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The Amazon basin is accepted as an independent center of plant domestication in the world. A variety of important plants were domesticated in the Amazon and its surroundings; however, the majority of plants cultivated today in the Amazon are not domesticated, if this descriptor is understood to convey substantial genetic and phenotypic divergence from wild varieties or species. Rather, many domesticates are trees and tubers that occupy an intermediate stage between wild and domesticated, which seems to be a prevailing pattern since at least the middle Holocene, 6,000 years ago. Likewise, basin-wide inventories of trees show a remarkable pattern where a few species, called hyperdominant, are overrepresented in the record, including many varieties that are economically and symbolically important to traditional societies. Cultivation practices among indigenous groups in the Amazon are embedded in other dimensions of meaning that go beyond subsistence, and such entanglement between nature and culture has long been noticed at the conceptual level by anthropologists. This principle manifests itself in ancient and dynamic practices of landscape construction and transformation, which are seriously threatened today by the risks posed by economic development and climate change to Amazonian traditional societies and biomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature and extent of past indigenous transformations in the Amazon basin is an actively debated topic, and one that has important implications for both conservation policy and the cultural heritage of its indigenous and traditional populations. The use of charcoal and phytoliths to measure past human impacts in non-lacustrine settings has become especially influential in this debate but has also generated disagreement among scholars regarding the possible limits of these proxies for detecting ancient land-use. To contribute empirical data to this issue, our paper presents the first attempt to study charcoal and phytolith signals from areas of modern indigenous land-use, in the Xingu Indigenous Territory, southern Amazonia. Our findings show that, while charcoal and early successional herb phytoliths are good indicators of land-use intensity, certain types of land-use leave subtler traces in the phytolith record that can hinder their detection. We demonstrate how using finer sampling resolution and comparing local proxy data on their own terms are necessary steps in order to identify trends in human land-use across time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon and its significance. Topics include the practices of modern Indigenous communities in enriching the soil, proposes a model for the formation of ancient dark earth, and emphasizes the value of Indigenous knowledge for sustainable rainforest management.

Amazonian archaeology has made major advances in recent decades, particularly in understanding coupled human environmental systems. Like other tropical forest regions, prehistoric social formations were long portrayed as small-scale, dispersed communities that differed littie in organization from recent indigenous societies and had negligible impacts on the essentially pristine forest. Archaeology documents substantial variation that, while showing similarities to other world regions, presents novel pathways of early foraging and domestication, semi-intensive resource management, and domesticated landscapes associated with diverse small and medium-sized complex societies. Late prehistoric regional polities were articulated in broad regional political economies, which collapsed in the aftermath of European contact. Field methods have also changed dramatically through in-depth local and regional studies, interdisciplinary approaches, and multiculrural collaborations, notably with indigenous peoples. Contemporary research highlights questions of scale, perspective, and agency including concerns for representation, public archaeology indigenous cultural heritage, and conservation of the region's remarkable cultural and ecological resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeology of pre-Columbian poLities in the Amazon River basin forces a reconsideration of early urbanism and long-term change in tropical forest landscapes. We describe settlement and land-use patterns of complex societies on the eve of European contact (after 1492) in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. These societies were organized in articulated clusters, representing small independent polities, within a regional peer polity. These patterns constitute a "galactic" form of prehistoric urbanism, sharing features with small-scale urban polities in other areas. Understanding long-term change in coupled human-environment systems relating to these societies has implications for conservation and sustainable development, notably to control ecological degradation and maintain regional biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeology and indigenous history of Native Amazonian peoples in the Upper Xingu region of Brazil reveal unexpectedly complex regional settlement patterns and large-scale transformations of local landscapes over the past millennium. Mapping and excavation of archaeological structures document pronounced human-induced alteration of the forest cover, particularly in relation to large, dense late-prehistoric settlements (circa 1200 to 1600 A.D.). The findings contribute to debates on human carrying capacity, population size and settlement patterns, anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and the importance of indigenous knowledge, as well as contributing to the pride of place of the native peoples in this part of the Amazon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the nature and variability of cultural formations and economic patterns in Amazonia. Discussion of indigenous resource management systems with mechanized development strategies of the modern world; Implications of unrestrained development in the Amazon; Relevance of archaeology for constructing ecological and cultural variation in the region; Significance of cultural variability to diverse interest groups.

Provides evidence on the existence of prehistoric Amerindian settlement in Brazil. Exploration of the lower Negro and upper Xingu Rivers of the Amazon; Impact of location as a means of determining status of a person in the society; Implication of earthworks for the shift in regional settlement pattern.

This article discusses research conducted by Daniel Sandweiss and colleagues at the University of Maine in Orono showing that climatic and environmental changes were critical to the rise of ancient Peruvian urban societies based on maritime fishing. Shifts in environmental conditions are recorded in coastal geological features that correlate to high Andes glacial cores.

The article presents a response from an author to other author on heterogeneous landscape domestication across Amazonia. It mentioned that the degree of landscape domestication diminishes as one moves from a settlement through cultivated areas into managed areas. It further discussed a urvey on Brazilian Amazonian soils.

This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contemporary indigenous peoples. Through semi-structured interviews and quantitative analyses of long-term changes in artistic knowledge among three geographically displaced Kaiabi (Kawaiwete) we found an association between language proficiency and gender with greater IK retention, and formal schooling with IK erosion. Six mechanisms of innovation in knowledge of basketry and textiles among men and women were documented. A mixed mode of collaborative learning and knowledge transmission involving diverse actors emerged from community workshops and group forums. Innovative mechanisms for cultural transmission have taken advantage of media, technology, and non-indigenous support organizations to expand weaving knowledge of basketry designs. Our results illustrate how indigenous peoples actively shape cultural transmission and change, as well as the role that public policies and academic research may play in these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Brazilian Politics Threaten Environmental Policies" in the August 19, 2016 issue, regarding the risks posed by environmental policy reforms to the conservation of Amazonian biodiversity.

During the twentieth century, Amazonia was widely regarded as relatively pristine nature, little impacted by human history. This view remains popular despite mounting evidence of substantial human influence over millennial scales across the region. Here, we review the evidence of an anthropogenic Amazonia in response to claims of sparse populations across broad portions of the region. Amazonia was a major centre of crop domestication, with at least 83 native species containing populations domesticated to some degree. Plant domestication occurs in domesticated landscapes, including highly modified Amazonian dark earths (ADEs) associated with large settled populations and that may cover greater than 0.1% of the region. Populations and food production expanded rapidly within land management systems in the mid-Holocene, and complex societies expanded in resource-rich areas creating domesticated landscapes with profound impacts on local and regional ecology. ADE food production projections support estimates of at least eight million people in 1492. By this time, highly diverse regional systems had developed across Amazonia where subsistence resources were created with plant and landscape domestication, including earthworks. This review argues that the Amazonian anthrome was no less socio-culturally diverse or populous than other tropical forested areas of the world prior to European conquest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ancient anthrosols known as Amazonian dark earths or terra preta are part of the human built landscape and often represent valuable landscape capital for modern Amazonian populations in the form of fertile agricultural soils. The fertility, resilience, and large stocks of carbon in terra preta have inspired research on their possible role in soil fertility management and also serve as an example for a growing biochar industry it is claimed will sequester carbon for climate change mitigation. Although there is considerable scientific and public interest in terra preta, there is still much debate and little concrete knowledge of the specific processes and contexts of its formation. Research indicates that the formation of terra preta occurred mainly in midden deposits, themselves patterned around habitation areas, public areas, and routes of movement. Data from topographic mapping, soil analyses, and excavations in three regions of Amazonia demonstrate a widespread pattern of anthrosol formation in ring-shaped mounds surrounding flat terraces that extend across large areas of prehistoric settlements. It is hypothesized that there is a widespread type or types of occupation where the terraces were domestic areas (houses or yards) surrounded by refuse disposal areas in middens which built up into mounds over time, forming large deposits of terra preta and creating what could be called a ‘middenscape’. Initial results support the hypotheses, showing the interrelationship of residential and public areas, anthrosols, routes of movement, and natural resources. The patterning of anthrosols in ancient settlements indicates the use of space and can therefore serve as a basis for comparison of community spatial organization between sites and regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]