Midiateca

Holocene fire and occupation in Amazonia: records from two lake districts

Autores

Mark B Bush,1,* Miles R Silman,2 Mauro B de Toledo,1,4 Claudia Listopad,1 William D Gosling,1,Christopher Williams,1 Paulo E de Oliveira,3 and Carolyn Krisel2

Ano de Publicação
2007
Categoria
GEOCIÊNCIAS E CARTOGRAFIA
Descrição

ABSTRACT

Abstract

While large-scale pre-Columbian human occupation and ecological disturbance have been demonstrated close to major Amazonian waterways, less is known of sites in terra firme settings. Palaeoecological analyses of two lake districts in central and western Amazonia reveal long histories of occupation and land use. At both locations, human activity was centred on one of the lakes, while the others were either lightly used or unused. These analyses indicate that the scale of human impacts in these terra firme settings is localized and probably strongly influenced by the presence of a permanent open-water body. Evidence is found of forest clearance and cultivation of maize and manioc. These data are directly relevant to the resilience of Amazonian conservation, as they do not support the contention that all of Amazonia is a ‘built landscape’ and therefore a product of past human land use.

Keywords: agriculture, charcoal, fossil pollen, Peru, Brazil, pre-Columbian

Tipo de publicação
Publicações periódicas (revistas, jornais, boletins)
Local da publicação
London - UK - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2311425/
Nº da edição ou volume
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 Feb 28; 362(1478): 209–218.
Editora
The Royal Society Publishing - http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/
Link