Abstract
The emergence of sedentism and agriculture in Amazonia continues to sit uncomfortably within accounts of South American pre-Columbian history. This is partially because deep-seated models were formulated when only ceramic evidence was known, partly because newer data continue to defy simple explanations, and partially because many discussions continue to ignore evidence of pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape transformations. This paper presents the results of recent geoarchaeological research on Amazonian anthropogenic soils. It advances the argument that properties of two different types of soils, terras pretas and terras mulatas, support their interpretation as correlates of, respectively, past settlement areas and fields where spatially-intensive, organic amendment-reliant cultivation took place. This assessment identifies anthropogenic soil formation as a hallmark of the Amazonian Formative and prompts questions about when similar forms of enrichment first appear in the Amazon basin. The paper reviews evidence for embryonic anthrosol formation to highlight its significance for understanding the domestication of a key Amazonian crop: manioc (Manihot esculenta ssp. esculenta). A model for manioc domestication that incorporates anthropogenic soils outlines some scenarios which link the distribution of its two broader varieties—sweet and bitter manioc—with the widespread appearance of Amazonian anthropogenic dark earths during the first millennium AD.
Highlights
In the archaeology of the Americas, the period known as the Formative is synonymous with a historical process in which groups specialized in hunting, fishing and gathering began to increasingly depend on foodstuffs which were available or were storable during a substantial portion of the annual cycle
It is possible that the appearance of loci of demographic concentration, enduring forms of landscape modification, and complex social arrangements in rainforest-clad Amazonia had to wait until a crop rich in starch, with a high storage capacity, and that could be adapted to growth in rainforest areas—
If maize did eventually become important in the meals and not just the feasting [206] of communities inhabiting the margins of the Amazon River, it is possible that its cultivation may have relied on the agricultural reuse of terras pretas, the latter an outcome of population growth associated with the intensification of bitter manioc cultivation in areas of terras mulatas
Summary
In the archaeology of the Americas, the period known as the Formative is synonymous with a historical process in which groups specialized in hunting, fishing and gathering began to increasingly depend on foodstuffs which were available or were storable during a substantial portion of the annual cycle. Looking back at fifty years of Amazonian scholarship, one observes the deep-seated influence of old archaeological models [19,20,21], which, until three decades ago, discussed the emergence of sedentism based on the spatial distribution and age of ceramic remains Interpreting the latter as an expansion of horticulturists from beyond the region, the ‘immigrant scenario’ argued that challenging environmental limitations had consistently impeded population growth and the development of social complexity [11,22,23,24,25,26]. By offering a series of archaeological hypotheses that can be explored by future research, I will outline a perspective on Amazonian pre-Columbian history that underscores the role of cumulative anthropogenic landscape transformations in the emergence of sedentism
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