AHRC-FAPESP MoU Human-Environment Relationships in pre-Columbian Amazonia (HERCA)

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The dynamics of past human-environment relationships is one of the most relevant issues in archaeology today. Pre-Columbian (pre-1492) Amazonia provides a case study of a long-standing debate into human-environment interactions. At one end of the spectrum are those who view Amazonia as a largely pristine wilderness which has shaped human history, while at the other are those who argue that Amazonia has been utterly transformed into a domesticated landscape by millennia of human land use. Recent ground-breaking discoveries of vast, pre-Columbian landscape engineering projects -- monumental habitation mounds, ring ditches, causeways and canals -- overturn the paradigm that environmental constraints limited cultural development in Amazonia to simple semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyles, as practiced by indigenous peoples today. However, the processes by which these complex (stratified) societies emerged and declined, and their relationships with the environment, remain unresolved. This uncertainty stems from a paucity of archaeological data and a lack of the inter-disciplinary collaboration essential for investigation of human-environment interactions. This project therefore assembles an international, multi-disciplinary research team to integrate archaeological and environmental approaches and data to address our overarching research aim: To determine the relationships between the emergence and demise of stratified societies, food procurement strategies, and environmental conditions in Pre-Columbian Amazonia.We focus on three study areas in SW Amazonia which provide a unique opportunity to examine the emergence and demise of different societies across a broad spectrum of environmental conditions -- in terms of forest cover, soil quality, and flood/drought risk. The following techniques will be employed:1. Archaeological excavations will reveal human occupation histories spanning over 8,000 years, while laboratory-based analyses of pottery, human bones, and soils will provide insights into diet, food processing, cultural practices, and land use. 2. Microscopic analyses of ancient charcoal, pollen, and plant remains from nearby lake/channel sediments and soils will reveal forest and savanna resource management; e.g. use of fire and selection of economically important species such as fruit trees and palms. 3. The evolutionary history of the physical landscape and river networks will be reconstructed to determine how changes in flood regime influenced occupation history and land use. 4. The above data will be compared with annual-resolution climate records from nearby cave stalagmites to determine potential linkages between cultural/land-use change and climate change. 5. To integrate these different lines of evidence, and understand their relationships through time, it is essential to have secure chronologies, which we will achieve predominantly through radiocarbon dating. There is increasing interest in cultural heritage and identity among present-day urban and rural Amazonian communities. We will therefore engage with a museum in Trinidad (the provincial capital of one of our Bolivian study areas) to improve its educational value by incorporating best practice to develop stimulating, interactive museum exhibits and accompanying booklets that can convey our project findings to a wide public audience. We will also explore the potential for building eco-museums in rural villages in the heart of our archaeological study areas. By engaging with urban and rural communities in this way, we hope to lay the foundation for longer-term impact by contributing to the wider socio-political issue of land-use conflict between indigenous peoples, landowners, and conservationists. Broader, international impact will be achieved via our project website and end-of-project exhibitions in museums of the major Bolivian and Brazilian cities of La Paz and Sao Paulo.