Pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture and land use in the Bolivian Amazon
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5822425 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bronwen S Whitney (0000-0002-2329-9645, The University of Edinburgh, UK), Ruth Dickau (University of Exeter), Francis E Mayle (0000-0001-9208-0519, The University of Edinburgh, UK), John H Walker (0000-0002-8095-5434, University of Central Florida), José D Soto (0000-0002-1143-7844, Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University), J Iriarte (0000-0002-8155-5360, Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 231-241 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Holocene (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0959683613517401 |
| OpenAlex | W2142969097 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 32 |
| References cited | 40 |
We present an integrated palaeoecological and archaeobotanical study of pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture in the Llanos de Moxos, a vast seasonally inundated forest-savanna mosaic in the Bolivian Amazon. Phytoliths from excavated raised-field soil units, together with pollen and charcoal in sediment cores from two oxbow lakes, were analysed to provide a history of land use and agriculture at the El Cerro raised-field site. The construction of raised fields involved the removal of savanna trees, and gallery forest was cleared from the area by ad 310. Despite the low fertility of Llanos de Moxos soils, we determined that pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture sufficiently improved soil conditions for maize cultivation. Fire was used as a common management practice until ad 1300, at which point, the land-use strategy shifted towards less frequent burning of savannas and raised fields. Alongside a reduction in the use of fire, sweet potato cultivation and the exploitation of Inga fruits formed part of a mixed resource strategy from ad 1300 to 1450. The pre-Columbian impact on the landscape began to lessen around ad 1450, as shown by an increase in savanna trees and gallery forest. Although agriculture at the site began to decline prior to European arrival, the abandonment of raised fields was protracted, with evidence of sweet potato cultivation occurring as late as ad 1800
Agriculture · Agroforestry · Archaeology · Biology · Charcoal · Geography · Phytolith · Pollen · Shifting cultivation · Slash-and-burn · Soil fertility · Soil water · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Cassava research and cyanide · Environmental Science · Indigenous Health and Education · Ecology
Earthworks of the Llanos de Mojos
Earthworks of the Llanos de Mojos
Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492
The origins of Amazonian landscapes
Historic landscapes, diversified livelihoods in the southwestern Amazon
Social Practice and Theoretical Integration of Everyday Life
Thinking outside the Continent and outside the Box
A Review of Archaeological and Paleoecological Radiocarbon Dating in Bolivia
Interpreting landscapes of pre-Columbian raised-field agriculture using high-resolution LiDAR topography
Starch grain analysis of ceramic residue from forest islands associated with raised fields in west central Mojos, Bolivia
Foodways Archaeology
Archaeology for Sustainable Agriculture
Are circumpolar hunter-gatherers visible in the palaeoenvironmental record? Pollen-analytical evidence from Nunalleq, southwestern Alaska
Building resilience from risk
Moving forwards? Palynology and the human dimension
Life at the Margins of the State
Linking soil properties and pre-Columbian agricultural strategies in the Bolivian lowlands
Constraining pollen-based estimates of forest cover in the Amazon
Phytoliths from native plants and surface soils from the Upper Madeira river, SW Amazonia, and their potential for paleoecological reconstruction
Reassessing climate and pre-Columbian drivers of paleofire activity in the Bolivian Amazon
Phytoliths in modern plants from amazonia and the neotropics at large
An Assessment of Soil Phytolith Analysis as a Palaeoecological Tool for Identifying Pre-Columbian Land Use in Amazonian Rainforests
Design of pre-Columbian raised fields in the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazon
Pre-Columbian raised fields in Panama
Insights into past land-use and vegetation change in the Llanos de Moxos (Bolivia) using fungal non-pollen palynomorphs
Diversification, Intensification and Specialization
Localised land-use and maize agriculture by the pre-Columbian Casarabe Culture in Lowland Bolivia
Subsistence practices among earthwork builders
Pre-Columbian land use in the ring-ditch region of the Bolivian Amazon
Crop domestication in the upper Madeira River basin
Stable isotope evidence for pre-colonial maize agriculture and animal management in the Bolivian Amazon
The Ethnoarchaeology of Pottery Tempers in the Bolivian Amazon
The aboriginal cultural geography of the Llanos de Mojos of Bolivia
Fifty-thousand-year vegetation and climate history of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivian Amazon
Pre-Columbian landscape impact and agriculture in the Monumental Mound region of the Llanos de Moxos , lowland Bolivia
The Historical Ecology of a Complex Landscape in Bolivia
The Transformation of Environment into Landscape
An artificial landscape-scale fishery in the Bolivian Amazon
Millennial-Scale Dynamics of Southern Amazonian Rain Forests
The Basin of Mexico
An improved methodology for the recovery of Zea mays and other large crop pollen, with implications for environmental archaeology in the Neotropics
Assessing the feasibility of identifying maize through the analysis of cross-shaped size and three-dimensional morphology of phytoliths in the grasslands of southeastern South America
Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates
Intensive Wetland Agriculture in Mesoamerica
Human–environment interactions in pre-Columbian Amazonia
Raised fields in the Bolivian Amazonia
Pre-Columbian human occupation patterns in the eastern plains of the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazonia
Neotropical human–landscape interactions, fire, and atmospheric CO 2 during European conquest
Fragile Lands of Latin America
And the loss of amazonian crop genetic resources. I. The relation between domestication and human population decline
Integrated palaeoecology and archaeology - a powerful approach for understanding pre-Columbian Amazonia
Mid- to late-Holocene fluvial activity behind pre-Columbian social complexity in the southwestern Amazon basin
The Pristine Myth
Social Implications from Agricultural Taskscapes in the Southwestern Amazon
As Culturas Do Milho? Arqueobotânica Das Sociedades Hidráulicas Das Terras Baixas Sul-Americanas
Antiquity of Maize Cultivation in Ecuador
| Citations per year | 2.91 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |