to understand the history of Amazonian crops, people and landscapes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5ipGFp4nHps/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ipGFp4nHps?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Manuel Arroyo-Kalin - Archaeologist</b>: Los Suelos Antrópicos de la Amazonía: algo más que tierra negra… (In English)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1uH_9MJMgaE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1uH_9MJMgaE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Stéphen Rostain - Archaeologist</b>: Amazonía, el dinamismo de un paisaje tropical único (In Spanish)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;">Se admite hoy en día que los paisajes en los cuales vivimos son resultado tanto de antiguas actividades humanas como de procesos naturales. Los ecosistemas amazónicos, al igual que otras tierras antiguamente ocupadas por el hombre, han evolucionado en función de las acciones de este. Así, solo la asociación de las ciencias de la Vida y de la Tierra permite una evaluación de las contribuciones respectivas del hombre y de la naturaleza en la construcción del paisaje ecuatorial. Es el caso de un proyecto llevado a cabo en las sabanas costeras de las Guyanas, el mismo que contó con la colaboración de arqueólogos, arqueobotánicos, ecólogos, pedólogos, etc. Si bien la arqueología alimenta a las ciencias de la naturaleza con temas de estudio cruzados, para la lectura del pasado se nutre también de otras ciencias que le proporcionan nuevos métodos complementarios de los clásicos y la ayudan a reconstruir de manera mucho más completa el contexto medio ambiental en el cual la cultura antigua se hallaba inserta. Es </span><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;">entonces, una nueva historia del paisaje la que se dibuja poco a poco. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cUPwcSO5eUQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cUPwcSO5eUQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Maximilien Guèze - Ethnobotanist</b>: Shifts in indigenous culture relate to forest tree diversity: A case study from the Tsimane’, Bolivian Amazon (In Spanish)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Understanding how indigenous peoples’ management practices relate to biological diversity requires addressing contemporary changes in indigenous peoples’ way of life. This study explores the association between cultural change among a Bolivian Amazonian indigenous group, the Tsimane’, and tree diversity in forests surrounding their villages. We interviewed 86 informants in six villages about their level of attachment to traditional Tsimane’ values, our proxy for cultural change. We estimated tree diversity (Fisher’s Alpha index) by inventorying trees in 48 0.1-ha plots in old-growth forests distributed in the territory of the same villages. We used multivariate models to assess the relation between cultural change and alpha tree diversity. Cultural change was associated with alpha tree diversity and the relation showed an inverted U-shape, thus suggesting that tree alpha diversity peaked in villages undergoing intermediate cultural change. Although the results do not allow for testing the direction of the relation, we propose that cultural change relates to tree diversity through the changes in practices and behaviors that affect the traditional ecological knowledge of Tsimane’ communities; further research is needed to determine the causality. Our results also find support in the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, and suggest that indigenous management can be seen as an intermediate form of anthropogenic disturbance affecting forest communities in a subtle, non-destructive way.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ABfKaAdeNkk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ABfKaAdeNkk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Evert Thomas - Biologist</b>: Spatial patterns in the natural and human history of Brazil nut across the Amazon Basin: megarodents, glacial refugia, terra preta and geoglyphs (In Spanish)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gjBSXJofAjo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gjBSXJofAjo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Amy Goldberg - Mathematician and Anthropologist</b>: Post-invasion human demography in prehistoric South America: a continental view (In English)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the last habitable continent colonized by humans, the site of multiple domestication hotspots, and the location of the largest Pleistocene megafaunal extinction, South America is central to human prehistory. Yet remarkably little is known about human population dynamics during colonization, subsequent expansions, and domestication. Here we reconstruct the continental-scale spatiotemporal patterns of human population growth in South America using a database of 1,147 archaeological sites and 5,464 calibrated radiocarbon dates spanning fourteen thousand to two thousand years ago (ka). Notably, our database demonstrates substantial regional variation in coverage, suggesting further work for Northeastern South America and Amazonia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We demonstrate that early human expansions showed the same pattern characteristic of invading animal populations, with resource-limited growth. Only with widespread sedentism, beginning ~5 ka, did a second demographic phase begin, with evidence for exponential population growth in cultural hotspots, characteristic of the shift to agriculture worldwide.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/g93MTScm_ck/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g93MTScm_ck?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Carla Jaimes Betancourt - Archaeologist</b>: La dinámica cultural al suroeste de la Amazonia a la luz del registro arqueológico (In Spanish)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">La arqueología amazónica enfrenta grandes cuestionamientos paradigmáticos. Al mismo tiempo que aumentan las evidencias de monumentalidad y manejo de recursos naturales, se devela una enorme diversidad de contextos culturales y patrones de transformación del paisaje. Aunque los procesos históricos y sociales de cómo se generaron estas manifestaciones en el paisaje cultural amazónico se encuentran todavía en discusión, la mayoría de estas transformaciones son atribuidas por lo general a la dispersión de la familia lingüística Arawak. En esta ponencia, se coteja el registro arqueológico de dos áreas culturalmente distintas de los Llanos de Mojos, con algunos de los modelos planteados que intentan explicar el proceso de “arawakización” en la Amazonía. Comprobándose que en Mojos y de manera coetánea, se desarrollaron diferentes procesos culturales locales, en escenarios multiétnicos y posiblemente plurilingües, que desembocaron en la creación de sociedades con características inalienables a las supuestas influencias Arawak. Dejando al descubierto, que únicamente mediante el estudio de los desarrollos culturales locales durante el holoceno medio, podremos entender el surgimiento de estos complejos procesos ocupacionales.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LHRU2nVt5fk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LHRU2nVt5fk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Philip Riris - Archaeologist</b>: Dates and Dispersions: examining the spatio-temporal boundaries of the Guaraní expansion into the La Plata basin with Monte Carlo methods (In English)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abstract:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;">he direction and timing of the Guaraní expansion into the La Plata basin from an Amazonian origin is a matter of no small debate in the study of South American indigenous cultures. The short timeframe of the Guaraní expansion (2000 – 500 BP) during the late Holocene, as well as the distances involved, are both used to explain it as the result of the migration of significant numbers of people in a classic “wave of advance”. The process is further broken down into “pulses” punctuated by periods of relative stasis in which colonization through the valleys of major rivers was halted or slowed. These factors, combined with a broad base of empirical data from decades of research, provide the impetus for refining established chronologies of the Guaraní dispersal. </span><br style="line-height: 16.6667px;" /><span style="line-height: 16.6667px;">We use a published database of georeferenced dates to model the its spread at the beginning of the Common Era from a presumed entry point until the time of European contact at its known limits at the La Plata delta and Atlantic coast of Brazil. Using Monte Carlo methods, we examine the dispersal as a function of time and distance in order to constrain the probable start dates for entry into different zones. Additionally, we investigate the notion that Guaraní groups enveloped large sectors of terrain contiguously as the result of demographic pressures that were interspersed, as noted, with hiatuses of comparatively little movement. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 16.6667px;">We place our findings in the context of preceding archaeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistorical knowledge on this uniquely South American process of indigenous dispersal. Suggestions for further work to improve the scenarios we present are offered, following the note by Brochado (1984) that in the study of Guaraní archaeology, “computer modelling is probably the only way to achieve refined estimates of population growth” in the La Plata basin. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 16.6667px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uaAii8Mvj0I/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uaAii8Mvj0I?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.6667px;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-3463349152251684872014-08-17T16:14:00.000+02:002014-08-21T12:07:40.633+02:00Fieldtrip to the Bolivian lowlands In this post I am going to upload photos and short comments about the ongoing fieldtrip to Beni, Bolivia, of the MSc students from the Institute of Geography at Bern University. The students arrived in Trinidad the 11th of August and will leave on the 21st.<br />
<br />
Day 1 - 11th of August. Visit to the Museum Kenneth Lee in Trinidad.<br />
<br />
Day 2. Excursion to the Mamoré river<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vdJ0Rro9VYE/U_Cs4TySnlI/AAAAAAAAA_g/RCgL5tPHM0U/s1600/Mamo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vdJ0Rro9VYE/U_Cs4TySnlI/AAAAAAAAA_g/RCgL5tPHM0U/s1600/Mamo1.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaving the port</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gRv1eP1Ya38/U_CtdT6YbnI/AAAAAAAAA_o/VMY8_eWvNQA/s1600/Mamo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gRv1eP1Ya38/U_CtdT6YbnI/AAAAAAAAA_o/VMY8_eWvNQA/s1600/Mamo2.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Describing and sampling a paleosol sequence outcropping along the Mamoré River bank<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Day 3. Visiting the Indigenous community of Bermeo<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fNPVXqlCjLc/U_CuppBX38I/AAAAAAAAA_0/IDeeYPA8x78/s1600/Bermeo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fNPVXqlCjLc/U_CuppBX38I/AAAAAAAAA_0/IDeeYPA8x78/s1600/Bermeo1.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before playing football...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qXrpYrhSBAM/U_CvSUZ1liI/AAAAAAAAA_8/huBGXncHrfk/s1600/Bermeo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qXrpYrhSBAM/U_CvSUZ1liI/AAAAAAAAA_8/huBGXncHrfk/s1600/Bermeo2.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a><br />
...and, with a BFC like outfit, Bermeo won :-)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Day 4 and 5.Community of Ibiato, on a paleo levee-backswamp of the Grande River</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0lBVDD-YI3A/U_CyeTdqAoI/AAAAAAAABAI/SbFmeF2Tctg/s1600/Ibiato.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0lBVDD-YI3A/U_CyeTdqAoI/AAAAAAAABAI/SbFmeF2Tctg/s1600/Ibiato.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Excavating and analyzing a transect of 5 soil profiles along a paleo Grande River lavee-backswamp catena.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
. Day 6. Meeting with indigenous leaders and visiting experimental raised fields</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kgEfovcI2dk/U_C0FWmUWMI/AAAAAAAABAQ/d1uSfNdaHpg/s1600/leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kgEfovcI2dk/U_C0FWmUWMI/AAAAAAAABAQ/d1uSfNdaHpg/s1600/leaders.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doña Berta Vejarano Congo, leader of the indigenous<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=ix+marcha+indigena+tipnis&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=t47yU4fJCcbhsATj84GYAg&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=775" target="_blank"> march against the construction of the road across the TIPNIS</a> indigenous territory and natural reserve, and Pedro Nuny Caity give a talk about the political situation of the indigenous people in the Bolivian Lowlands under the government of Evo Morales</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kv9WWGBozl8/U_C1xIWWhuI/AAAAAAAABAc/H3yoLlMSytQ/s1600/Camellones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kv9WWGBozl8/U_C1xIWWhuI/AAAAAAAABAc/H3yoLlMSytQ/s1600/Camellones.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting experimental raised fields built by Oxfam GB in a suburb of Trinidad, now managed and subsidised by Trinidad City Council </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Day 7 - Sunday, day off at Laguna Suarez, one of the many<a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-rectangular-and-oriented-lakes-in.html" target="_blank"> rectangular and oriented lakes</a> found in the Bolivian Amazon.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yXnQCTzMCWc/U_KN8rXOwhI/AAAAAAAABBQ/gqG4ViBbxxc/s1600/laguna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yXnQCTzMCWc/U_KN8rXOwhI/AAAAAAAABBQ/gqG4ViBbxxc/s1600/laguna.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laguna Suarez, about 5 km from Trinidad</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Day 8 - In the the morning visit to the Estancia La Chachra, where we learned about the extensive cattle ranching that is practiced in the Beni. We also went on a little safari.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6HwtiMzlkQw/U_KLHZVbe4I/AAAAAAAABAw/ENV1cL_HMqg/s1600/ganaderia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6HwtiMzlkQw/U_KLHZVbe4I/AAAAAAAABAw/ENV1cL_HMqg/s1600/ganaderia.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selecting the cows by size and checking if they are healthy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PIE_Nm5y1jg/U_KMZyjP1eI/AAAAAAAABBA/CkjTSOVb-3c/s1600/safari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PIE_Nm5y1jg/U_KMZyjP1eI/AAAAAAAABBA/CkjTSOVb-3c/s1600/safari.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little safari along the road inside La Chacra</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KtO0zb_hf1g/U_KLstaq8aI/AAAAAAAABA4/nBB6FRPV-mk/s1600/lagarto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KtO0zb_hf1g/U_KLstaq8aI/AAAAAAAABA4/nBB6FRPV-mk/s1600/lagarto.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many alligators living in La Chacra, in the ponds that were excavated to take the material used to build the road </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the afternoon we went to visit on of the biggest pre-Columbian monumental mounds: El Cerrito<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G-2wMiHNvbM/U_KNPxPYjFI/AAAAAAAABBI/8iNWSt08bYg/s1600/toronja.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G-2wMiHNvbM/U_KNPxPYjFI/AAAAAAAABBI/8iNWSt08bYg/s1600/toronja.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our guide invited us to have toronjas (a kind of sweet grape fruit) on the way back from the mound</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Day 9 - Visiting the indigenous community of San Miguel del Matire and the CIPCA cacao project<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aOMoGT_TPvQ/U_UnJKp4lQI/AAAAAAAABBg/QjN7gWv9D58/s1600/olver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aOMoGT_TPvQ/U_UnJKp4lQI/AAAAAAAABBg/QjN7gWv9D58/s1600/olver.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olver Vaca from CIPCA explains to us how the cacao project works</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dJM_E4pjbhk/U_UnussszVI/AAAAAAAABBo/KsKtGvSGl6o/s1600/cacao.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dJM_E4pjbhk/U_UnussszVI/AAAAAAAABBo/KsKtGvSGl6o/s1600/cacao.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting the facilities in San Ignacio the Moxos where the indigenous cacao is processed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Day 10 - Last day - We went fishing in the Mamoré</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HJNKkmfoB88/U_UoPunusxI/AAAAAAAABBw/WKQIRQUM80U/s1600/fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HJNKkmfoB88/U_UoPunusxI/AAAAAAAABBw/WKQIRQUM80U/s1600/fish.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishing from the boat with "lineada y anzuelo"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-criGyEyiDI8/U_Uow0P_u4I/AAAAAAAABB4/61gUyX-HKVw/s1600/cosecha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-criGyEyiDI8/U_Uow0P_u4I/AAAAAAAABB4/61gUyX-HKVw/s1600/cosecha.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fish we caught</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6npVF_BMns8/U_UpVMkDTtI/AAAAAAAABCA/rd5MtW2Qomk/s1600/restaurante.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6npVF_BMns8/U_UpVMkDTtI/AAAAAAAABCA/rd5MtW2Qomk/s1600/restaurante.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing the fish at the restaurant "La choza del Pescador"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uqiNaXXafGc/U_Up8gqoDsI/AAAAAAAABCI/9-W_aBtbldY/s1600/restaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uqiNaXXafGc/U_Up8gqoDsI/AAAAAAAABCI/9-W_aBtbldY/s1600/restaurant.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And ready to eat!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is the end of the 10 day field trip in the Beni - Bolivia. I hope you enjoyed it! See you in Bern!!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-84315489785888538022014-01-17T23:12:00.000+01:002014-01-17T23:16:28.236+01:00“Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia”<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a>
“Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia” is the title of a recent paper by McMichael et al. published in Proceeding of the Royal Society B. It is not open access but you can read the abstract<a href="http://rspbroyalsocietypublishing.yihaokezhan.com/content/281/1777/20132475.short" target="_blank"> here</a>. In this paper McMichael et al. present a predictive model for the presence of Terra Preta in Amazonia. The model predicts the likelihood of finding Terra Preta sites in any given spot within Amazonia. In general, I liked the idea behind the paper. These models give us an objective basis for further research and discussions. It is thanks to this kind of work that we can go beyond subjective views about the extent of human impact in pre-Columbian Amazonia and start to formulate hypothesis that, through survey and measurement, can be later tested. The first important result of this paper is that, given the data available, we can now estimate that terra preta is likely to be found only in a 3.2% of the forested areas of Amazonia. This is far less than other previous estimates (Erickson, 2008).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, I find the discussion of McMichael et al. a bit disappointing with regards to two points. The first is the meaning they give to the presence of terra preta; the second is the reasons they give to explain the absence terra preta outside of Brazil.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What is terra preta? Is it the result of permanent settlement where people cooked and dumped food remains for centuries, eventually causing the enrichment of the soil in with charcoal, phosphorous, organic matter and the rest of elements used to define terra preta? Or is it the result of soil management techniques aimed at improving fertility and agricultural potential? McMichael et al. seem to imply that terra preta is the latter: the result of soil fertility enhancement. They say: “The lack of terra pretas in western Amazonia may be because the Andean-derived soils of western Amazonia did not require nutrient enrichment… [the bold is mine]”. However, this kind of interpretation of terra preta being the result of Pre-Columbian agricultural intensification has been challenged by many authors. Neves & Petersen (2006) discovered that at the Hatahara occupation site (close to Manaus) pre-Columbians actually used terra preta to build burial mounds, which is a strange use for an agricultural soil that took centuries to form. Of course, we cannot exclude that pre-Columbians took advantage of the fertile terra preta for their gardens associated to their homes; in the same way that they could have taken advantage of the fertility of pre-existing middens (see Arroyo-Kalin, 2012 for a discussion on this).But this does not mean that people intentionally created terra preta for agriculture!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Recently,
Glaser & Birck (2012) concluded their review about the state of the
scientific knowledge about the properties and genesis of Anthropogenic Dark
Earths in Central Amazonia saying: “there is no scientific evidence indicating
that forgotten agricultural techniques for large scale soil fertility
improvement are responsible for terra preta genesis”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">This leads
us to my second concern: what does it mean when no terra preta is found? Here,
McMichael et al. suggest that the lack of terra preta indicates that people
decided to produce food in some other way, due to cultural and/or environmental
reasons. They say: “[In the Llanos de Moxos] instead of terra preta formation,
large societies sustained themselves by using techniques such as fish weirs and
raised-field agriculture”. But, is it cultivating little gardens that large
societies sustained themselves? I think the answer is no. In fact,
pre-Columbians living in terra preta sites performed agriculture in the
surrounding area, eventually forming terra mulata sites. Terra mulata sites are
far larger than terra preta ones. Terra mulata sites do not contain pottery and
are far less fertile than terra preta ones, but still, they are richer in
organic matter than the normal Amazonian oxisols (more on this<a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com.es/2011/06/new-data-about-amazonian-dark-earth-ade.html" target="_blank"> here</a>).
It is terra mulata that formed because of ancient agricultural use, not terra
preta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The main problem we face when tackling the question of terra preta is its definition. The definition that is generally given to terra preta coincides with the description of the geochemistry of a midden (From Wikipedia: an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics, and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation) and there are middens everywhere in the world! As a consequence of this, terra preta sites are now appearing everywhere... We should also keep in mind that the whole terra preta concept is rooted in the context of the big surprise that the first researchers had when they found black organic sediments in the middle of Amazonian heavily weathered soils. In fact, terra preta is often defined (and mapped in the field) in relation to the surrounding soil (Fig. 1). In my view, there is not much that actually differentiates terra preta from other occupation horizons elsewhere. I have seen several places in the Bolivian Amazon that, because of the colour of the soil, concentrations of P, Ca, charcoal etc., would fit quite well into the definition of terra preta (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0072746#abstract0" target="_blank">see for example this</a>). It is just that they are not called terra preta, yet :- ). It could be that the absence of terra preta sites outside Brazil is merely the result of researchers giving these kinds of soils/deposits different names in different regions, such as “middens” or “occupation horizons”.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LUmPHajXOlE/TfUmTOg19RI/AAAAAAAAAIE/-NUycnCg3i4/s1600/Terra_Preta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LUmPHajXOlE/TfUmTOg19RI/AAAAAAAAAIE/-NUycnCg3i4/s1600/Terra_Preta.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1: oxisol left, terra preta right (from Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">I think that
the, otherwise excellent, paper by McMichael at al. could have benefited from
incorporating into their model a database of terra mulata sites, instead of terra
preta sites. Or, even better, if they had used a database of pre-columbian occupations,
including the archaeological sites known outside of Brazil. This would have
provided a more reliable tool for modelling pre-Columbian agriculture (if a
terra mulata database had been used) or settlements patterns (if a database of archaeological
sites had been used) within the Amazon basin; and for modelling pre-Columbian
disturbance of the natural environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
References<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Proceedings.+Biological+sciences+%2F+The+Royal+Society&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F24403329&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Predicting+pre-Columbian+anthropogenic+soils+in+Amazonia.&rft.issn=0962-8452&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=281&rft.issue=1777&rft.spage=20132475&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=McMichael+CH&rft.au=Palace+MW&rft.au=Bush+MB&rft.au=Braswell+B&rft.au=Hagen+S&rft.au=Neves+EG&rft.au=Silman+MR&rft.au=Tamanaha+EK&rft.au=Czarnecki+C&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">McMichael CH, Palace MW, Bush MB, Braswell B, Hagen S, Neves EG, Silman MR, Tamanaha EK, & Czarnecki C (2014). Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia. <span style="font-style: italic;">Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 281</span> (1777) PMID: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24403329" rev="review">24403329</a></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=In%3A+H.+Silverman%2C+W.H.+Isbell+%28Eds.%29%2C+Handbook+of+South+American+archaeology.+Springer%2C+Berlin%2C+pp.+157-183&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2F978-0-387-74907-5_11&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia%3A+the+historical+ecology+of+a+domesticated+landscape&rft.issn=&rft.date=2008&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Erickson%2C+C.L.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"><br /></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=In%3A+H.+Silverman%2C+W.H.+Isbell+%28Eds.%29%2C+Handbook+of+South+American+archaeology.+Springer%2C+Berlin%2C+pp.+157-183&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2F978-0-387-74907-5_11&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia%3A+the+historical+ecology+of+a+domesticated+landscape&rft.issn=&rft.date=2008&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Erickson%2C+C.L.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">Erickson, C.L. (2008). Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape <span style="font-style: italic;">In: H. Silverman, W.H. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American archaeology. Springer, Berlin, pp. 157-183</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74907-5_11" rev="review">10.1007/978-0-387-74907-5_11</a></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=+In%3A+W.+Bal%C3%A9e+%26+C.L.+Ericksonl+%28Eds.%29%2CTime+and+complexity+in+historical+ecology.+Columbia+University+Press%2C+New+York%2C+pp.+279-309&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Political+economy+and+pre-Columbian+landscape+transformations+in+Central+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2006&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Neves%2C+E.G.&rft.au=Petersen%2C+J.B.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">Neves, E.G., & Petersen, J.B. (2006). Political economy and pre-Columbian landscape transformations in Central Amazonia <span style="font-style: italic;"> In: W. Balée & C.L. Ericksonl (Eds.),Time and complexity in historical ecology. Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 279-309</span></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=+In%3A+W.+Bal%C3%A9e+%26+C.L.+Ericksonl+%28Eds.%29%2CTime+and+complexity+in+historical+ecology.+Columbia+University+Press%2C+New+York%2C+pp.+279-309&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Political+economy+and+pre-Columbian+landscape+transformations+in+Central+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2006&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Neves%2C+E.G.&rft.au=Petersen%2C+J.B.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Quaternary+International&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.quaint.2011.08.004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Slash-burn-and-churn%3A+Landscape+history+and+crop+cultivation+in+pre-Columbian+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=249&rft.issue=&rft.spage=4&rft.epage=18&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Arroyo-Kalin%2C+M.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">Arroyo-Kalin, M. (2012). Slash-burn-and-churn: Landscape history and crop cultivation in pre-Columbian Amazonia <span style="font-style: italic;">Quaternary International, 249</span>, 4-18 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.08.004" rev="review">10.1016/j.quaint.2011.08.004</a></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=+Geochimica+et+Cosmochimica+Acta&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.gca.2010.11.029&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=State+of+the+scientific+knowledge+on+properties+and+genesis+of+Anthropogenic+Dark+Earths+in+Central+Amazonia+%28terra+preta+de+%C3%8Dndio%29&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=82&rft.issue=&rft.spage=39&rft.epage=51&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Glaser%2C+B.&rft.au=Birk%2C+J.J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"><br /></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=+Geochimica+et+Cosmochimica+Acta&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.gca.2010.11.029&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=State+of+the+scientific+knowledge+on+properties+and+genesis+of+Anthropogenic+Dark+Earths+in+Central+Amazonia+%28terra+preta+de+%C3%8Dndio%29&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=82&rft.issue=&rft.spage=39&rft.epage=51&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Glaser%2C+B.&rft.au=Birk%2C+J.J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">Glaser, B., & Birk, J.J. (2012). State of the scientific knowledge on properties and genesis of Anthropogenic Dark Earths in Central Amazonia (terra preta de Índio) <span style="font-style: italic;"> Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 82</span>, 39-51 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2010.11.029" rev="review">10.1016/j.gca.2010.11.029</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-24155531360359373122013-09-03T11:48:00.001+02:002013-09-03T11:58:11.294+02:00The rectangular and oriented lakes in the Bolivian Amazon are not tectonic, and now what?<span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our latest paper has been published a few days ago in <a href="http://goo.gl/Q9JdEX" target="_blank">Geomorphology</a>. The title is: "<b>The origin of oriented lakes: Evidence from the Bolivian Amazon</b>". Here goes a very short version of it.<br />
The presence of hundreds of rectangular and oriented lakes is one of the most striking characteristics of the Llanos de Moxos landscape (Fig. 1). Many different mechanisms have been proposed for their formation, including subsidence resulting from the propagation of bedrock faults through the foreland sediments, scouring caused by large-scale flooding, paleo deflation combined with wind/wave action and human agency. Nevertheless, amid this diversity of hypothesis, the most commonly accepted cause of lake formation to date has been tectonics.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D6V2PUdg8Ow/UiWp3LpBQ9I/AAAAAAAAAWw/rJxgsFDIrlM/s1600/Large-area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D6V2PUdg8Ow/UiWp3LpBQ9I/AAAAAAAAAWw/rJxgsFDIrlM/s320/Large-area.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1. Landsat image of oriented and rectangular lakes in the Llanos de Moxos</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Plafker’s tectonic model (Fig. 2) has never been tested. If faulting is involved, the displacement should be visible and measurable through sediment profiling. The only element needed is a stratigraphic marker that allows the measurement of the vertical displacement.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bQY4uKtWSEs/UiWqqLiRPCI/AAAAAAAAAW4/lbzdwSpzO8c/s1600/Plafker_model2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bQY4uKtWSEs/UiWqqLiRPCI/AAAAAAAAAW4/lbzdwSpzO8c/s320/Plafker_model2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2. Tectonic model for lake formation (Plafker, 1967). According to Plafker, the lakes' rectangular shape results from the propagation of bedrock fractures through unconsolidated sediments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Thanks to our recent discovery of a paleosol below mid-Holocene fluvial sediments in the south-eastern LM (Lombardo et al., 2012), where several lakes are found, it is now possible to test the tectonic hypothesis. If lakes were formed by local subsidence induced by bedrock faults, we should find the paleosol at a greater depth below the lake than in the area surrounding it. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xzbNMDS6OKs/UiWsE5keRwI/AAAAAAAAAXk/CUcVUIls5L8/s1600/IMG_1467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xzbNMDS6OKs/UiWsE5keRwI/AAAAAAAAAXk/CUcVUIls5L8/s320/IMG_1467.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how we cored the lakes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stratigraphic profiles from transects that cut across the borders of three lakes show otherwise (Fig. 3): the depth of the paleosol is the same. Hence, tectonics, as the mechanism behind the formation of the lakes, can be ruled out. The origin of the Moxos rectangular and oriented lakes is still very much unresolved. A more detailed discussion about the possible mechanisms behind the lakes' formation can be found in Lombardo & Veit <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X13004340" target="_blank">(In Press)</a>. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cgt-SdFEx_c/UiWszDWMOYI/AAAAAAAAAX0/Iegm1U2zkC4/s1600/Transect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cgt-SdFEx_c/UiWszDWMOYI/AAAAAAAAAX0/Iegm1U2zkC4/s640/Transect.jpg" width="616" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;">Figure 3. Stratigraphic transects from the outside to the inside of the lakes. Dotted white lines define the lakes’ basins. The early to mid-Holocene paleosol acts as a stratigraphic marker (see Fig. 2). Cores 52, 63, 81, 170, 205 and 210 provide the reference depth of the paleosol outside the lakes; cores 77 and 204 have been performed in areas of the original lakes’ basins that have been infilled; cores 78, 169, 171 and 209_b come from inside the lakes. Continuous black lines reconstruct the original lake bottom (previous to lacustrine infilling); dashed black lines connect the paleosol. Source of digital images: Google earth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>References:</b></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1177%2F0959683612437872&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Mid-+to+late-Holocene+fluvial+activity+behind+pre-Columbian+social+complexity+in+the+southwestern+Amazon+basin&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.&rft.au=May%2C+J.-H.&rft.au=Veit%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Geology">Lombardo, U., May, J.-H., & Veit, H. (2012). Mid- to late-Holocene fluvial activity behind pre-Columbian social complexity in the southwestern Amazon basin <span style="font-style: italic;">The Holocene</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683612437872" rev="review">10.1177/0959683612437872</a></span><br />
Lombardo, U., & Veit, H. (2013). The origin of oriented lakes: Evidence from the Bolivian Amazon <span style="font-style: italic;">Geomorphology</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.08.029" rev="review">10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.08.029</a><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Geological+Society+of+America+Bulletin&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1130%2F0016-7606%281964%2975%5B503%3AOLALON%5D2.0.CO%3B2&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Oriented+Lakes+and+Lineaments+of+Northeastern+Bolivia&rft.issn=&rft.date=1964&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Plafker%2C+G.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Geology">Plafker, G. (1964). Oriented Lakes and Lineaments of Northeastern Bolivia <span style="font-style: italic;">Geological Society of America Bulletin</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1964)75[503:OLALON]2.0.CO;2" rev="review">10.1130/0016-7606(1964)75[503:OLALON]2.0.CO;2</a></span><br />
<br />Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com174tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-57047244598464015592013-08-31T09:41:00.001+02:002013-09-06T06:38:52.428+02:00Amazing media response to our latest paper in PloS ONE<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Our paper “</span><span lang="EN-GB">Early
and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations in Western Amazonia: The Hidden
Shell Middens</span>” has been published less that 3 days ago in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072746" target="_blank">PLoS ONE</a>. It
was included in the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/plos-hsm082313.php" target="_blank">press release of PLoS ONE</a> and, once the embargo expired, we
produced two other press releases (<a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/the-hidden-shell-middens-press-releases.html" target="_blank">see previous post</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I am amazed by the interest that media from all around
the world have shown! Till now I have counted more than 50 articles from USA,
Spain, Germany, Brazil, Bolivia, Russia, Australia etc. Plus, several people
posted about our research in their blogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Samples from the internet press of the last 2 days:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Germany:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/umwelt/article119476408/Dieser-Huegel-verraet-fruehe-Menschen-am-Amazonas.html">http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/umwelt/article119476408/Dieser-Huegel-verraet-fruehe-Menschen-am-Amazonas.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/spuren-steinzeitlicher-besiedlung-im-amazonasgebiet-a-919159.html">http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/spuren-steinzeitlicher-besiedlung-im-amazonasgebiet-a-919159.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Australia:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://theconversation.com/hidden-in-middens-new-clues-of-earliest-known-bolivian-amazon-humans-17583">http://theconversation.com/hidden-in-middens-new-clues-of-earliest-known-bolivian-amazon-humans-17583</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/poo-signature-leads-to-archaeological-find/story-fni0xqi3-1226706175551">http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/poo-signature-leads-to-archaeological-find/story-fni0xqi3-1226706175551</a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/28/poo-signature-leads-archaeological-find">http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/28/poo-signature-leads-archaeological-find</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Brazil:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://oglobo.globo.com/ciencia/humanos-habitavam-amazonia-antes-do-que-se-pensava-9740162"><span lang="EN-GB">http://oglobo.globo.com/ciencia/humanos-habitavam-amazonia-antes-do-que-se-pensava-9740162</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bolivia:<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://www.eldeber.com.bo/beni-era-seco-hace-10000-anos/130904180837">http://www.eldeber.com.bo/beni-era-seco-hace-10000-anos/130904180837</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.la-razon.com/la_revista/Hallan-vestigios-humanos-anos-Beni_0_1897610235.html">http://www.la-razon.com/la_revista/Hallan-vestigios-humanos-anos-Beni_0_1897610235.html</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2013/09/03/archaeologists-find-evidence-10400-year-old-human-presence-in-bolivia/">http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2013/09/03/archaeologists-find-evidence-10400-year-old-human-presence-in-bolivia/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Spain:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/articulo/historia/actualidad/8586/los_llanos_moxos_sus_misteriosos_conchales.html#">http://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/articulo/historia/actualidad/8586/los_llanos_moxos_sus_misteriosos_conchales.html#</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.europapress.es/ciencia/noticia-ser-humano-ya-habitaba-amazonia-boliviana-hace-10000-anos-20130829102354.html"><span lang="EN-GB">http://www.europapress.es/ciencia/noticia-ser-humano-ya-habitaba-amazonia-boliviana-hace-10000-anos-20130829102354.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/La-misteriosa-isla-del-Tesoro-de-la-Amazonia-boliviana-guarda-la-basura-de-sus-primeros-habitantes">http://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/La-misteriosa-isla-del-Tesoro-de-la-Amazonia-boliviana-guarda-la-basura-de-sus-primeros-habitantes</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="http://www.antena3.com/especiales/noticias/ciencia/hazte-eco/noticias/ser-humano-habito-amazonas-hace-10000-anos_2013082900228.html">http://www.antena3.com/especiales/noticias/ciencia/hazte-eco/noticias/ser-humano-habito-amazonas-hace-10000-anos_2013082900228.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">UK:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2404383/10-000-year-old-remains-settlements-unearthed-Bolivia--making-oldest-archaeological-site-Amazon.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490#comments">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2404383/10-000-year-old-remains-settlements-unearthed-Bolivia--making-oldest-archaeological-site-Amazon.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490#comments</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">USA:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/science/humans-explored-treasure-island-much-earlier-thought-8C11027554">http://www.nbcnews.com/science/humans-explored-treasure-island-much-earlier-thought-8C11027554</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/humans-landed-treasure-island-earlier-thought-211618124.html">http://news.yahoo.com/humans-landed-treasure-island-earlier-thought-211618124.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/ancient-humans-amazon-earlier-trash-heaps_n_3842690.html"><span lang="EN-GB">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/ancient-humans-amazon-earlier-trash-heaps_n_3842690.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/10000-year-old-bolivian-settlements-amazon_n_3844189.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/10000-year-old-bolivian-settlements-amazon_n_3844189.html</a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A blog post I liked:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://thenaturalhistorian.com/2013/08/30/amazonian-forest-islands-accidental-products-of-ancient-human-occupation/">http://thenaturalhistorian.com/2013/08/30/amazonian-forest-islands-accidental-products-of-ancient-human-occupation/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-34227614332926279542013-08-29T14:42:00.000+02:002013-08-29T14:42:24.227+02:00The Hidden Shell Middens - Press releasesHere two media releases, one in English written by Kat and the another in Spanish written by José, about our latest paper "Early and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations in Western Amazonia: The Hidden Shell Middens" published in<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072746" target="_blank"> PLoS ONE</a> the 28th of August 2013.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Traces of the earliest inhabitants of Bolivian
Amazonia hidden in plain sight<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
enigmatic ‘forest islands’ set amidst the grasslands of Bolivian Amazonia have
yielded the earliest evidence of human habitation in the region. Previously thought to be relict landforms
cut away by shifting rivers, or long-term bird rookeries or termite mounds,
these piles of freshwater snails, animal bones and charcoal are now known to
have been built up over millennia, starting from at least 10,400 years ago, by
ancient hunter-gatherers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Using novel
approaches drawn from archaeology, geomorphology and geochemistry, an
international team of researchers, led by Dr. Umberto Lombardo of the
University of Bern, has conducted detailed excavations of a large mound known
locally as <i>Isla del Tesoro</i> (Treasure Island). Distinctive chemical signatures of human
presence were recorded at high levels throughout the mound sediments, and
studies of the animal bones and shells indicate they are the remains of ancient
human meals. <i>Isla del Tesoro</i> tells us that from over 10,000 years ago,
hunter-gatherers were moving across the grasslands hunting a variety of
mammals, catching fish and birds, and gathering large quantities of freshwater
snails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Over time, the refuse of these hunting and
gathering forays built up forming mounds which sat elevated above the
floodplain. These refuse or ‘midden’
mounds in turn provided a habitat for local plants and animals, transforming
them into the forest islands so recognisable in the landscape today. It is highly likely that many more midden
mounds lie buried beneath the metres of silts under the current savannah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 150%; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Regularly flooded savannah landscapes such as those surrounding <i>Isla del Tesoro </i>have long been thought
to be an inhospitable environment for early hunter gatherers. The densities of animal prey are lower and
less predictable than in coastal areas, near stable watercourses or in forested
areas where early South American archaeological sites are typically found. Lombardo and colleagues’ work at <i>Isla de Tesoro</i> tells us that early South
Americans moved across a wider variety of landscapes than previously thought,
and adapted their ways of life to cope in these challenging environments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Paper details</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lombardo,
Umberto<sup>1</sup>, Katherine Szabó<sup>2</sup>, Jose M. Capriles<sup>3</sup>,
Jan-Hendrik May<sup>2</sup>, Wulf Amelung<sup>4</sup>, Rainer Hutterer<sup>5</sup>,
Eva Lehndorff<sup>4</sup>, Anna Plotzki<sup>1</sup>, Heinz Veit<sup>1</sup>.
2013. Early and middle Holocene
hunter-gatherer occupations in Western Amazonia: the hidden shell middens. <i>PLOS ONE</i>. Online from 28<sup>th</sup> August, 5.00pm
(EDT)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1</span></sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> University of Bern, Switzerland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2</span></sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> University of Wollongong, Australia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3 </span></sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">University of Pittsburgh, USA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">4</span></sup><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> University of Bonn, Germany<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<sup><span lang="DE-CH" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">5</span></sup><span lang="DE-CH" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Alexander Koenig Zoological Museum, Bonn, Germany<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="DE-CH" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span class="hps"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Conchales</span></b></span><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <span class="hps">ocultos</span> <span class="hps">revelan</span> <span class="hps">milenaria</span>
<span class="hps">presencia humana</span> <span class="hps">en la</span> <span class="hps">Amazonia boliviana</span><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Un equipo internacional de investigadores,
dirigido por el Dr. Umberto Lombardo, de la Universidad de Berna – Suiza y que
incluye <span class="hps">al arqueólogo boliviano, Dr. José M. Capriles,</span>
acaba de publicar <span class="hps">en la</span> <span class="hps">revista
científica de acceso abierto</span> <span class="hps"><i>PLoS</i></span><i> <span class="hps">ONE</span></i><span class="hps">,</span> un estudio que documenta la existencia de asentamientos
humanos en la Amazonía boliviana desde al menos 10.400 años atrás. <span class="hps">En esta región se atribuía la ausencia de ocupaciones</span> <span class="hps">pre</span><span class="atn">-</span>agrícolas <span class="hps">a
condiciones ambientales</span> <span class="hps">desfavorables.</span> Sin
embargo, esta investigación multidisciplinaria combinó información de
arqueología, geomorfología y geoquímica, para identificar <span class="hps">restos
de</span> <span class="hps">asentamientos</span> <span class="hps">de
cazadores-recolectores en</span> <span class="hps">“</span>islas de <span class="hps">bosque” o “islas de monte” en los Llanos de Moxos del Departamento
del Beni. Los autores de la investigación informan</span> <span class="hps">que
tres de</span> <span class="hps">estas islas son</span> <span class="hps">conchales</span>
o montículos <span class="hps">formados por conchas (además de huesos, tierra
quemada y carbón)</span> <span class="hps">desechados por grupos de
cazadores-recolectores móviles</span>. <span class="hps">Análisis de</span> <span class="hps">radiocarbono</span> <span class="hps">indican</span> <span class="hps">que
estos grupos se establecieron en</span> <span class="hps">la región</span> <span class="hps">a principios del</span> <span class="hps">Holoceno</span>, es decir, <span class="hps">hace aproximadamente</span> <span class="hps">10.400 años</span> y que
mantuvieron su modo de subsistencia varios milenos. <span class="hps">Las islas
de bosque estudiadas parecen haber sido abandonadas hace aproximadamente 4000
años atrás para luego ser reocupadas poco antes de la conquista española por
las sociedades agrícolas que construyeron las lomas y camellones del Beni. </span>Esta
investigación permite confirmar que la Amazonía boliviana estuvo poblada por
seres humanos mucho más antes de lo imaginado y que sus pobladores fueron
agentes activos en la formación del paisaje.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Referencia<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Umberto Lombardo, Katherine Szabo, José M. Capriles,
Jan-Hendrik May, Wulf Amelung, Rainer Hutterer, Eva Lehndorff, Anna Plotzki
& Heinz Veit. 2013. Early and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations
in Western Amazonia: The Hidden Shell Middens. </span><i><span lang="ES-BO" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-BO; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">PLoS ONE</span></i><span lang="ES-BO" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-BO; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Vol. 8, No. 8, pp.
1-14. E72746.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072746"><span lang="ES-BO" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-BO; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072746</span></a></span><span lang="ES-BO" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-BO; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="DE-CH" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Esta publicación es resultado del “Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica:
Ocupación Humana, Paisajes Antrópicos y Cambio Medioambiental durante el
Holoceno en los Llanos de Moxos – Amazonía Boliviana” que cuenta con el apoyo
del Viceministerio de Interculturalidad del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, la
Gobernación del Departamento del Beni, la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias Suiza
y otras institucionales internacionales y nacionales.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-40269357137901870582013-01-07T17:16:00.001+01:002013-01-07T18:24:54.381+01:00The diffusion of unsuccessful innovations: the myth of raised field agriculture <span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Pre-Columbian
raised field agriculture is an extremely interesting topic that we have
discussed in this blog before, <a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/pre-columbian-raised-fields-and.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com.es/2011/05/re-pre-columbian-raised-field.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com.es/2011/05/rere-pre-columbian-raised-field.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<span style="color: red;"> </span>We
call raised fields “any prepared land involving the transfer and elevation of
soil above the natural surface of the earth in order to improve cultivating
conditions” </span><!--[if supportFields]><span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>ADDIN EN.CITE
<endnote><cite><author>Denevan</Author><year>1974</Year><recnum>1025</RecNum><displaytext>(Denevan
and Turner,
1974)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1025</rec-number><foreign-keys><key
app="EN"
db-id="f290ee9r8fxwviestx3xvxxbar29azddatdp">1025</key></foreign-keys><ref-type
name="Journal
Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Denevan,
William M.</author><author>Turner, B.
L.</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Forms,
functions and associations of raised fields in the old world
tropics</title><secondary-title>Journal of tropical
geography</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Journal
of tropical
geography</full-title></periodical><pages>24-33</pages><volume>39</volume><dates><year>1974</year></dates><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote><span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">(<a href="file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/D/Administration/blog/blog%20raised%20fields.docx#_ENREF_2" title="Denevan, 1974 #1025"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Denevan and Turner, 1974</span></a>)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">. Raised fields have received a lot
of attention in studies related to pre-Columbian demography. They have been
considered key in allowing dense populations of complex societies to inhabit seasonally
flooded regions of South America in pre-Columbian times. Beyond their academic
interest, raised field agriculture has also become popular among rural
development workers and aid agencies working with small farmers in South
America. For more than 30 years now, some archaeologists and NGOs have favoured
the “re-introduction” of this pre-Columbian agricultural technique among modern
day farmers. In their view, raised fields (which are considered analogous to
the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa" target="_blank">Chinampa</a> system in Mexico) represent a promising pro-poor agricultural
innovation which is more productive and sustainable than traditional agriculture
(which, in the neo tropics is, basically, slash and burn). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">A few days
ago, Philippe C. Baveye published on-line a thorough debunk of such proposals </span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>ADDIN EN.CITE
<endnote><cite><author>Baveye</Author><recnum>1407</RecNum><displaytext>(Baveye)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1407</rec-number><foreign-keys><key
app="EN"
db-id="f290ee9r8fxwviestx3xvxxbar29azddatdp">1407</key></foreign-keys><ref-type
name="Journal
Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Baveye,
Philippe
C.</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Comment
on “Ecological engineers ahead of their time: The functioning of pre-Columbian
raised-field agriculture and its potential contributions to sustainability
today” by Dephine Renard et al</title><secondary-title>Ecological
Engineering</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Ecological
Engineering</full-title></periodical><number>0</number><keywords><keyword>Sustainable
development</keyword><keyword>Indigenous knowledge</keyword><keyword>Ecologically
intensive agriculture</keyword><keyword>Ecosystem
engineers</keyword></keywords><dates></dates><isbn>0925-8574</isbn><urls><related-urls><url>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857412003527</url></related-urls></urls><electronic-resource-num>http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2012.11.011</electronic-resource-num></record></Cite></EndNote><span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">(<span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://goo.gl/Rsplv" target="_blank">Baveye in press</a></span>)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB"> . It is a comment to a paper by
Renard et al </span><!--[if supportFields]><span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>ADDIN EN.CITE
<endnote><cite><author>Renard</Author><year>2012</Year><recnum>1205</RecNum><displaytext>(Renard
et al., 2012)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1205</rec-number><foreign-keys><key
app="EN"
db-id="f290ee9r8fxwviestx3xvxxbar29azddatdp">1205</key></foreign-keys><ref-type
name="Journal
Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Renard,
D.</author><author>Iriarte, J.</author><author>Birk, J.
J.</author><author>Rostain, S.</author><author>Glaser,
B.</author><author>McKey, D.</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Ecological
engineers ahead of their time: The functioning of pre-Columbian raised-field
agriculture and its potential contributions to sustainability
today</title><secondary-title>Ecological
Engineering</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Ecological
Engineering</full-title></periodical><pages>30-44</pages><volume>45</volume><keywords><keyword>Ecologically
intensive agriculture</keyword><keyword>Ecosystem
engineers</keyword><keyword>Neotropical region</keyword><keyword>Raised-field
agriculture</keyword><keyword>Rehabilitation</keyword><keyword>Wetlands</keyword></keywords><dates><year>2012</year></dates><isbn>0925-8574</isbn><urls><related-urls><url>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857411001030</url></related-urls></urls><electronic-resource-num>10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.03.007</electronic-resource-num></record></Cite></EndNote><span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">(<a href="file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/D/Administration/blog/blog%20raised%20fields.docx#_ENREF_4" title="Renard, 2012 #1205"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Renard et al., 2012</span></a>)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB"> where the authors advocate for the
adoption of raised fields agriculture among modern farmers. The main points that
Baveye puts forwards are: 1) There is no evidence that raised fields have
supported dense populations in the past; 2) the pre-Columbian Chinampa system
is unique. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the productivity of the
South-American raised fields, which are very different from the Mexican
Chinampas, was comparable to that of the Chinampas; and 3) the purpose of
raised fields was limited to water management:
soil drainage and/or irrigation. We reach very similar conclusions in </span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>ADDIN EN.CITE
<endnote><cite><author>Lombardo</Author><year>2011</Year><recnum>383</RecNum><displaytext>(Lombardo
et al., 2011)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>383</rec-number><foreign-keys><key
app="EN"
db-id="f290ee9r8fxwviestx3xvxxbar29azddatdp">383</key></foreign-keys><ref-type
name="Journal
Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Lombardo,
Umberto</author><author>Canal-Beeby,
Elisa</author><author>Fehr,
Seraina</author><author>Veit,
Heinz</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Raised
fields in the Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk
mitigation strategy?</title><secondary-title>Journal of
Archaeological Science</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Journal
of Archaeological
Science</full-title></periodical><pages>502-512</pages><volume>38</volume><number>3</number><dates><year>2011</year></dates><isbn>03054403</isbn><urls></urls><electronic-resource-num>10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.022</electronic-resource-num></record></Cite></EndNote><span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">(<a href="file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/D/Administration/blog/blog%20raised%20fields.docx#_ENREF_3" title="Lombardo, 2011 #383"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Lombardo et al., 2011</span></a>)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">. It is important to highlight that
none of the projects designed to reintroduce raised field agriculture among
small farmers in Bolivia and Peru have ever worked (actually, I am not aware of
any successful rehabilitation anywhere in the Americas). Local farmers have no
idea or knowledge about this ancient practice: this kind of indigenous
knowledge was lost hundreds of years ago when the Spaniards got to America. Therefore,
besides the technical problems described above, another reason behind this
large scale failure is that raised field agriculture has been entirely “invented”
by archaeologists and NGOs: the latest example I know of raised field
rehabilitation project failures comes from an Oxfam project in the Beni - Bolivian
Lowlands. The picture below shows the current state of the raised fields built
by Oxfam in 2009, amid an important media coverage and support (for example, see
this <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8187866.stm" target="_blank">BBC article</a></span><span lang="EN-GB">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R_7r-jCXBgw/UOrv3J0pUNI/AAAAAAAAAU0/MfpqgNr6qNY/s1600/Oxfam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R_7r-jCXBgw/UOrv3J0pUNI/AAAAAAAAAU0/MfpqgNr6qNY/s400/Oxfam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In 2011
raised fields were also built in the northern Beni.</span>You see the state of the fields during the summer 2012 (photo below).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n3IlLA948PA/UOrww6XX4PI/AAAAAAAAAVA/3hVwUSdcWc8/s1600/Camellones_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n3IlLA948PA/UOrww6XX4PI/AAAAAAAAAVA/3hVwUSdcWc8/s400/Camellones_large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Hopefully, Baveye’s
comment will contribute to make researchers more cautious before proposing the ‘reintroduction’
of raised field agriculture in rural communities.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>References</b></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Ecological+Engineering&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Comment+on+%E2%80%9CEcological+engineers+ahead+of+their+time%3A+The+functioning+of+pre-Columbian+raised-field+agriculture+and+its+potential+contributions+to+sustainability+today%E2%80%9D+by+Dephine+Renard+et+al&rft.issn=&rft.date=2013&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.ecoleng.2012.11.011&rft.au=Baveye%2C+Philippe+C.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture">Baveye, Philippe C. (2013). Comment on “Ecological engineers ahead of their time: The functioning of pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture and its potential contributions to sustainability today” by Dephine Renard et al <span style="font-style: italic;">Ecological Engineering</span></span><br />
<br />
Denevan, W. M., and Turner, B. L., 1974, Forms, functions and associations of raised fields in the old world tropics: Journal of tropical geography, v. 39, p. 24-33.<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.jas.2010.09.022&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Raised+fields+in+the+Bolivian+Amazonia%3A+a+prehistoric+green+revolution+or+a+flood+risk+mitigation+strategy%3F&rft.issn=03054403&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=38&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=502&rft.epage=512&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0305440310003444&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.&rft.au=Canal-Beeby%2C+E.&rft.au=Fehr%2C+S.&rft.au=Veit%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture"><br /></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.jas.2010.09.022&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Raised+fields+in+the+Bolivian+Amazonia%3A+a+prehistoric+green+revolution+or+a+flood+risk+mitigation+strategy%3F&rft.issn=03054403&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=38&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=502&rft.epage=512&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0305440310003444&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.&rft.au=Canal-Beeby%2C+E.&rft.au=Fehr%2C+S.&rft.au=Veit%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture">Lombardo, U., Canal-Beeby, E., Fehr, S., & Veit, H. (2011). Raised fields in the Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk mitigation strategy? <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Archaeological Science, 38</span> (3), 502-512 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.022" rev="review">10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.022</a></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Ecological+Engineering&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.ecoleng.2011.03.007&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Ecological+engineers+ahead+of+their+time%3A+The+functioning+of+pre-Columbian+raised-field+agriculture+and+its+potential+contributions+to+sustainability+today&rft.issn=09258574&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=45&rft.issue=&rft.spage=30&rft.epage=44&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0925857411001030&rft.au=Renard%2C+D.&rft.au=Iriarte%2C+J.&rft.au=Birk%2C+J.&rft.au=Rostain%2C+S.&rft.au=Glaser%2C+B.&rft.au=McKey%2C+D.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture"><br /></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Ecological+Engineering&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.ecoleng.2011.03.007&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Ecological+engineers+ahead+of+their+time%3A+The+functioning+of+pre-Columbian+raised-field+agriculture+and+its+potential+contributions+to+sustainability+today&rft.issn=09258574&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=45&rft.issue=&rft.spage=30&rft.epage=44&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0925857411001030&rft.au=Renard%2C+D.&rft.au=Iriarte%2C+J.&rft.au=Birk%2C+J.&rft.au=Rostain%2C+S.&rft.au=Glaser%2C+B.&rft.au=McKey%2C+D.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture">Renard, D., Iriarte, J., Birk, J., Rostain, S., Glaser, B., & McKey, D. (2012). Ecological engineers ahead of their time: The functioning of pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture and its potential contributions to sustainability today <span style="font-style: italic;">Ecological Engineering, 45</span>, 30-44 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.03.007" rev="review">10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.03.007</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-61089525325631876362012-12-19T11:04:00.001+01:002012-12-19T14:40:53.168+01:00Trinidad 2013?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The Llanos
de Moxos, in the Bolivian Amazon, are a fascinating site. Full of
archaeological remains, striking and diverse tropical fauna and flora and many indigenous
cultures. The Llanos covers about 150.000 km<sup>2</sup> of seasonally flooded
savannah. For many years it has been largely neglected by the scientific
community, only a handful of researchers have worked in the area. Fortunately,
things are now beginning to change. In the last half a decade several new
researchers (including myself) have decided to study this fascinating region.
As far as I know, there are now several ongoing research projects in the LM. I
list here those that come to mind:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.geography.unibe.ch/content/forschungsgruppen/palaeo__geooekologie/forschung/index_eng.html" target="_blank">Us, thePaleoGeoEcology group from University of Bern.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://amazonwalker.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">John Walker, who has recently set up a very interesting blog about the BolivianAmazon.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.dainst.org/en/project/moxos-bolivien?ft=all" target="_blank">Heiko Prümers’ group, who have been doing archaeological research and excavations in theregion for over a decade</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/#TopofPage" target="_blank">Clark Erickson, who has been working in the LM since the seventies.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/francis-mayle(8bf66e0c-1c29-4f64-b52e-64f9cff90fbd).html" target="_blank">Francis Mayle’s group, who are producing the first pollen archives from the LM’s lakes</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/iriarte/" target="_blank">José Iriarte’s group, who are using phytoliths to study pre-Columbian agriculture.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.bolivia.ird.fr/investigacion/proyectos-de-investigacion/departamento-medio-ambiente-y-recursos/ore-hybam" target="_blank">The ORE-HYBAMproject of the IRD, who have published several papers on the Hydrology of theLM.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Rolf_Aalto&tab=research" target="_blank">Rolf Aalto,who studies the sedimentation processes along the Beni and Mamoré rivers</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://icta.uab.cat/Etnoecologia/research.php" target="_blank">Victoria Reyes-García’s group of anthropologists working with the Chimanes</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~epm29/" target="_blank">Eduardo Machicado, who is doing his PhD at Cambridge, focusing on the area of SanIgnacio de Moxos</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">A few weeks
ago, whilst reading <a href="http://amazonwalker.blogspot.it/2012/11/heiko-prumers-deutsches-archaologisches.html?showComment=1355922162819#c2582432906080507204" target="_blank">a post on John Walker’s blog</a>, I thought it would be great
if we could all meet next summer in Trinidad,Beni. Actually, Last year I already
talked about organising some kind of meeting among the ‘Moxos researchers’ with
Marcos Michel, currently Director of la Direccion General de Patrimonio
Cultural of the Bolivian Government, and with other people from the Governación
del Beni, and all seemed very keen with the idea. It would be great to share
some of our work and experiences among ourselves, but also among local researchers
and interested parties. There are plenty of Benianos who are passionate about
the past of the LM and some areperforming
their own research (such as Ricardo Bottega in Trinidad or Jaime Bocchetti in
Santa Ana de Yacuma). It could be really interesting to engage in an exchange
of ideas and experiences between “cientificos gringos” and Bolivianos! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">If you like
the idea and want to get involved you could do 2 things: 1) if you know of
other ongoing projects in the Llanos de Moxos you could send the link of this
page to those involved and send me their names (so that I can add them to the
list). 2) Let me know when would be the best time for you to have the meeting
in Trinidad, considering that it would have to be during the dry season
(June-October). Keep in mind that there is a conference on Amazonian
archaeology in Ecuador from the 7 to 14 of September, so we should avoid
overlapping. Although I am not entirely sure if the conference has been
confirmed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Cheers, and
I hope to see you in Trinidad next summer!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Umberto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-58549870526885346782012-08-24T20:25:00.000+02:002012-08-24T23:05:12.674+02:00How lake-like was Lake Pebas?<span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">What did the long<span class="st">-</span>lived
lake complex<span class="st"> in (nowadays) </span>western Amazonia <span style="font-style: normal;">look like</span><i> </i>during the Miocene?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">First a bit of context… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The geological history of
Amazonia has been profoundly influenced by the uplift of the Andes, which
started during the Paleogene, about 65 to 34 million years ago (Ma). When the <st1:place w:st="on">Andes</st1:place> reached the elevation of approximately <st1:metricconverter productid="2000 meters" w:st="on">2000 meters</st1:metricconverter>, they
caused massive rains because they stopped the movement of the clouds from east
to west. This huge increase in precipitation resulted in very high erosion
rates in the eastern side of the Andes and changed the sedimentation regime in
the Andean foreland and in Amazonia. At the same time, subsidence exceeded
sediment input creating swamps and lakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The thickness of the
deposited sediments reached more than <st1:metricconverter productid="1000 meters" w:st="on">1000 meters</st1:metricconverter>. It is not
clear if this happened between 23 and 10 Ma, due to the mechanism described
above (Hoorn et al. 2010a,b); or between 9 and 4.5 Ma, due to a reduction in
the subduction angle of the Nazca plate in the Central Andes that shifted the sedimentation
area eastward (Latrubesse et al. 2010). Nowadays these sediments constitute
what is known as the Pebas (Solimões in Brazil) formation, which outcrops in
several areas of Peru and Brazil. What did <st1:place w:st="on">Amazonia</st1:place>
look like during this period? The most accepted hypothesis suggests that a huge
system of lakes and wetlands formed in the foreland basin: the so-called <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Pebas</st1:placename></st1:place>.
It would seem that Lake <st1:placename w:st="on">Pebas</st1:placename> was connected
with the <st1:place w:st="on">Caribbean Sea</st1:place>. The instability of
this connection would contribute to explain the high diversity of fresh water
fish with marine ancestors that now live in the Amazon river system (Hubert and
Renno, 2006). You can find an in depth analysis of how the geological history
of South America shaped modern day Amazonia and its biodiversity in Hoorn et
al. (2010a). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Two weeks ago I was in
Iquitos-Peru for the Tropical Rivers 2012 conference, where we were taken on a
guided excursion along the river Amazon and shown, by Dr. Latrubesse, an
outcrop of the Pebas formation located a few hours by boat from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Iquitos</st1:city></st1:place> (fig. 1). This
outcrop holds clear indications (such as cross-bedding and climbing ripples) that
it was formed in a fluvial depositional environment.</span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GtRShOFZBDA/UDfF0YfaIQI/AAAAAAAAASQ/HAl93UcBoUU/s1600/pebas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GtRShOFZBDA/UDfF0YfaIQI/AAAAAAAAASQ/HAl93UcBoUU/s320/pebas.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fig 1 Outcrop of the Pebas formation near Iquitos-Peru</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">According to Latrubesse,
the sediments of the Pebas formation are fluvial and there is no stratigraphic
evidence of the thick and widespread lacustrine sediments that should be
expected if a huge lake the size of the Mediterranean Sea had been present in <st1:place w:st="on">Amazonia</st1:place> for 10 million years. Moreover, Latrubesse
claims that there is no evidence of tidal influence in the fossil record of the
Pebas formation. More on Latrubesse’s reconstruction of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Pebas</st1:placename></st1:place>
can be found in Latrubesse et al. (2010). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">My impression is that the
discussion about the existence of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">lake</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Pebas</st1:placename></st1:place> is more a matter of
definitions than a sedimentological problem. As a matter of fact, I cannot see much
difference between the “large wetland of shallow lakes and swamps” described by
Hoorn et al. (2010a) and the “avulsive rivers associated with megafan systems,
flood basins (swamps, lakes, internal deltas and splays) and soils developed on
flat dry areas” described by Latrubesse et al. (2010). In both cases, the
resulting sedimentary record would be characterized by low energy fluvial
deposition and back-swamp lakes. It seems to me that the whole discussion is
about how “lake-like” the Pebas lake/wetland actually was. On the other hand, it is not
clear that Hoorn and Latrubesse are talking about the same thing when referring
to Pebas. Latrubesse et al. say that Pebas was deposited in the late Miocene in
a fluvial environment while Hoorn et al. (2010b) say that the Pebas is a Middle
Miocene to early Late Miocene (~16 to 11.3 Ma) deposit characterized by lake-embayment
and swamp systems. But, Hoorn et al. (2010b) also define a Late Miocene fluvial-tidal-dominated
wetland phase (~11.3 to 7 Ma) called “Acre phase” which, again, would be pretty
similar to Latrubesse's reconstruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Quite more striking is the
disagreement with respect to the connection that the Pebas lake/wetland might
have had with the Caribbean Sea. While Latrubesse is quite certain that “there
is no evidence of a marine environment in the fossil record” other authors
state that the connection with the marine environment is well supported by the
paleontological evidence (see references in Hoorn et al. (2010a)). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">What do you think? Do you
agree with me that the sedimentological record of the scenario proposed by
Hoorn et al. (2010a,b) would be pretty much the same as that proposed by Latrubesse
et al. 2010? And how would you explain such a discrepancy in the interpretation
of the paleontological record? The paleontological record is also key to assess
when (Middle or Late Miocene?) the Pebas (Acre?) formation was deposited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">Ref. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Hoorn et al. (2010a).
"<st1:place w:st="on">Amazonia</st1:place> Through Time: Andean Uplift,
Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, and Biodiversity." Science 330(6006):
927-931. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Hoorn et al. (2010b). “The
development of the Amazonian mega-wetland (Miocene; Brazil, Colombia, Peru,
Bolivia)” in Hoorn and Wessenligh Eds. Amazonia: landscape and species
evolution<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Hubert and Renno (2006) “Historical
biogeography of South American freshwater fishes.” Journal of Biogeography 33:
1414–1436<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Latrubesse et al. (2010).
“The late Miocene paleogeography of the <st1:placename w:st="on">Amazon</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Basin</st1:placetype> and the evolution of the <st1:place w:st="on">Amazon River</st1:place> system” Earth-Science Reviews 99: 99-124. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Science&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1126%2Fscience.1194585&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia+Through+Time%3A+Andean+Uplift%2C+Climate+Change%2C+Landscape+Evolution%2C+and+Biodiversity&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Hoorn+et+al&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CGeosciences%2CPaleontology%2C+Evolutionary+Biology%2C+Geology">Hoorn et al (2010). Amazonia Through Time: Andean Uplift, Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, and Biodiversity <span style="font-style: italic;">Science</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1194585" rev="review">10.1126/science.1194585</a></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Earth-Science+Reviews+&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.earscirev.2010.02.005&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=The+late+Miocene+paleogeography+of+the+Amazon+Basin+and+the+evolution+of+the+Amazon+River+system&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Latrubesse+et+al&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CGeosciences%2CPaleontology%2C+Evolutionary+Biology%2C+Geology">Latrubesse et al (2010). The late Miocene paleogeography of the Amazon Basin and the evolution of the Amazon River system <span style="font-style: italic;">Earth-Science Reviews </span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.005" rev="review">10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.005</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-18725322619985835392012-07-03T18:28:00.001+02:002012-07-03T18:28:31.707+02:00Arqueologia da Floresta Tropical: Betty J. Meggers (1921-2012)<a href="http://arqueologiadaflorestatropical.blogspot.com/2012/07/betty-j-meggers-1921-2012.html?spref=bl">Arqueologia da Floresta Tropical: Betty J. Meggers (1921-2012)</a>: Texto extraído do site http://www.arqueo-ecuatoriana.ec Betty J. Meggers (19...Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-16235518256498158862012-06-20T15:37:00.005+02:002012-06-20T15:39:19.296+02:00People and environment in pre-Columbian Amazonia: two new proxies<span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">What
was the extent of human occupation and environmental impact in the
pre-Columbian Amazonia?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This
question has been at the center of much of the research on pre-Columbian Amazonia since Betty Meggers published her paper ‘Environmental
Limitation on the Development of Culture’ (1). The reconstruction of the
Amazon’s past is based on evidence obtained from the study of the present
landscape, sediments and archaeological remains. These ‘evidences’ are called
proxies. Pollen is a proxy for past vegetation, tree rings are proxies for past
climate variability, CO2 stored in the ice cores is a proxy for past levels of
atmospheric CO2 and so on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Paleo-ecologists,
geographers, archaeologists etc. trying to understand the region’s past have
first to look for proxies (this means going to the field and taking samples of
lacustrine sediments and/or soils, or going into the mountains after morains
and other glacial deposits); then they have to interpret the data gathered and assess
their significance (to what extent does this data represent a local or regional
event?): we can say that past values of CO2 inferred from ice cores are proxies
for past global concentrations of CO2 because the atmosphere is well mixed, but
we cannot say that the extent of a moraine in a particular valley indicates past
global temperature or precipitations, because local conditions in that valley
could have been (and very likely were) different from the conditions of a similar
valley in the other hemisphere. As the process involves different stages, datasets
and interpretations, it is not uncommon for researchers to disagree on the
conclusions. This has often been the case with regards to Amazonia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In
this post, I will try to provide a brief overview of the proxies (and their
interpretations and significance) that have been used to infer the extent of
the impact pre-Columbian populations had on Amazonia
and the contribution of a recent paper published in Science (2) to our
understanding of the region’s past.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
first proxies</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">When Betty Meggers wrote ‘Environmental
Limitation on the Development of Culture’ in the fifties (1), there was not
much data on Amazonia. At that time scientists
relied considerably on anthropological studies of modern indigenous communities
and on written documentation left by the first explorers. The fact that the
‘modern’ indigenous population in Amazonia was
limited to small nomadic and semi-nomadic groups was attributed to
environmental constraints: unfertile soils and frequent floods. As Amazonian
soils cannot support large and stable populations in modern times, it was
thought that, also in the past, Amazonia was
inhabited by small groups of hunters and gatherers. In contrast, written
reports from the first explorers described large and rich societies with plenty
of food and gold. Myths such as El
Dorado arose on the basis of these reports. However, as
the written reports contained some statements that were clearly false, such as
the existence of blond women warriors with only one breast (the “Amazonas” from
whom the river and the region took their names), these historical documents
were often disregarded and the consensus within the scientific community was
that Amazonia in the past only hosted small nomadic groups that did not have a significant
impact on the environment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The discovery of the “lost
cities”</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In the last 30 years, when
more funding, interest and technology became available to spur archaeological
research, scholars started to find new evidence of pre-Columbian complex
societies in those very places where Megger’s model of environmental determinism
predicted that they shouldn’t be. The discovery of raised fields and monumental
mounds in the Bolivian Amazon (3,4), the geometric ditches in the Acre (5), the
terra preta sites, the earthworks in the upper Xingù (6), the mounds in the
Marajo islands, were far more reliable proxies than ‘modern indigenous
communities’ and ‘old written reports’. More importantly, these discoveries
suggested that Betty Meggers’ model was wrong. Archaeologists (actually, in
most cases, North American Anthropologists) started speculating about the
significance of these discoveries and how they challenged the theory of
environmental determinism. Archaeological evidence showed that environmental
constrains did not limited cultural evolution in Amazonia
because human intelligence overcame them. People built highly productive raised
fields that were able to produce tons of Maize per hectare on a continuous
basis (without fallow periods); people transformed infertile oxisols in extremely
rich terra preta allowing the production of food surpluses that permitted the
rise of large and complex societies all over Amazonia. Pre-Columbian Amazonia was now seen by many as a “cultural parkland”
(6) and an “anthropogenic cornucopia” (7). Pre-Columbians practiced
agroforestry to such an extent that they contributed to the modern patterns of
Amazonian biodiversity. Some geographers, paleoecologists and climatologists
speculated about the large impact that pre-Columbians had on world climate: As
Amazonia was densely populated, then it was also extensively de-forested.
Following the discovery of the Americas
in 1492, 95% of the original population died because of the spread of the
diseases brought by the Europeans. The sharp decrease in population meant the
abandonment of the agricultural fields and the re-growth of the rainforest. The
forest absorbed huge amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere and, because of this,
contributed to trigger the Little Ice Age…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The latest paradigm shift</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The above reconstructions,
although exciting, have been considered too extreme by some scholars, including
myself (4,8); because there is insufficient paleoecological data or
archaeological evidence to support them. The main problems with the reconstructions
of pre-Columbian Amazonia as an “anthropogenic
cornucopia” are related to the interpretation and significance of the proxies
taken into account. Although it is a fact that there are thousand of hectares of
raised fields in the Bolivian Amazon (the proxy) it is not clear how they were
used and how productive they were (the interpretation). Moreover, there is no
basis for assuming that similar levels of landscape modification took place
elsewhere in Amazonia (the significance or
scope). The same is true for other proxies. For instance, terra preta. On what
basis do we interpret terra preta as an improved agricultural soil? We all
agree that within the Amazon basin there is evidence of past complex society,
but can we extrapolate from a few sites to the whole of Amazonia?
Till now, the most important argument against the “anthropogenic cornucopia”
theory has been the lack of data supporting it. As Betty Meggers said, it is all
about wishful thinking. But, a few days ago, a new paper by McMichael et al. (2)
added two new proxies to the debate: charcoal and phytoliths. They are actually
not new at all, but, for the first time, extensive parts of the Amazonian rain
forest have been sampled for the presence of these two proxies. Charcoal is a
proxy for fire and <i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal;">phytoliths</span></i>
are a proxy similar to pollen, <i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal;">phytoliths</span></i> tell us which kinds of plants were cultivated
(if any). Both of them have local significance because you can find them only in
the very place were the fire or the plants were. But, as McMichael et al.
sampled many spots in the Amazon rain forest (247 soil cores collected from 55
locations) , their results are now of regional significance. This is the first
time that we have a dataset obtained from the random sampling of an extensive
part of Amazonia, rather than mere
generalizations of data obtained from small and selected archaeological sites.
Based on the analysis of charcoal and phytoliths, McMichael et al. concluded
that most of Amazonia was “predominantly
occupied by relatively small and shifting human populations during the
pre-Columbian era”. This opens up a great and fascinating perspective for
future studies. If, as Meggers said more than half a century ago, environment
matters: what are the environmental opportunities that allowed the rise of
complex societies in some sites such as the Llanos de Moxos in the Bolivian
Amazon? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">There is still much to be
learnt about human-environment interactions in pre-Columbian Amazonia.
The Llanos de Moxos, with its great amount, diversity and spatial variability
of earthworks, is a promising site for future research.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=American+Anthropologist&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Environmental+Limitation+on+the+Development+of+Culture&rft.issn=&rft.date=1954&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=B.+J.+Meggers&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology+%2C+Agriculture%2C+Climate+Change%2C+Ecology%2C+Soil+Science%2C+Sustainability">1) B. J. Meggers (1954). Environmental Limitation on the Development of Culture <span style="font-style: italic;">American Anthropologist</span></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Science+%28New+York%2C+N.Y.%29&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F22700926&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Sparse+pre-Columbian+human+habitation+in+western+Amazonia.&rft.issn=0036-8075&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=336&rft.issue=6087&rft.spage=1429&rft.epage=31&rft.artnum=&rft.au=McMichael+CH&rft.au=Piperno+DR&rft.au=Bush+MB&rft.au=Silman+MR&rft.au=Zimmerman+AR&rft.au=Raczka+MF&rft.au=Lobato+LC&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"> </span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Science+%28New+York%2C+N.Y.%29&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F22700926&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Sparse+pre-Columbian+human+habitation+in+western+Amazonia.&rft.issn=0036-8075&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=336&rft.issue=6087&rft.spage=1429&rft.epage=31&rft.artnum=&rft.au=McMichael+CH&rft.au=Piperno+DR&rft.au=Bush+MB&rft.au=Silman+MR&rft.au=Zimmerman+AR&rft.au=Raczka+MF&rft.au=Lobato+LC&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">2) McMichael CH, Piperno DR, Bush MB, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Raczka MF, & Lobato LC (2012). Sparse pre-Columbian human habitation in western Amazonia. <span style="font-style: italic;">Science (New York, N.Y.), 336</span> (6087), 1429-31 PMID: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22700926" rev="review">22700926</a></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Pre-Columbian+human+occupation+patterns+in+the+eastern+plains+of+the+Llanos+de+Moxos%2C+Bolivian+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=37&rft.issue=8&rft.spage=1875&rft.epage=1885&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.%2C+Pr%C3%BCmers%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"> </span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Pre-Columbian+human+occupation+patterns+in+the+eastern+plains+of+the+Llanos+de+Moxos%2C+Bolivian+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=37&rft.issue=8&rft.spage=1875&rft.epage=1885&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.%2C+Pr%C3%BCmers%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">3) Lombardo, U., Prümers, H. (2010). Pre-Columbian human occupation patterns in the eastern plains of the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazonia <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Archaeological Science, 37</span> (8), 1875-1885</span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Raised+fields+in+the+Bolivian+Amazonia%3A+a+prehistoric+green+revolution+or+a+flood+risk+mitigation+strategy%3F&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=38&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.%2C+Canal-Beeby%2C+E.%2C+Fehr%2C+S.+and+Veit&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"> </span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Raised+fields+in+the+Bolivian+Amazonia%3A+a+prehistoric+green+revolution+or+a+flood+risk+mitigation+strategy%3F&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=38&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.%2C+Canal-Beeby%2C+E.%2C+Fehr%2C+S.+and+Veit&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">4) Lombardo, U., Canal-Beeby, E., Fehr, S. and Veit (2011). Raised fields in the Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk mitigation strategy? <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Archaeological Science, 38</span> (3)</span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Antiquity&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Pre-Columbian+geometric+earthworks+in+the+upper+Pur%C3%BAs%3A+a+complex+society+in+western+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2009&rft.volume=83&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=P%C3%A4rssinen%2C+M.%2C+Schaan%2C+D.%2C+and+Ranzi%2C&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">5) Pärssinen, M., Schaan, D., and Ranzi (2009). Pre-Columbian geometric earthworks in the upper Purús: a complex society in western Amazonia <span style="font-style: italic;">Antiquity, 83</span></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Science+%28New+York%2C+N.Y.%29&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F14500979&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia+1492%3A+pristine+forest+or+cultural+parkland%3F&rft.issn=0036-8075&rft.date=2003&rft.volume=301&rft.issue=5640&rft.spage=1710&rft.epage=4&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Heckenberger+MJ&rft.au=Kuikuro+A&rft.au=Kuikuro+UT&rft.au=Russell+JC&rft.au=Schmidt+M&rft.au=Fausto+C&rft.au=Franchetto+B&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"> </span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Science+%28New+York%2C+N.Y.%29&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F14500979&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia+1492%3A+pristine+forest+or+cultural+parkland%3F&rft.issn=0036-8075&rft.date=2003&rft.volume=301&rft.issue=5640&rft.spage=1710&rft.epage=4&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Heckenberger+MJ&rft.au=Kuikuro+A&rft.au=Kuikuro+UT&rft.au=Russell+JC&rft.au=Schmidt+M&rft.au=Fausto+C&rft.au=Franchetto+B&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">6) Heckenberger MJ, Kuikuro A, Kuikuro UT, Russell JC, Schmidt M, Fausto C, & Franchetto B (2003). Amazonia 1492: pristine forest or cultural parkland? <span style="font-style: italic;">Science (New York, N.Y.), 301</span> (5640), 1710-4 PMID: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14500979" rev="review">14500979</a></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=in+Handbook+of+South+American+archaeology%2C+edited+by+H.+Silverman+and+W.+H.+Isbell&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia%3A+the+historical+ecology+of+a+domesticated+landscape&rft.issn=&rft.date=2008&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Erickson%2C+C.+L&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology"> </span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=in+Handbook+of+South+American+archaeology%2C+edited+by+H.+Silverman+and+W.+H.+Isbell&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Amazonia%3A+the+historical+ecology+of+a+domesticated+landscape&rft.issn=&rft.date=2008&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Erickson%2C+C.+L&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology">7) Erickson, C. L (2008). Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape <span style="font-style: italic;">in Handbook of South American archaeology, edited by H. Silverman and W. H. Isbell</span></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Mid-+to+late+Holocene+fluvial+activity+behind+pre-Columbian+social+complexity+in+the+south-western+Amazon+basin&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.%2C+May%2C+J-H.+and+Veit%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Hydrology"> </span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Mid-+to+late+Holocene+fluvial+activity+behind+pre-Columbian+social+complexity+in+the+south-western+Amazon+basin&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.%2C+May%2C+J-H.+and+Veit%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Hydrology">8) Lombardo, U., May, J-H. and Veit, H. (2012). Mid- to late Holocene fluvial activity behind pre-Columbian social complexity in the south-western Amazon basin <span style="font-style: italic;">The Holocene</span></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-68201816456742942252012-04-30T15:11:00.001+02:002012-04-30T17:20:13.408+02:00Effects of the expanding agriculture frontier in the Bolivian Amazon<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" /></a>Last
week, a paper published in Nature spurred a lot of debates on the internet
about the future of agriculture and our ability to feed the 9 billion people
that the world will have in 2050. One important aspect related to this debate
is the availability of agricultural land. However, people do not always have a clear
idea of what expanding the agriculture land means. Here an example of what is
happening in one of the most biodiversily rich places of the world: the Bolivan
Amazon. Let’s just have a look at a few Google earth’s images of the Lake
Peroto in the Llanos de Moxos (dep. of Beni in the Bolivian Amazon).<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OapjDt9LCPE/T56KJguqkBI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/EkpLyF00uZ4/s1600/lake_17-5-2003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OapjDt9LCPE/T56KJguqkBI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/EkpLyF00uZ4/s320/lake_17-5-2003.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image taken the 17 of May 2003. Land use is extensive cattle ranching. Typical floating vegetation (locally called “yomomo”) is growing along the shores of Lake Peroto.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-71xQCGAADaA/T56KpSg-rdI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ikPzrnrQBtU/s1600/20-11-2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-71xQCGAADaA/T56KpSg-rdI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ikPzrnrQBtU/s320/20-11-2004.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image taken the 20th of Nov 2004. Land use is extensive cattle ranching. It is the end of the dry season, and the water level is extremely low. In the greenish areas inside the lakes water is almost completely evaporated. This is normal in the Llanos de Moxos, where seasonality can be extreme</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PYApa71tqm0/T56LA9VqubI/AAAAAAAAAQg/O9Qcm3zrd7w/s1600/2-7-2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PYApa71tqm0/T56LA9VqubI/AAAAAAAAAQg/O9Qcm3zrd7w/s320/2-7-2009.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image taken the 2nd of July 2009. Land use is extensive cattle ranching. We are at the beginning of the dry season, water level is quite high, the water is clearly visible.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ERRJP-hj35g/T56LiJumjJI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/mNu_nau81tY/s1600/26-8-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ERRJP-hj35g/T56LiJumjJI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/mNu_nau81tY/s320/26-8-2011.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image taken the 8th of August 2011. Land use is extensive cattle ranching <u>plus industrial agriculture</u>. 70 hectares of land in the surroundings of the lake have been used to produce rice.<br />
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: small;">What happened to the lake in 2011? Now the lake is almost completely covered with vegetation... Is it dry? Or is it the first effect of land use change: eutrophication? </span><span style="font-size: small;">Based on my personal experience of having been working in the Llanos de Moxos for more than 10 years now and based on the fact that the nearby Lake Suarez is full of water (photo below) on the 15 of August 2011, I would conclude that Lake Peroto is in process of eutrophication.</span></span></div>
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PhCDntCmwp0/T56MkQpcPeI/AAAAAAAAARA/DwyJzYrJkDw/s1600/Suarez_15-8-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PhCDntCmwp0/T56MkQpcPeI/AAAAAAAAARA/DwyJzYrJkDw/s320/Suarez_15-8-2011.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Suarez. Image taken the 15th of August 2011. The lake is full.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: justify;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Industrial agriculture in the Beni is already causing deforestation and threatening archaeological sites (<a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com.es/2011/06/soybean-industrial-production-is.html" target="_blank">see this</a>). Now it is also affecting lake ecology. Is industrial agriculture what people in the Beni really need? Does this kind of agriculture make any sense in a place with a density population of 1 person per square kilometre? Here, a very important part of the population lives in indigenous communities whose subsistence depends on local natural resources. What will happen to them in ten years’ time if these resources are depleted?</span><br />
<br />
Ref:</div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Nature&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F22535250&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Comparing+the+yields+of+organic+and+conventional+agriculture.&rft.issn=0028-0836&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Seufert+V&rft.au=Ramankutty+N&rft.au=Foley+JA&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CApplied+Anthropology%2C+Agriculture%2C+Conservation%2C+Ecology%2C+Environment%2C+Environmental+Health%2C+Sustainability%2C+Hydrology%2C+Soil+Science">Seufert V, Ramankutty N, & Foley JA (2012). Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture. <span style="font-style: italic;">Nature</span> PMID: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22535250" rev="review">22535250</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-11559393194101048232012-03-14T19:31:00.000+01:002012-03-14T20:31:29.824+01:00A story of people and rivers in the Amazon of 5000 years ago<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_mid.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This time I will tell you about a story that began in the
Mid-Holocene (5000 years ago) and is set in the Bolivian Amazon. More precisely
in the south-eastern part of the Llanos de Moxos seasonally flooded savannah,
in what we call the Monumental Mounds Region MMR (Fig. 1). Here, between 400 and 1400 AD, pre-Columbians
built hundreds of monumental earth mounds, known locally as “lomas”. These earth
mounds are planned, complex buildings made by one or more pyramids built on top
of elevated platforms (Fig. 3-3). Monumental
mounds can be up to 20 meters high and can cover up to 30 hectares. In the MMR there
are more than 350 of these pre-Columbian buildings.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nSQSiMTNLE/T2DhBNULeLI/AAAAAAAAANk/fkIPSogfrJA/s1600/TheLM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nSQSiMTNLE/T2DhBNULeLI/AAAAAAAAANk/fkIPSogfrJA/s320/TheLM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Figure 1 The Llanos de Moxos, the MMR (yellow<br />
box) and the
paleo-courses of Río Grande (pink lines). </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During the early Holocene (between 11.000 and 5.000 years
ago) this portion of Amazonia was relatively dryer than today, inundations were
less frequent and rivers transported few sediments. During these stable
climatic conditions there was no deposition of fluvial sediments in the
savannahs and soils were forming all over the Llanos de Moxos. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mid- Holocene: Río
Grande built the landscape<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But things changed a lot during the Mid-Holocene, between 5
and 4Ky BP. The Rio Grande (pink lines in Fig. 1) entered in a period of
frequent avulsions and high sedimentation, probably triggered by a climate
change towards wetter conditions. As a result, in the South-eastern LM, it
formed a fluvial distributary system (FDS) (Fig. 2-1). Suddenly, the landscape
was transformed into a large swamp, dominated by something similar to an
interior delta. This FDS deposited several levees, crating relief at a local
scale (Fig. 2-2), and a sedimentary lobe, creating relief at a regional scale
(Fig. 2-3). The former soils were buried and the landscape became a mosaic of
patches of savannahs closely interwoven and sometimes enclosed by forested
paleo-levees.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qYxD0pO-8Xc/T2Dh4GxVeNI/AAAAAAAAANs/Lw2owDejYfw/s1600/Fig2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qYxD0pO-8Xc/T2Dh4GxVeNI/AAAAAAAAANs/Lw2owDejYfw/s640/Fig2.jpg" width="578" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Late Holocene:
pre-Columbians transformed the landscape<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">In
the MMR, the lobe deposition favoured the development of a complex
pre-Columbian society by increasing the region’s agricultural potential.
Firstly, it created a convex-up topography, which greatly reduced its
susceptibility to flooding; secondly, the construction of the elevated fluvial
levees significantly improved drainage conditions at the local scale.
Furthermore, the Río Grande also provided relatively younger sediments derived
from its Andean catchment that are rich in nutrients. Thus, the Río Grande
removed the two biggest obstacles faced by tropical agriculture in the rest of
Amazonia: severe waterlogging and poor soils. But the Río Grande’s job was not
perfect: fluvial levees enclosed patches of floodplain, resulting in ponding
and pronounced waterlogging. Thus pre-Columbian people had to transform the
landscape through the construction of a drainage system in order to further
improve agricultural conditions (Fig. 3-1).</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UJcxbBmtTos/T2DiaeZTkTI/AAAAAAAAAN0/Iaohvs0rSZE/s1600/PRG_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UJcxbBmtTos/T2DiaeZTkTI/AAAAAAAAAN0/Iaohvs0rSZE/s640/PRG_1.jpg" width="556" /></a></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The network of canals had a significant impact on the
edaphology of the MMR: it pushed the forest-savannah boundary towards the
savannah, eventually increasing the area of well-drained, usable land. The inhabitants
of the MMR were very lucky because they also had several lakes placed on the
top of the sedimentary lobe. Building canals that transported the water from
the lakes to the agricultural fields (Fig. 4), they were able to perform
agriculture even during the dry season. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The spatial overlap </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 23px;">(Fig. 3-2)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> between the monumental mounds and the area of
deposition of the sedimentary lobe created by the Río Grande during the mid- to
late Holocene suggests that good edaphic conditions favoured the
emergence of the monumental mounds culture (Fig. 3-3).</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QSLvB6SNgnc/T2Ditru_AMI/AAAAAAAAAN8/Ds6K54Ftzn0/s1600/Mounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QSLvB6SNgnc/T2Ditru_AMI/AAAAAAAAAN8/Ds6K54Ftzn0/s640/Mounds.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">The
fluvial landscape created by Río Grande was probably an important factor
behind the emergence of the monumental mounds culture in the South-eastern LM,
as it provided favourable environmental preconditions in terms of soils,
nutrients and drainage characteristics. Pre-Columbians additionally modified
and improved their environment by building a network of drainage canals.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4QJnthOgFuU/T2Di9iseF6I/AAAAAAAAAOE/8Mj-B09RO1o/s1600/DrainageCanal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4QJnthOgFuU/T2Di9iseF6I/AAAAAAAAAOE/8Mj-B09RO1o/s640/DrainageCanal.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
Figure 4 (<b>a</b>) <span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">Drainage canal (A–B) and irrigation canal (C–D) </span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">built
along topographic slopes.</span> (<b>b</b>)<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">The C–D canal in detail;</span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;"> the irrigation canal linking
Lake San José to the Cotoca </span><span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">mound </span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">joins pre-existing natural channels. Coring
in the middle of </span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">the canal shows that the bed of the canal is only 50cm below </span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">the present bed (which is about 50 cm below the modern savannah). </span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">Therefore,
this canal was at most 1 meter deep but went through a slope </span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: 8.5pt;">of 3 meters. The
only possible function of such a canal was irrigation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can find more on this story in my latest paper published
on-line in the journal “The Holocene”. It is entitled “Mid- to late-Holocene
fluvial activity behind pre-Columbian social complexity in the southwestern
Amazon basin” and can be found <a href="http://hol.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/03/14/0959683612437872.abstract" style="font-size: xx-large;" target="_blank">here</a>.<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.jas.2010.02.011&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Pre-Columbian+human+occupation+patterns+in+the+eastern+plains+of+the+Llanos+de+Moxos%2C+Bolivian+Amazonia&rft.issn=03054403&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=37&rft.issue=8&rft.spage=1875&rft.epage=1885&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0305440310000749&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.&rft.au=Pr%C3%BCmers%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CArcheology+%2C+Climate+Science%2C+Geology%2C+Soil+Science%2C+Sustainability%2C+Sociocultural+Anthropology">Lombardo, U., & Prümers, H. (2010). Pre-Columbian human occupation patterns in the eastern plains of the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazonia <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Archaeological Science, 37</span> (8), 1875-1885 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.02.011" rev="review">10.1016/j.jas.2010.02.011</a></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Mid-+to+late-Holocene+fluvial+activity+behind+pre-Columbian+social+complexity+in+the+southwestern+Amazon+basin&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fhol.sagepub.com%2Fcontent%2Fearly%2F2012%2F03%2F14%2F0959683612437872.abstract&rft.au=Umberto+Lombardo&rft.au=Jan-Hendrik+May&rft.au=Heinz+Veit&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Geology%2C+Sociocultural+Anthropology%2C+Climate+Science"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Mid-+to+late-Holocene+fluvial+activity+behind+pre-Columbian+social+complexity+in+the+southwestern+Amazon+basin&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fhol.sagepub.com%2Fcontent%2Fearly%2F2012%2F03%2F14%2F0959683612437872.abstract&rft.au=Umberto+Lombardo&rft.au=Jan-Hendrik+May&rft.au=Heinz+Veit&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Geology%2C+Sociocultural+Anthropology%2C+Climate+Science">Umberto Lombardo, Jan-Hendrik May, & Heinz Veit (2012). Mid- to late-Holocene fluvial activity behind pre-Columbian social complexity in the southwestern Amazon basin <span style="font-style: italic;">The Holocene</span></span><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Mid-+to+late-Holocene+fluvial+activity+behind+pre-Columbian+social+complexity+in+the+southwestern+Amazon+basin&rft.issn=&rft.date=2012&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fhol.sagepub.com%2Fcontent%2Fearly%2F2012%2F03%2F14%2F0959683612437872.abstract&rft.au=Umberto+Lombardo&rft.au=Jan-Hendrik+May&rft.au=Heinz+Veit&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Geology%2C+Sociocultural+Anthropology%2C+Climate+Science"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><br />
<i><br /></i>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-78419733967679043392012-02-24T11:07:00.001+01:002012-02-24T16:16:00.979+01:00Pre-Columbian cherry picking by the New York Times<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1177%2F0959683611414932&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Spatial+and+temporal+scales+of+pre-Columbian+disturbance+associated+with+western+Amazonian+lakes&rft.issn=0959-6836&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=22&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=131&rft.epage=141&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fhol.sagepub.com%2Fcgi%2Fdoi%2F10.1177%2F0959683611414932&rft.au=McMichael%2C+C.&rft.au=Bush%2C+M.&rft.au=Piperno%2C+D.&rft.au=Silman%2C+M.&rft.au=Zimmerman%2C+A.&rft.au=Anderson%2C+C.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture%2C+Conservation%2C+Ecology%2C+Soil+Science"><span lang="EN-US">A
few weeks ago, the NYT published an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/world/americas/land-carvings-attest-to-amazons-lost-world.html?_r=1" target="_blank">article</a> </span></span>about
pre-Columbian Amazonia. The journalist reported the discovery of pre-Columbian
geometric ditches in the Brazilian Acre. These were actually discovered a
decade ago and were already described in a book edited by Pärsinnen et al (2003)
and again by Pärsinnen et al (2009) in <i>Antiquity, </i>who called them “geoglyphs”. Till
today, no one knows what those ditches were excavated for. As Pärsinnen et al.
(2009) say: “<i>The function, or functions,
of the geoglyphs remain a mystery</i>”. However, the author of the NYT article
says that this discovery shows that Amazonia was densely populated in
pre-Columbian times and is “potentially upending the conventional understanding
of the world’s largest tropical rain forest”.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But,
how can we draw conclusions about how pre-Columbian Amazonia looked like on the
basis of something that we don't even know what it is? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
can already hear the answer of those who are pushing for the idea of a densely populated
Amazonia: it is not only the geoglyphs! What about the terra preta? And the
high productive agriculture of the raised fields? And the complex societies of
the upper Xingú? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well,
all these archaeological features have one thing in common: they are found in
sites that cover a very small and often peripheral part of Amazonia. But, let’s
explore these arguments one by one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Terra
preta</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terra
preta is an organic anthrosol that is found in small patches (normally less
than 2 hectares) distributed on the bluffs of large Amazonian rivers. Terra preta indicates the presence of
pre-Columbian settlements. But it does not say how many people were living
there at any given time or how complex those groups of people were from a
social point of view. Many publications put together terra preta and terra
mulata under the same label of Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) and then speculate
about large areas of high productive soils. But Terra preta properties cannot
be extended to terra mulata (which, for example, has far less phosphorous
compared with terra preta and lacks the pottery). As I have already discussed
<a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com/2011/07/1-of-amazonia-is-made-of-terra-preta-is.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-data-about-amazonian-dark-earth-ade.html" target="_blank">here</a>, the claims about terra preta being the product of intentional
transformation of soil for high productive agriculture have no scientific basis.
Glaser and Birck (in press), who are among the greatest experts of the geochemical
properties of terra preta, say in their latest paper “there is no scientific
evidence indicating that forgotten agricultural techniques for large scale soil
fertility improvement are responsible for terra preta genesis.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Raised
fields</b>:<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
high productivity of raised field agriculture in South America has never been
demonstrated. I wrote a paper about this last year (Lombardo et al. 2011) were it
is shown that raised fields in the Bolivian Amazon (which is, by far, the place
with the highest amount of raised fields in Amazonia) were built to avoid water
logging during periods of extreme precipitations. They were not a pre-Columbian
green revolution but a means to adapt and survive in an unfriendly environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
<b>Upper Xingú</b> (Heckenberger, 2003):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In
the upper Xingú, as Meggers (2003) puts it, the “clear evidence” of complex and
large societies is anything but clear: “<i>Heckenberger
et al. state that domestic remains cover about 50 to 60% of the ditched areas
and would represent 10 to 24 houses with 12 to 16 occupants each, but provide
no archaeological evidence for these estimates</i>.”[...] “<i>Heckenberger et al. assert that “Xinguano cultivation and land
management…provides a viable alternative” to modern clear-cutting strategies,
but they do not describe them.</i>” […] “<i>Even
if Heckenberger et al.'s analysis were acceptable, it would have no bearing on
the controversy over the pre-Columbian existence of dense settlements and complex
social organization in Amazonia. Like other regions with ditches, causeways,
and mounds (the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivia; Acre and Marajó, Brazil; and the
western Llanos, Venezuela), the Upper Xingu is environmentally and
geographically peripheral to the rainforest</i>. “<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This last quote is probably
the most important. In fact, even if we consider all the archaeological sites
as evidence of pre-Columbian complex societies, they are all located in the
peripheral regions of Amazonia or along the river floodplains called varzea,
the belt of seasonally flooded areas that flanks the Amazonian rivers. Varzea
accounts for only the 2% of the Amazon Basin. The problems of extrapolating
from these few sites to the whole Amazonia have been extensively discussed by
Bush and Silman (2007) and more recently by <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">McMichael</span>
et al (2011) </span><span lang="EN-US">and
Barlow et al (2011). </span>Based
on lake sediments and charcoal distribution analyses, these researchers
conclude that human disturbance in Pre-Columbian Amazonia was localized. As
Mark Bush, from the <span style="color: #403838;">Florida Institute of Technology</span>,
clearly states: “It is very unlikely that the majority of Amazonia was strongly
impacted by human activity.” (<a href="http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/news/events/amazon/bush.pdf" target="_blank">PDF of his talk here</a>). In the words of <span style="color: #2e2e2e;">Barlow</span> et al. (2011): “<i><span style="color: #2e2e2e;">We therefore urge caution before presuming
that findings from a few well studied regions can be extrapolated to the entire
Amazon, and reject the idea that the pristine myth has been thoroughly debunked
by archeological evidence</span>. Instead<span style="color: #2e2e2e;">, we suggest
that the influence of historical peoples occurred along gradients, with high
impacts in settlements and small and scattered Amazonian Dark Earths, moderate
impacts where enrichment planting occurred or where forests were affected by
anthropogenic wildfires, and finally a largely imperceptible footprint from
subsistence hunting and resource extraction across vast tracts of Amazonian
forests that are far from permanent settlements and navigable rivers</span></i>
”.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How
is it possible that the NYT’s journalist, while writing his piece, didn’t bump
into any of these papers?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">William
Woods, a geographer at the University of Kansas, is quoted by the NYT saying: “<i>If one wants to recreate pre-Columbian
Amazonia, most of the forest needs to be removed, with many people and a
managed, highly productive landscape replacing it</i>”. But, I think that before
the scientific community accepts the idea that Amazonia was a highly productive
anthropogenic landscape we need far more evidence than rectangular ditches in
the Acre and patches of anthrosol.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Post scriptum</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: justify;">All this has
important implications for our understanding of the <b>resilience of Amazon
ecosystems </b>and the scale of <b>deforestation in pre-Columbian Amazonia</b>.
Understanding how resilient Amazon ecosystems are can help inform present and
future development and conservation policies for the region. If, as some
authors suggest, there was considerable human disturbance in pre-Columbian
Amazonia, then we can conclude that Amazonia is highly resilient and that the
current degradation of its ecosystems may be reversible. On the other hand, if
this resilience is overestimated, then mistaken policies can lead to
irreversible loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (Bush and Silman,
2007). Understanding the extent of pre-Columbian human disturbance of Amazonia
is a prerequisite in order to assess the possible influence that post-contact
re-forestation had on global climate. It has been estimated that pre-Columbian
population in Amazonia fell by 95% after the spread of diseases that followed
the arrival of the Spaniards. This sharp fall in population would have meant
that large areas under cultivation before the conquest were abandoned and
re-colonized by the rainforest. As Amazonia is one of the largest terrestrial
players in the global carbon cycle, it has been suggested that the
reforestation that followed the conquest could have sequestrated enough CO</span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: justify;">2 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: justify;">from the atmosphere to become an important factor in triggering the
Little Ice Age. More on this <a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com/2011/09/stone-axes-and-little-ice-age-lia.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>References</b></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">-Bush, M. B., and Silman, M. R., 2007, Amazonian exploitation revisited: ecological asymmetry and the policy pendulum: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, v. 5, no. 9, p. 457-465.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">-Glaser, B., and Birk, J. J., In Press, State of the scientific knowledge on properties and genesis of Anthropogenic Dark Earths in Central Amazonia (terra preta de Índio): Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">-Heckenberger, M. J., Kuikuro, A., Kuikuro, U. T., Russell, J. C., Schmidt, M., Fausto, C., and Franchetto, B., 2003, Amazonia 1492: pristine forest or cultural parkland?: Science, v. 301, p. 1710-1714.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">-Lombardo, U., Canal-Beeby, E., Fehr, S., and Veit, H., 2011, Raised fields in the Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk mitigation strategy?: Journal of Archaeological Science, v. 38, no. 3, p. 502-512.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">-Meggers, B. J., 2003, Revisiting Amazonia Circa 1492: Science, v. 302, p. 2067.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">-Pärssinen, M., Schaan, D., and Ranzi, A., 2009, Pre-Columbian geometric earthworks in the upper Purús: a complex society in western Amazonia: Antiquity, v. 83, p. 1084-1095.</span></div>
<span class="Z3988" style="font-size: xx-small;" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1177%2F0959683611414932&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Spatial+and+temporal+scales+of+pre-Columbian+disturbance+associated+with+western+Amazonian+lakes&rft.issn=0959-6836&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=22&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=131&rft.epage=141&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fhol.sagepub.com%2Fcgi%2Fdoi%2F10.1177%2F0959683611414932&rft.au=McMichael%2C+C.&rft.au=Bush%2C+M.&rft.au=Piperno%2C+D.&rft.au=Silman%2C+M.&rft.au=Zimmerman%2C+A.&rft.au=Anderson%2C+C.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture%2C+Conservation%2C+Ecology%2C+Soil+Science">-McMichael, C., Bush, M., Piperno, D., Silman, M., Zimmerman, A., & Anderson, C. (2011). Spatial and temporal scales of pre-Columbian disturbance associated with western Amazonian lakes <span style="font-style: italic;">The Holocene, 22</span> (2), 131-141 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683611414932" rev="review">10.1177/0959683611414932</a></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" style="font-size: xx-small;" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Biological+Conservation&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.biocon.2011.10.013&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=How+pristine+are+tropical+forests%3F+An+ecological+perspective+on+the+pre-Columbian+human+footprint+in+Amazonia+and+implications+for+contemporary+conservation&rft.issn=00063207&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS000632071100382X&rft.au=Barlow%2C+J.&rft.au=Gardner%2C+T.&rft.au=Lees%2C+A.&rft.au=Parry%2C+L.&rft.au=Peres%2C+C.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Soil+Science%2C+Sustainability%2C+Ecology%2C+Conservation%2C+Agriculture">-Barlow, J., Gardner, T., Lees, A., Parry, L., & Peres, C. (2011). How pristine are tropical forests? An ecological perspective on the pre-Columbian human footprint in Amazonia and implications for contemporary conservation <span style="font-style: italic;">Biological Conservation</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.013" rev="review">10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.013</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-23781312100679470632012-02-20T13:26:00.000+01:002012-02-20T14:03:22.786+01:00The Climate War<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Climate is changing. This is like an obvious conclusion if you are
old enough to remember how it was only 20 or 30 years ago. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“</span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Non c'è più la mezza stagione</i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">” (</span><em style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-style: normal;">“There are no more middle seasons” which is the Italian equivalent of “Things are not what they used to be”</span></em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> is one of the
most used expression when travelling on the train in Italy,</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> like a mantra used to start any conversation.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Less commonly accepted among the general public is that the cause
of this change towards a warmer climate is CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) we
humans release into the atmosphere. It is not uncommon to hear people say this is not true. Many, not only in the USA, think that “the left-wing political
agenda is behind the global warming (GW) hoax”. What is quite surprising is
that among scientists there is not such a controversy. All climatologists (but
a few outliers…) agree on the fact that anthropogenic gases are responsible for
the GW. So, how is it possible that we have such a schizophrenic society in
which scientists and the general public have different opinions on scientific
issues? If the public do not base their opinion about science on what
scientists say, where do those opinions come from?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Well, there is now a very interesting book on sale that explains
it all.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>The Hockey Stick and
the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines</b>,<span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>by Michael Mann. Mann is a
climatologist who has been involved, for the last 10 years, in the big battle
that is being fought between scientists, on one side, and conservative
journalists, politicians and corporations on the other side. I really enjoyed
reading it for several reasons: you get quite a good understanding of how
Science works; you end up learning a lot about climatology and you get a
thorough historical reconstruction that provides you with a fair answer to the
questions above. If you have sufficient economic means, you can take one of the
basic principles of science (nothing is “true”, everything is under scrutiny)
and sell it to the public as “they don’t know what they are talking about”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I strongly recommend the book. If you are a scientist or you
already know enough about climate science, this book can offer you a valuable
historical reconstruction of one of the saddest examples of what happens when
Science falls under political intimidation. If you belong to those who still
do not have a clear idea about what is going on with the so called “climategate”,
or who call themselves “sceptical”, this book can give you a precise idea of
what the “climategate” actually is and will make you far less “sceptical”. On
the other hand, if you believe that GW is a liberal hoax, don’t buy the book.
Science is not for “believers”. Science is for the real sceptical, who can
change idea once enough evidence is provided.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Ref.</span></div>
<h1 id="_booktitle" style="background: white; line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15254-9/the-hockey-stick-and-the-climate-wars" target="_blank">The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the
Front Lines</a> by Michael E. Mann</span></h1>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Nature&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1038%2F33859&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Global-scale+temperature+patterns+and+climate+forcing+over+the+past+six+centuries&rft.issn=00280836&rft.date=1998&rft.volume=392&rft.issue=6678&rft.spage=779&rft.epage=787&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Fdoifinder%2F10.1038%2F33859&rft.au=Mann%2C+M.&rft.au=Bradley%2C+R.&rft.au=Hughes%2C+M.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Geosciences%2CSocial+Science%2CResearch+%2F+Scholarship%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CClimate+Science%2C+Atmosphere+Science%2C+Sustainability%2C+Political+Science%2C+Ethics%2C+Policy%2C+Science+Communication">Mann, M., Bradley, R., & Hughes, M. (1998). Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries <span style="font-style: italic;">Nature, 392</span> (6678), 779-787 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/33859" rev="review">10.1038/33859</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-35561426920956964052011-12-13T15:45:00.000+01:002011-12-13T21:45:54.261+01:00What is Amazonia?<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is not a trivial question. Researchers writing about Amazonia very rarely
provide a definition. This ambiguity has
important research implications, as often when discussing Amazonia those
involved have different ideas of what is being discussed… For example, In Meggers’ paper which I
reviewed in my previous post, she disagrees with another archaeologist’s
definition of Amazonia. Erikson, in his article entitled “Amazonia: the
historical ecology of a domesticated landscape”, refers to Amazonia as “the
entire region drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries”(Erickson 2008: 158). So, how would you define
Amazonia? You could say, like Erickson , that it coincides with the basin of
the Amazon River, but then you would be including a big portion of the Andes. But
glaciers located 6000 m.s.l. don’t match our idea of a lush Amazonia, do they? Another
option could be to consider Amazonia only that part of the Amazon Basin that is
covered by rainforest. Well, this looks better, but you would exclude important
areas like the savannahs. Moreover, the size of the rainforest changes over
time: the boundaries of the rainforest we see today are different from those it
had 15000 years ago, and, with the expansion of industrial agriculture,
forested areas have been shrinking significantly in the last 20-30 years. It is
very unpractical to have to change the limits of what we call Amazonia each
time the boundaries of the rainforest move. Meggers (2011) states that: “Amazonia is defined by geographers and
ecologists as the portion of tropical lowland South America below 1,500 meters,
where the average difference in annual temperature does not exceed 5ºF, rain
falls on 130 or more days of the year, and relative humidity normally exceeds
80%. Typical vegetation consists of rainforest, with small enclaves of savannah
where soil conditions inhibit plant growth.” However, she doesn’t say who are
these “geographers and ecologists” and does not provide any references for
this.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While looking for a good paper that defines Amazonia I found
out that the European Commission, in collaboration with the Amazon Cooperation
Treaty Organization, created in 2005 a task force of experts with the objective
of defining the geographical boundaries of Amazonia. Scientists from different
disciplines, such as climatology, hydrology, botany, zoology, ecology and
biogeography, came together in a two day workshop to reach a consensus (Eva et al. 2005).<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The criteria used to draw the map of Amazonia (Fig. 1) were <b>Hydrography</b>, <b>Ecology</b> and <b>Biogeography</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You can download the study <a href="http://ecosynapsis.net/RANPAold/Contenido/MainPages/preAmac/articulosPDF/Amazonia%20Limites.pdf" target="_blank">here</a><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qILRrm8Yl-o/TudjPxM5TEI/AAAAAAAAALo/N79CxFgzg8I/s1600/Amazonia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qILRrm8Yl-o/TudjPxM5TEI/AAAAAAAAALo/N79CxFgzg8I/s400/Amazonia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1 -<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">U</span></b><b style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">NIT </span></b><b style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; text-align: -webkit-auto;">= Amazon and Tocantins river basins [“</span><i style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amazon Basin</span></i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; text-align: -webkit-auto;">” or “</span><i style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hydrographical Amazonia</span></i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; text-align: -webkit-auto;">”]</span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ia </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Lowland rainforest biota of the Amazon and Tocantins River basins [“</span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lowland Amazon<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Basin rainforest</span></i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">” or “</span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amazonia sensu stricto</span></i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">”]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ib </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Andes (non-lowland biota of the Andean Amazon Basin, > 700 m asl)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ic </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Planalto (non-lowland biota of the southern Amazon Basin)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">U</span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">NIT </span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">II </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Amazon lowland rainforest types outside Unit I<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">IIa </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Guiana<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">IIb </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Gurupí<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ia + IIa + IIb </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Entire Amazon lowland rainforest biome [“</span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hylaea</span></i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">” or “</span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amazonia sensu lato</span></i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">”]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I + II </span></b><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">= Amazon and Tocantins river basins + Amazon lowland rainforest biome outside the basin<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">[“</span><i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amazonia sensu latissimo”</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">]</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As you see in Fig. 1, they have defined Amazonia <i>sensu stricto</i> (the “real” Amazonia) as
the area enclosed by the polygon Ia; and Amazonia <i>sensu lato</i> as the area enclosed by the polygons Ia+IIa+IIb (it is
not the “real” Amazonia but you can call it Amazonia because it all looks
alike). It would be great if, from now on and to avoid misunderstandings,
archaeologists, geographers and paleoecologists that work in Amazonia could use
this definition. Eva et al. have
provided us with valuable operative tools
that we can all use. Unfortunately, the European Commission forgot to make their
file of the Amazonian boundaries available for download! I have been looking
for it everywhere, but haven’t found anything. I asked for it through the EC
web page, but I got no answer. A bit disappointing, considered that we paid for
it! <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Anyway, as I wanted to have a file that can be used in ArcGis,
I resolved to digitalize the map of Amazonia myself. I also decided to
distribute it. But, for now, you have to contact me via <a href="http://www.geography.unibe.ch/content/forschungsgruppen/palaeo__geooekologie/gruppenportrait/phd/index_eng.html" target="_blank">e-mail</a> because I don't know yet how to upload it :-). I will put a link as soon as I figure out how to do it. I hope there is no
copyright infringement in this… well, if there is, they will say something …<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
References<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">
Erickson, C. L. 2008.
Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape. In <i>Handbook of South American archaeology</i>,
eds. H. Silverman and W. H. Isbell, 157-183. Berlin: Springer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -36pt;">
Meggers,
B. J. 2011. Handbook of South American Archaeology Reviewed by Betty J.
Meggers. <i>Revista de Antropología Chilena</i>
43 (1):147-157.</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Office+for+Official+Publications+of+the+European+Communities&rft_id=info%3A%2FEUR+21808-EN&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=A+proposal+for+defining+the+geographical+boundaries+of+Amazonia&rft.issn=&rft.date=2005&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fecosynapsis.net%2FRANPAold%2FContenido%2FMainPages%2FpreAmac%2FarticulosPDF%2FAmazonia%2520Limites.pdf&rft.au=Eva%2C+Hugh+D.&rft.au=Huber%2C+Otto&rft.au=Achard%2C+Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric&rft.au=Balslev%2C+Henrik&rft.au=Beck%2C+Stephan+G.&rft.au=Behling%2C+Hermann&rft.au=Belward%2C+Alan+S.&rft.au=Beuchle%2C+Ren%C3%A9%2C&rft.au=Cleef%2C+Antoine+M.&rft.au=Colchester%2C+M.&rft.au=Duivenvoorden&rft.au=Joost+F.&rft.au=Hoogmoed%2C+Marinus+Steven&rft.au=Junk%2C+Wolfgang+Johannes&rft.au=Kabat%2C+P.&rft.au=Kruijt%2C+Bart&rft.au=Malhi%2C+Yadvinder&rft.au=M%C3%BCller%2C+Jan+Marco&rft.au=Pereira%2C+Jos%C3%A9+M.+C.&rft.au=Peres%2C+Carlos&rft.au=Prance%2C+Ghillean&rft.au=Roberts%2C+John&rft.au=Salo%2C+Jukka&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Ecology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Agriculture%2C+Conservation%2C+Ecology%2C+Environment">Eva, Hugh D., Huber, Otto, Achard, Frédéric, Balslev, Henrik, Beck, Stephan G., Behling, Hermann, Belward, Alan S., Beuchle, René,, Cleef, Antoine M., Colchester, M., Duivenvoorden, Joost F., Hoogmoed, Marinus Steven, Junk, Wolfgang Johannes, Kabat, P., Kruijt, Bart, Malhi, Yadvinder, Müller, Jan Marco, Pereira, José M. C., Peres, Carlos, Prance, Ghillean, Roberts, John, & Salo, Jukka (2005). A proposal for defining the geographical boundaries of Amazonia <span style="font-style: italic;">Office for Official Publications of the European Communities</span> : EUR 21808-EN</span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-72548441868755422932011-12-05T15:03:00.001+01:002011-12-05T15:14:35.626+01:00Review of Betty J. Meggers‘ review of the Handbook of South American Archaeology<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Betty J. Meggers has been working in Amazonian archaeology
for more than 50 years. She has recently published a review of the Handbook of
South American Archaeology, which is of great relevance to all of us working on
the paleoecology of Amazonia during the Holocene. You can download her paper
<a href="http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0717-73562011000100014&script=sci_arttext&tlng=e" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The paper discusses 3 fundamental aspects of the South
American archaeology: i) how contemporary Amazonian archaeologists’ interpretation
of the archaeological record has been biased by the abandonment of the
classical archaeological methods of pottery analysis; ii) the origin of new
world pottery and iii) the relationship between environmental conditions and
cultural development in Amazonia.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Classical archaeologists spent months on end drawing and
analysing thousands of pieces of pottery. In the first part of her paper,
Meggers explains why this meticulous work is a fundamental step in scientific
archaeology: “Pottery can be decorated using an essentially unlimited number of
techniques and motifs without affecting the utility of the vessel, making
independent duplication of identical decoration unlikely”. Therefore, the
analysis of pottery’s details and decorations allows us to distinguish
diffusion (cultural aspects which are transmitted form one cultural group to
another) form independent invention, where a cultural trait arises
spontaneously in a given population. According to Meggers, some of the authors
of the Handbook omit this important task, undermining the strength of their
interpretation of archaeological records<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pottery analysis is the criteria that Meggers uses to
discuss, in the second part of her paper, the origin of new world pottery. Many
archaeologists that have contributed to the Handbook believe that pottery was
independently invented in Amazonia. In Meggers’ view, the similitudes between
Japanese Jomon pottery and the Valdivia pottery (which is the oldest pottery in
America, dating 6000 BP) are too many to be the result of some form of
“cultural convergence”. Moreover, she highlights that the period of Valdivia
pottery coincides with a catastrophic volcanic eruption in Japan, which could
have pushed groups of Japanese fishermen towards the American coasts. Hence,
these Japanese fishermen would have influenced the pottery of early Americans. .<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the Handbook, Amazonia is depicted as a “manufactured
landscape” or “anthropogenic cornucopia”. In the third part of her paper, Meggers
assesses whether or not such descriptions of Amazonia are supported by the
archaeological evidence. She shows that the evidence is actually very weak: the
idea of widespread human occupation of pre-Columbian Amazonia is not supported
by pollen, phytolith and charcoal analysis, which indicate that vast areas of
Amazonia have never faced human disturbance; no systematic archaeological
excavation has ever been performed that supports the assumption that large
permanent settlements were common in Amazonia; many of the earthworks often
cited in support of the “manufactured landscape” idea are concentrated in the
Llanos de Moxos, which are ecologically quite different from the tropical
rainforest that covers most of the Amazon basin; there is no evidence
suggesting that ADE was created for intensive agriculture or to exclude that
slash and burn agriculture was a common practice among pre-Columbian people.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Despite the fact that the bibliography of Meggers’ paper is not
as large as it could have been, it can still serve as a good introduction to
the archaeology of Amazonia for anyone who wants to get into the heart of the current
debates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Revista+de+Antropolog%C3%ADa+Chilena&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Handbook+of+South+American+Archaeology+reviewed+by+Betty+J.+Meggers&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=43&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=147&rft.epage=157&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scielo.cl%2Fscielo.php%3Fpid%3DS0717-73562011000100014%26script%3Dsci_arttext%26tlng%3De&rft.au=Betty+J.+Meggers&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture">Betty J. Meggers (2011). Handbook of South American Archaeology reviewed by Betty J. Meggers <span style="font-style: italic;">Revista de Antropología Chilena, 43</span> (1), 147-157</span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-16427697304854509602011-11-29T20:30:00.001+01:002011-11-29T20:43:01.994+01:00Special Issue: Environmental changes and pre-Columbian human influence in the Amazon region<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The last number of Geographica Helvetica is a special issue
about Amazonia entitled “Environmental changes and pre-Columbian human
influence in the Amazon region”. Among the authors there are two prominent
pollen specialists, Behling, H. and Mayle, F.E.; the phytogeographer Langstroth, R.; and several members (and ex members) of the <a href="http://www.geography.unibe.ch/content/forschungsgruppen/palaeo__geooekologie/gruppenportrait/index_eng.html" target="_blank">paleo-geoecological group</a> at Bern
University, including myself. Abstracts can be accessed <a href="http://www.geographicahelvetica.unibas.ch/FMPro?-DB=gh_hefte.fp3&-SortField=Code&-SortOrder=Descend&-Format=actual_en.html&-error=error_en.html&-Lay=liste&-max=1&-FindAll" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our paper, co-authored by Canal-Beeby, E. and Veit, H., is
entitled “<b><i>Eco-archaeological regions in the Bolivian Amazon. An overview of
pre-Columbian earthworks linking them to their environmental settings</i></b>”.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The discovery of extensive pre-Columbian earthworks in
north-eastern Bolivia has been seen as evidence that Amazonia was once densely
populated by complex societies. This has led some scholars to believe that
culture evolved in Amazonia regardless of environmental constraints. However,
this view does not take the diversity of earthworks and geo-ecological regions
into account, nor their uneven distribution. This paper offers an initial
explanation of the possible links that exist between the different types of
earthworks in north-eastern Bolivia and their environmental settings and
identifies six distinct eco-archaeological regions. Results show a spatial
overlap between those areas with greater evidence of past complex societies and
areas where environmental constraints were fewer. This suggests that local
hydrology and soils influenced the development of pre-Columbian societies in
the region.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Geographyca+Helvetica&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Eco-archaeological+regions+in+the+Bolivian+Amazon.+An+overview+of+pre-Columbian+earthworks+linking+them+to+their+environmental+settings&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=66&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=173&rft.epage=182&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geographicahelvetica.unibas.ch%2FFMPro%3F-DB%3Dgh_abstr.fp3%26-error%3Derror_en.html%26-Format%3Dabstract_en.html%26-op%3Dcn%26-Lay%3Dliste%26Seiten_von%3D173%26Seiten_bis%3D182%26HeftID%3A%3AJahrgang%3D2011%26HeftID%3A%3ANummer%3D3%26-Find&rft.au=Lombardo%2C+U.&rft.au=Canal-Beeby%2C+E.&rft.au=Veit%2C+H.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture%2C+Ecology%2C+Hydrology">Lombardo, U., Canal-Beeby, E., & Veit, H. (2011). Eco-archaeological regions in the Bolivian Amazon. An overview of pre-Columbian earthworks linking them to their environmental settings <span style="font-style: italic;">Geographyca Helvetica, 66</span> (3), 173-182</span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-90409107268375613022011-11-03T09:16:00.000+01:002011-11-03T14:22:10.602+01:00The extent of human disturbance in pre-Columbian Amazonia<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 15px;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Understanding the extent to which
pre-Columbian peoples altered and deforested the Amazon basin is key in order
to assess i) the impact that pre-Columbians had on global climate during the
Holocene [<i>Dull et al.</i>, 2010] and ii) the resilience of the Amazon rainforest
to human disturbance [<i>Bush and Silman</i>, 2007]. The first point is
essential to our understanding of the major drivers behind climate fluctuations
during the Holocene, and hence to help predict future fluctuations. The second
point is important to inform conservation and development policies in Amazonia.
Unfortunately, the scarcity of archaeological and paleoecological data from the
Amazon Basin has favoured the proliferation of “reconstructions of the past”
that are hard to test. Some of these theories have reached broad
audiences thanks to the echo provided by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/eldorado.shtml"><span style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration: none;">popular media</span></a> and
books [<i>Mann</i>, 2005]. New archaeological findings that suggest the
existence of complex societies in pre-Columbian Amazonia have led some
researchers to define the Amazon Basin as a “manufactured landscape” or an
“anthropogenic cornucopia” [<i>Balée and Erickson</i>, 2006; <i>Erickson</i>,
2008]. There are 3 different lines of research that can help assess
whether or not these reconstructions are accurate. One is to focus on those
regions that host important archaeological remains and study the evidence of
complex societies. This work is already being carried out by some
archaeologists such as <a href="http://www.dainst.org/en/project/moxos-bolivien?ft=all"><span style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration: none;">Heiko Prümers</span></a>.
The second area of research is to examine <i>if</i> and <i>how </i>the
development of complex societies in the region were influenced by local
environmental constraints and opportunities. This is the kind of work that I am
carrying out in the Llanos de Moxos and hope to discuss in another post
quite soon J (<a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com/2011/04/human-environment-interactions-in-pre.html"><span style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration: none;">briefly
introduced here…</span></a>). Another area of research that can help us
understand the Amazon’s past is to test if the level of human disturbance
associated with the sites where evidence of complex societies has been
discovered can be extrapolated to the rest of the Amazon basin. A
milestone paper that looks at the latter, and <a href="http://umba-moxos.blogspot.com/2011/07/1-of-amazonia-is-made-of-terra-preta-is.html"><span style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration: none;">that has been
often cited in this blog</span></a>, is Bush and Silman (2007).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">A few weeks ago, The Holocene published on-line a new paper that delves
deep into this question, providing interesting new data [<i>McMichael et al.</i>,
2011]. McMichael et al. test the hypothesis that human disturbance was
widespread in the Amazon Basin during pre-Columbian times (as some authors have
suggested). If this hypothesis is true and the disturbance was widespread then,
the authors argue, the sites where permanent settlements were likely to have
established should show sedimentary evidence of that disturbance. Hence, they
cored lakes (considered by the authors as preferred settlement sites) and
sampled soils in the vicinity of the lakes and looked at charcoal and
phytoliths. They found that charcoal record was discontinuous and localized.
They then concluded, based on the sedimentary evidence: “Our data suggest that
while all of the settings examined were occupied or used, the halo of influence
around each was limited. It should not be assumed that intensive landscape
transformations by prehistoric human populations occurred throughout Amazonia
or that Amazonian forests were resilient in the face of heavy historical
disturbance”. The paper suggests that pre-Columbians developed into complex
societies and substantially altered their environment in those areas where
environmental conditions were favourable. They predict that these sites can be
found along the main rivers and in those parts of the Amazon Basin that are
characterized by a strong seasonality (like the Llanos de Moxos).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">In my opinion this paper is a
beautiful piece of Science and I invite you to read it!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 15px;">
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<b>References:</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Balée,
W., and C. L. Erickson (2006), Time, complexity and historical ecology, in <i>Time and complexity in historical ecology:
studies in the neotropical lowlands</i>, edited by W. Balée and C. L. Erickson,
pp. 1-17, Columbia University Press, New York.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1050248510534718852" name="_ENREF_1"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bush,
M. B., and M. R. Silman (2007), Amazonian exploitation revisited: ecological
asymmetry and the policy pendulum, <i>Frontiers
in Ecology and the Environment</i>, <i>5</i>(9),
457-465.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1050248510534718852" name="_ENREF_2"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Dull,
R. A., R. J. Nevle, W. I. Woods, D. K. Bird, S. Avnery, and W. M. Denevan
(2010), The Columbian Encounter and the Little Ice Age: Abrupt Land Use Change,
Fire, and Greenhouse Forcing, <i>Annals of
the Association of American Geographers</i>, <i>100</i>(4), 755-771.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1050248510534718852" name="_ENREF_3"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Erickson,
C. L. (2008), Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape, in <i>Handbook of South American archaeology</i>,
edited by H. Silverman and W. H. Isbell, pp. 157-183, Springer, Berlin.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Mann,
C. C. (2005), <i>1491 New revelations of the
Americans before Columbus</i>, Vintage books, New York.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1050248510534718852" name="_ENREF_5"><br /></a></div>
</div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+Holocene&rft_id=info%3A%2F10.1177%2F0959683611414932&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Spatial+and+temporal+scales+of+pre-Columbian+disturbance+associated+with+western+Amazonian+lakes&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=C.+H.+McMichael&rft.au=M.+B.+Bush&rft.au=D.+R.+Piperno&rft.au=M.+R.+Silman&rft.au=A.+R.+Zimmerman&rft.au=C.+Anderson&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Ecology%2C+Sustainability%2C+Conservation%2C+Climate+Change%2C+Agriculture">C. H. McMichael, M. B. Bush, D. R. Piperno, M. R. Silman, A. R. Zimmerman, & C. Anderson (2011). Spatial and temporal scales of pre-Columbian disturbance associated with western Amazonian lakes <span style="font-style: italic;">The Holocene</span> : <a href="http://www.blogger.com/10.1177/0959683611414932" rev="review">10.1177/0959683611414932</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-52017225970093486722011-10-19T14:43:00.000+02:002011-10-20T12:54:19.699+02:00About maize, manioc and agricultural production in pre-Columbian Amazonia<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<br />
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
A new paper from Dickau et al., recently published on-line by
the Journal of Archaeological Sciences, brings us back to one of the favourite
themes of this blog: pre-Columbian agriculture in the Amazon Basin. The work of
Dickau et al. confirms the findings of Bruno (2010), also a co-author in Dickau
et al., and provides more data from new sites. They have analysed botanical
remains from 2 pre-Columbian monumental mounds east of Trinidad (Loma
Salvatierra and Loma Mendoza) and from another site, a ring ditched village
called “Granja del padre”, about 200 Km far from the mounds, close to Bella
Vista(see location in Fig 1 and photo of the ring village in Fig 1a). Analysis
of macro and micro botanical remains from Loma Salvatierra and Mendoza and from
Granja del padre suggests that the most common cultivated species was maize (<i>Zea mais</i> L.). It was present in almost
all samples and fairly abundant. The second most common cultivated species
seems to have been manioc (<i>Manihot esculenta</i> Crantz).
Interestingly, maize was also more frequently encountered on ceramic graters,
which were thought to be processing tools for grating manioc . They recovered
starch grains from artefacts and clearly identified 5 grain of yucca vs. 115 of
maize. This is really surprising because
manioc is a good source of energy and far easier to cultivate than maize. Ceramic
graters can be found all over the Llanos.
It can be easily assumed that manioc was cultivated all over the Llanos de Moxos
because, provided good drainage, manioc can grow even on very bad, acid,
aluminium rich soils. I was actually persuaded that raised fields, elevated
earth platforms that were user as agricultural surface, were built to provide
drained land for manioc. But now, it seems that maize, and not manioc, was the
most important crop in the Llanos de Moxos.</div>
<div class="Default">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_rg5KHLh3ro/Tp7CngorSgI/AAAAAAAAALA/IelGXL6UNaY/s1600/map_fig_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_rg5KHLh3ro/Tp7CngorSgI/AAAAAAAAALA/IelGXL6UNaY/s640/map_fig_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<span lang="ES">Figure </span><span lang="ES">1</span><span lang="ES">. The Llanos de Moxos. </span>Red triangles are the Salvatierra and Mendoza mounds.
a) Google Earth photo of the Granja del padre with the approximate locations of
the archaeological excavations in yellow.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="Default">
</div>
<div class="Default">
We have to consider that starch grain analysis is still a developing technique and the variables that affect preservation of different taxa are not yet fully understood. But, if this data is confirmed by other researches, we could start considering
ceramic graters (Fig 2) as a proxy for maize consumption. As ceramic graters
are found everywhere in the Llanos de Moxos, a direct link between ceramic
grates and maize would indicate that maize was used all over the region.</div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KTpFAdfTeAc/Tp7DAsEu5QI/AAAAAAAAALI/OhlsLDRZt_w/s1600/Pottery1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KTpFAdfTeAc/Tp7DAsEu5QI/AAAAAAAAALI/OhlsLDRZt_w/s1600/Pottery1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
Figure 2. Fragment of a ceramic grater from the Llanos de
Moxos<o:p></o:p></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="Default">
This opens up a very interesting topic for future research:
was maize cultivated in all the sites where it was consumed? This is not a
trivial question because maize is a very demanding crop: it needs many
nutrients and a lot of water, but rots if the soil is waterlogged. In the
Llanos de Moxos soils and hydrology change a lot from one place to another. For
example, while soils in the region of the Salvatierra and Mendoza mounds form
over fertile mid-Holocene fluvial sediments (Lombardo et al. coming soon, I
hope <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> ),
la Granja del padre is found on saprolites (rotten granite rocks), very acid
and poor in nutrients. Moreover, in the region of Bella Vista, no raised fields
or Amazonian Dark Earths have been reported. So, did they grow maize using
slash and burn agriculture? If so, this would have greatly limited potential
population density in the area, as slash and burn agriculture is considerably extensive.
Each family needs at least 30-40 hectares of forest for cultivation and far
more as a reservoir for hunting and medicinal plants. Or was maize “imported” from
other regions? Exchanged for other goods? The estimation of pre-Columbian population
density, and the extent of pre-Columbian de-forestation, is a controversial
issues among ecologists, geographers and archaeologists working in Amazonia. More
studies like that of Dickau et al. are needed in order to shed some light on the
past of Amazonia during the late Holocene. Their work adds important new data
to the discussion, although we are still far from fully understanding what was
going on in the Bolivian lowlands between 2000 and 500 BP.</div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Archaeological+Science&rft_id=info%3A%2F10.1016%2Fj.jas.2011.09.021&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Diversity+of+cultivars+and+other+plant+resources+used+at+habitation+sites+in+the+Llanos+de+Mojos%2C+Beni%2C+Bolivia%3A+Evidence+from+macrobotanical+remains%2C+starch+grains%2C+and+phytoliths&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Ruth+Dickau&rft.au=Maria+C.+Bruno&rft.au=Jos%C3%A9+Iriarte&rft.au=Heiko+Pr%C3%BCmers&rft.au=Carla+Jaimes+Betancourt+Irene+Holst&rft.au=Francis+E.+Mayle&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Agriculture%2C+Sustainability">Ruth Dickau, Maria C. Bruno, José Iriarte, Heiko Prümers, Carla Jaimes Betancourt Irene Holst, & Francis E. Mayle (2011). Diversity of cultivars and other plant resources used at habitation sites in the Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia: Evidence from macrobotanical remains, starch grains, and phytoliths <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Archaeological Science</span> : <a href="http://www.blogger.com/10.1016/j.jas.2011.09.021" rev="review">10.1016/j.jas.2011.09.021</a></span>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-25383780520991100342011-09-26T10:42:00.002+02:002011-09-26T10:55:13.677+02:00Stone axes and the Little Ice Age (LIA)<span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">What do stone axes have to do with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age">LIA</a> ?</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In his famous paper entitled “The anthropogenic greenhouse
era began thousands of years ago” Ruddiman [2003]
put forward a fascinating idea: “CO2 oscillations of </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">∼</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">10
ppm in the last 1000 years are too large to be explained by external
(solar-volcanic) forcing, but they can be explained by outbreaks of bubonic
plague that caused historically documented farm abandonment in western Eurasia.
<st1:place w:st="on">Forest</st1:place> regrowth on abandoned farms sequestered
enough carbon to account for the observed CO2 decreases. Plague-driven CO2
changes were also a significant causal factor in temperature changes during the
Little Ice Age (1300–1900 AD)”. There has been a lot of<a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110325/full/news.2011.184.html"> controversy</a> surrounding
Ruddiman’s paper.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">More recently, the idea
that plagues caused farmland abandonment and were followed by re-forestation
has been applied to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Amazon</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Basin</st1:placetype></st1:place> and the LIA. Several
scholars have proposed that the depopulation caused by the diseases that
Europeans brought to the Americas after 1492 induced a large scale
re-forestation which, in turn, decreased the amount of atmospheric CO2 and
contributed to the LIA [<i>Dull et al.</i>, 2010; <i>Faust et
al.</i>, 2006; <i>Nevle and Bird</i>, 2008].
In order to assess the likelihood of this hypothesis we need to know i) population
size in pre-Columbian America and ii) the kind of agriculture pre-Columbians practiced.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Citing Denevan, Nevle
and Bird [2008] write that “Evidence for
the habitation and modification of American landscapes by tens of millions of
Pre-Columbian agriculturalists [<i>Denevan</i>, 1992] exists in the
widespread distribution of anthropogenic Amazonian Dark Earth soils, raised
fields, irrigated terrace zones, roads, aqueducts, and numerous large-scale
earthworks distributed throughout Amazonia, the Andes, Central America, and
parts of North America”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Many of the papers
addressing this topic cite Denevan with regards to pre-Columbian population
densities and agriculture. So, what are Denevan’s views on the matter? I will focus
on Amazonia, as it is the largest forested area in the world and most of the
work on pre-Columbian population density and agriculture that is cited to
support this hypothesis have been done in Amazonia (for example the works
of Denevan himself, Erickson and Heckenberger).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">How many people lived in <st1:place w:st="on">Amazonia</st1:place> in 1491?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The first estimate was
given by Betty Meggers who said that population density in pre-Columbian Amazonia
was 0.3 people Km<sup>-2</sup>. She didn’t do any distinction between
floodplains (<i>varzea</i>) and uplands (<i>terra firme</i>) because <i>varzea</i>’s fertility was
offset by unexpected and destructive floods, which made <i>varzea</i> as unsuitable
for people as<i> terra firme</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Denevan then proposed a
model in which people settled on the rivers’ bluffs. They were able to take
advantage of the <i>varzea</i> but avoided the danger of the floods. According to [<i>Denevan</i>,
1992] population density was 14.6 people km<sup>-<st1:metricconverter productid="2 in" w:st="on">2<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></st1:metricconverter></sup>in the <i>varzea</i> and 0.2 people km<sup>-<st1:metricconverter productid="2 in" w:st="on">2<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></st1:metricconverter></sup>in the terra firme
forests. It is interesting that Denevan’s estimate for <i>terra firme</i> is lower than
Meggers’ estimate. This is important as<i> terra firme</i> represents 98% of the Amazonian
rain forest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<sup><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p></o:p></span></sup></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In
2003, Denevan changed idea and wrote: “For v<i>arzea</i> population density
would be 10.4 per square kilometer […] For <i>terra firme </i>forests it is
impossible to estimate an average population density and a total population […]
Estimating average population densities for the savannas with any confidence is
impossible.” Then, he concluded: “...consequently I now reject the
habitat-density method I used in the past to estimate a Greater Amazonia
population in 1492 of from 5.1 to 6.8 million. I nevertheless still believe
that a total of at least 5 to 6 million is reasonable” [<i>Denevan</i>, 2003].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The stone axes<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Although
Denevan has rejected his own estimate of 0.2 people km<sup>-2</sup> for <i>terra
firme</i>, it is still important to highlight how he justified that his estimate
was smaller than Meggers’. Denevan defends that pre-Columbians did not practice
slash and burn agriculture because they did not have metal tools and cutting
the forest with stone axes would have been too much work. Hence, they preferred
to live in savannahs, where they developed raised field agriculture, or on the
river bluffs, where <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE)</span> sites are actually found. In Denevan’s view,
raised fields and ADE
developed in order to minimize the need of clearing the forest: pre-Columbians
preferred to build raised fields and ADE because such type of agricultural intensification required less work
than cutting the forest with stone axes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
very same archaeological evidence that Nevle and Bird [2008] use to infer high rates of pre-Columbian deforestation are used
by Denevan to infer that pre-Columbians actually did not cut the forest!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
questions I have should now be clear: 1) could have such a small population of 0.2
people km<sup>-2</sup> significantly modified the Amazon forests? 2) How did
they have such an impact if they had to cut the forest with stone axes? 3) Do raised
field agriculture and ADE suggest
high levels of deforestation? Or is it the other way round?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I don’t want to be
misinterpreted here; I am not saying that pre-Columbian population was small or
that they did not have an important impact on atmospheric CO2 content. I am
just saying that we do not know how many people lived in Amazonia in 500 AD or
in 1491AD and what impact they had on the Amazon forests. We need far more field and lab work before reliable estimates can be put forward. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ref.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Denevan, W. M. (1992), <i>The
Native Population of the Americas in 1492</i>, The University of Wisconsin
Press, Madison.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Denevan, W. M. (2003), The native population of Amazonia in
1492 reconsidered, <i>Revista de Indias</i>,
<i>63</i>(227), 175-188.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Dull, R. A., R. J. Nevle, W. I. Woods, D. K. Bird, S. Avnery,
and W. M. Denevan (2010), The Columbian Encounter and the Little Ice Age: Abrupt
Land Use Change, Fire, and Greenhouse Forcing, <i>Annals of the Association of American Geographers</i>, <i>100</i>(4), 755-771.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Faust, F. X., C. Gnecco, H. Mannstein, and J. Stamm (2006),
Evidence for the Postconquest Demographic Collapse of the Americas in Historical
CO2 Levels, <i>Earth Interactions</i>, <i>10</i>(11), 1-14.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
Nevle, R. J., and D. K. Bird (2008), Effects of syn-pandemic
fire reduction and reforestation in the tropical Americas on atmospheric CO2
during European conquest, <i>Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology</i>, <i>264</i>(1-2),
25-38.</div>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Climatic+Change&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1023%2FB%3ACLIM.0000004577.17928.fa&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=The+Anthropogenic+Greenhouse+Era+Began+Thousands+of+Years+Ago&rft.issn=0165-0009&rft.date=2003&rft.volume=61&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=261&rft.epage=293&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fopenurl.asp%3Fid%3Ddoi%3A10.1023%2FB%3ACLIM.0000004577.17928.fa&rft.au=Ruddiman%2C+W.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Anthropology%2CGeosciences%2CEcology+%2F+Conservation%2CSoil+Science%2C+Archeology%2C+Climate+Change%2C+Climate+Science">Ruddiman, W. (2003). The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began Thousands of Years Ago <span style="font-style: italic;">Climatic Change, 61</span> (3), 261-293 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000004577.17928.fa" rev="review">10.1023/B:CLIM.0000004577.17928.fa</a></span>
Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-55570914806629979832011-08-15T23:05:00.001+02:002011-08-25T15:53:12.022+02:00Por la vida, los derechos indígenas y el medio ambiente<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Esta mañana 15 de Agosto 2011 los pueblos Indigenas de las tierras bajas de Bolivia vuelven a marchar en defensa de sus derechos, de sus tierras, de su existencia. Pero esta vez hay una importante novedad: marchan para defenderse de un gobierno "indigenista", el de Evo Morales. El defensor de la Pacha Mama ha decidido que no importa lo que opinan los pueblos originarios, la carretera que cortará el Territorio Indigena Parque Nacional Isiboro Secure (TIPNIS) se tiene que hacer, porque se tiene que hacer! Ha cambiado el color de los que mandan, pero el atropello de los pueblo indigenas sigue igual. Antes era la derecha, ahora es el MAS de Evo Morales. Donde está la diferencia??</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lsEy0p5Sdzc/TkmHqcD1y8I/AAAAAAAAAKs/DxZL3wMUqw4/s1600/Dignita1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" naa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lsEy0p5Sdzc/TkmHqcD1y8I/AAAAAAAAAKs/DxZL3wMUqw4/s640/Dignita1.jpg" width="568" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cerimonia inaugural de la Marcha</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VwdGG10IlWA/TkmHuYZog7I/AAAAAAAAAKw/DECoynhr8pM/s1600/Dignita2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VwdGG10IlWA/TkmHuYZog7I/AAAAAAAAAKw/DECoynhr8pM/s640/Dignita2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Los primeros pasos...Trinidad, 15-8-2011 horas 10:00. Hasta La Paz!!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-55761685298774861592011-08-15T16:55:00.000+02:002011-08-15T16:55:11.591+02:00This is what we have seen in two days of field work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nrQzw2_oCQE/Tkkx__3_jeI/AAAAAAAAAKU/uRpUhdO8yjU/s1600/Allibay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nrQzw2_oCQE/Tkkx__3_jeI/AAAAAAAAAKU/uRpUhdO8yjU/s640/Allibay.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aFasskK31SA/TkkyELTrSkI/AAAAAAAAAKY/_cVSgJ1WsI4/s1600/Alligator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aFasskK31SA/TkkyELTrSkI/AAAAAAAAAKY/_cVSgJ1WsI4/s640/Alligator.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nhL_L7xfK_8/TkkyHiWIkrI/AAAAAAAAAKc/zXupjpkAz2c/s1600/armadillo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" naa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nhL_L7xfK_8/TkkyHiWIkrI/AAAAAAAAAKc/zXupjpkAz2c/s640/armadillo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-se_xIpQpv1Y/TkkyLJjwofI/AAAAAAAAAKg/UqE8DAcoRGU/s1600/Birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-se_xIpQpv1Y/TkkyLJjwofI/AAAAAAAAAKg/UqE8DAcoRGU/s640/Birds.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1Gk1FYUDNio/TkkyPujXdBI/AAAAAAAAAKk/PM6qo6f7fAY/s1600/fieldWork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1Gk1FYUDNio/TkkyPujXdBI/AAAAAAAAAKk/PM6qo6f7fAY/s640/fieldWork.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_d4ellHoznE/TkkyTiXz_OI/AAAAAAAAAKo/2SfvCTmxGjA/s1600/yandu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" naa="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_d4ellHoznE/TkkyTiXz_OI/AAAAAAAAAKo/2SfvCTmxGjA/s640/yandu.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050248510534718852.post-85169046458129030602011-08-10T01:16:00.000+02:002011-08-10T01:16:24.165+02:00More pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAchZRINziQ/TkG9hZo-ezI/AAAAAAAAAKI/JhvaRt9HDPE/s640/bato.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="428" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "Bato", the biggest bird we have seen in Bolivian lowlands, nursing a baby bato</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ABER8PZ_oVI/TkG9q6ltKWI/AAAAAAAAAKM/crLFOL1uRTk/s1600/Late_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ABER8PZ_oVI/TkG9q6ltKWI/AAAAAAAAAKM/crLFOL1uRTk/s640/Late_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heinz on a very nice laterite outcropping in northern Beni</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Umbertohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05219934919420110457noreply@blogger.com0