Abstract
Behaviorally modern human beings have lived in Amazonia for thousands of years. Significant dynamics in species turnovers due to human-mediated disturbance were associated with the ultimate emergence and expansion of agrarian technologies in prehistory. Such disturbances initiated primary and secondary landscape transformations in various locales of the Amazon region. Diversity in these locales can be understood by accepting the initial premise of contingency, expressed as unprecedented human agency and human history. These effects can be accessed through the archaeological record and in the study of living languages. In addition, landscape transformation can be demonstrated in the study of traditional knowledge (TK). One way of elucidating TK distinctions between anthropic and nonanthropic landscapes concerns elicitation of differential labeling of these landscapes and more significantly, elicitation of the specific contents, such as trees, occurring in these landscapes. Freelisting is a method which can be used to distinguish the differential species compositions of landscapes resulting from human-mediated disturbance vs. those which do not evince records of human agency and history. The TK of the Ka’apor Indians of Amazonian Brazil as revealed in freelisting exercises shows differentiation of anthropogenic from high forests as well as a recognition of diversity in the anthropogenic forests. This suggests that the agents of human-mediated disturbance and landscape transformation in traditional Amazonia encode diversity and contingency into their TK, which encoding reflects past cultural influence on landscape and society over time.
Highlights
This article concerns how systems of traditional knowledge (TK) encode and classify the accumulated impacts of the human species on the formation and transformation of Amazonian landscapes over time
A reasonable question concerns intention of human agents in effecting values that represent contingent diversity, and while this is always difficult to ascertain from the archaeological record, the diversity produced by human activities through primary and secondary landscape transformation may be recognized, more or less at least phenotypically, by the human agents and their predecessors who were involved in such dynamics
Plato was concerned with the loss of the garden-like aspects of Attica, for in this degradation he perceived a reduction of diversity in living forms
Summary
This article concerns how systems of traditional knowledge (TK) encode and classify the accumulated impacts of the human species on the formation and transformation of Amazonian landscapes over time. Behavioral modernity brings with it certain technologies and cultural repertoires, such as probably both art and religion, and vast social and political potential, such as the structuring of economies based on reciprocity and essentially corporate means for maintaining egalitarianism in spite of tendencies of our species to social hierarchies [4]. These social abilities have been transposed to the landscape, in archaeological sites and assemblages, their conventional identifying features. Amazonian TK is reflected in lexical richness of vocabulary referencing biota intrinsic to anthropic landscapes
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
