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de Souza JG, Robinson M, Maezumi SY, Capriles J, Hoggarth JA, Lombardo U, Novello VF, Apaéstegui J, Whitney B, Urrego D, Alves DT, Rostain S, Power MJ, Mayle FE, da Cruz FW, Hooghiemstra H, Iriarte J. Climate change and cultural resilience in late pre-Columbian Amazonia. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1007-1017. [PMID: 31209292 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0924-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The long-term response of ancient societies to climate change has been a matter of global debate. Until recently, the lack of integrative studies using archaeological, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological data prevented an evaluation of the relationship between climate change, distinct subsistence strategies and cultural transformations across the largest rainforest of the world, Amazonia. Here we review the most relevant cultural changes seen in the archaeological record of six different regions within Greater Amazonia during late pre-Columbian times. We compare the chronology of those cultural transitions with high-resolution regional palaeoclimate proxies, showing that, while some societies faced major reorganization during periods of climate change, others were unaffected and even flourished. We propose that societies with intensive, specialized land-use systems were vulnerable to transient climate change. In contrast, land-use systems that relied primarily on polyculture agroforestry, resulting in the formation of enriched forests and fertile Amazonian dark earth in the long term, were more resilient to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Gregorio de Souza
- Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. .,Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
| | - Mark Robinson
- Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - S Yoshi Maezumi
- Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.,Department of Geography and Geology, The University of the West Indies at Mona, Kingston, Jamaica
| | - José Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Bronwen Whitney
- Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
| | - Dunia Urrego
- Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | | | - Stephen Rostain
- Department of Archaeology, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris, France
| | - Mitchell J Power
- Geography Department, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Francis E Mayle
- Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | | | - Henry Hooghiemstra
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - José Iriarte
- Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
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Maezumi SY, Alves D, Robinson M, de Souza JG, Levis C, Barnett RL, Almeida de Oliveira E, Urrego D, Schaan D, Iriarte J. The legacy of 4,500 years of polyculture agroforestry in the eastern Amazon. Nat Plants 2018; 4:540-547. [PMID: 30038410 PMCID: PMC6119467 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-018-0205-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2017] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
The legacy of pre-Columbian land use in the Amazonian rainforest is one of the most controversial topics in the social1-10 and natural sciences11,12. Until now, the debate has been limited to discipline-specific studies, based purely on archaeological data8, modern vegetation13, modern ethnographic data3 or a limited integration of archaeological and palaeoecological data12. The lack of integrated studies to connect past land use with modern vegetation has left questions about the legacy of pre-Columbian land use on the modern vegetation composition in the Amazon, unanswered11. Here, we show that persistent anthropogenic landscapes for the past 4,500 years have had an enduring legacy on the hyperdominance of edible plants in modern forests in the eastern Amazon. We found an abrupt enrichment of edible plant species in fossil lake and terrestrial records associated with pre-Columbian occupation. Our results demonstrate that, through closed-canopy forest enrichment, limited clearing for crop cultivation and low-severity fire management, long-term food security was attained despite climate and social changes. Our results suggest that, in the eastern Amazon, the subsistence basis for the development of complex societies began ~4,500 years ago with the adoption of polyculture agroforestry, combining the cultivation of multiple annual crops with the progressive enrichment of edible forest species and the exploitation of aquatic resources. This subsistence strategy intensified with the later development of Amazonian dark earths, enabling the expansion of maize cultivation to the Belterra Plateau, providing a food production system that sustained growing human populations in the eastern Amazon. Furthermore, these millennial-scale polyculture agroforestry systems have an enduring legacy on the hyperdominance of edible plants in modern forests in the eastern Amazon. Together, our data provide a long-term example of past anthropogenic land use that can inform management and conservation efforts in modern Amazonian ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Yoshi Maezumi
- Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
| | - Daiana Alves
- Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Mark Robinson
- Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | | | - Carolina Levis
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
- Forest Ecology and Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Robert L Barnett
- Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | | | - Dunia Urrego
- Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Denise Schaan
- Department of Anthropology, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - José Iriarte
- Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
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