The origins of Amazonian landscapes: plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America

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• dc.contributor.author Iriarte, Jose
• dc.contributor.author Elliott, Sarah
• dc.contributor.author Maezumi, S. Yoshi
• dc.contributor.author Alves, Daiana
• dc.contributor.author Gonda, Regina
• dc.contributor.author Robinson, Mark
• dc.contributor.author Gregorio de Souza, Jonas
• dc.contributor.author Watling, Jennifer
• dc.contributor.author Handley, Josephine
• dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-25T10:31:31Z
• dc.date.available 2024-07-25T10:31:31Z
• dc.date.issued 2020
• dc.date.updated 2024-07-25T10:31:31Z
• dc.description Includes supplementary materials for the online appendix.
• dc.description.abstract During the last two decades, new archaeological projects which systematically integrate a variety of plant recovery techniques, along with palaeoecology, palaeoclimate, soil science and floristic inventories, have started to transform our understanding of plant exploitation, cultivation and domestication in tropical South America. Archaeobotanical studies are providing a far greater appreciation of the role of plants in the diets of early colonists. Since ~13ka, these diets relied mainly on palm, tree fruits, and underground tubers, along with terrestrial and riverine faunal resources. Recent evidence indicates two areas of precocious plant cultivation and domestication: the sub-Andean montane forest of NW South America and the shrub savannahs and seasonal forests of SW Amazonia. In the latter area, thousands of anthropic keystone structures represented by forest islands show a significant human footprint in Amazonia from the start of the Holocene. While radiocarbon date databases show a decline in population during the middle Holocene, important developments happened during this epoch, including the domestication of cacao, the adoption of maize and the spread of manioc across the basin. The late Holocene witnessed the domestication of rice and the development of agricultural landscapes characterised by raised fields and Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs). Our multi-proxy analysis of 23 late Holocene ADEs and two lakes from southern Amazonia provides the first direct evidence of field polyculture agriculture including the cultivation of maize, manioc, sweet potato, squash, arrowroot and leren within closed-canopy forest, as well as enrichment with palms, limited clearing for crop cultivation, and low-severity fire management. Collectively, the evidence shows that during the late Holocene Amazonian farmers engaged in intensive agriculture marked by the cultivation of both annual and perennial crops relying on organic amendments requiring soil preparation and maintenance. Our study has broader implications for sustainable Amazonian futures.
• dc.description.sponsorship This work was funded by the ERC. Funding for this research was supported by the PAST (Pre-Columbian Amazon-Scale Transformations) European Research Council Consolidator Grant to J.I. (ERC_Cog616179) and the LASTJOURNEY (The End of the Journey: The Late PleistoceneEarly Holocene Colonisation of South America) European Research Council Advanced Grant to J.I (ERC_Adv834514). Research at Teotônio and Santa Paula by Watling and collaborators was funded by FAPESP 2017/25157-0. At Maguari, research was conducted under permit 01506.004836/2014-69 from the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN) and ICMBio permit 106/14-FNT. At Couro Velho research was conducted under permit 01490.002660/2016-99 from IPHAN. At Versalles research was conducted under permit authorisation MDCyT - UDAM N° 071/2017. We thank all the residents of the Maguarí, Jamaraquá, Cedro, Couro Velho, and Versalles communities for their hospitality and help.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Iriarte J, Elliott S, Maezumi SY, Alves D, Gonda R, Robinson M, et al. The origins of Amazonian landscapes: plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America. Quat Sci Rev. 2020;248:106582. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106582
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106582
• dc.identifier.issn 0277-3791
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60833
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Pergamon
• dc.relation.ispartof Quaternary Science Reviews. 2020;248:106582
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP/616179
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/834514
• dc.rights © Elsevier http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106582.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.subject.keyword Amazon
• dc.subject.keyword Pre-columbian
• dc.subject.keyword Plant domestication
• dc.subject.keyword Agriculture
• dc.subject.keyword Food production
• dc.subject.keyword Land use
• dc.subject.keyword Amazonian dark earths
• dc.subject.keyword Pollen
• dc.subject.keyword Phytoliths
• dc.subject.keyword Charcoal
• dc.title The origins of Amazonian landscapes: plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion