image: Reconstructed landscape, including inhabited forest island, fish weirs, and raised fields in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia. view more
Credit: Image credit: Kathryn Killackey (artist).
Examining sediment cores from the Quinato wetland in Bolivia, researchers found that beginning at least 3,500 years ago, pre-Columbian societies used fire and hydrological engineering to transform the landscape of southwestern Amazonia, which would later be altered by the arrival of cattle and new technologies from Jesuit missions in the 17th century; the findings suggest that although precipitation increased during the mid- to late Holocene, the current landscape of southwestern Amazonia was shaped by hunting, farming, and fishing practices, according to the authors.
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Article #20-22206: "Pre-Columbian fire management and control of climate-driven floodwaters over 3,500 years in southwestern Amazonia," by Neil A. Duncan, Nicholas J. D. Loughlin, John H. Walker, Emma P. Hocking, and Bronwen S. Whitney.
MEDIA CONTACT: Neil A. Duncan; University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL; email: <neil.duncan@ucf.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences