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Pre-Columbian Amazon tribes lived in sustainable "garden cities" Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com August 28, 2008 Conducting archeological excavations and aerial imagery across a number of sites in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon, a team of researchers led by Michael Heckenberger found evidence of a grid-like pattern of 150-acre towns and smaller villages, connected by complex road networks and arranged around large plazas where public rituals would take place. The authors argue that the discoveries indicate parts of the Amazon supported "urban" societies based around agriculture, forest management, and fish farming. Heckenberger and colleagues write that the structure of settlement is similar to that found in other forest regions, rather than the centralized metropolises of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
"These are not cities, but this is urbanism, built around towns," Heckenberger said. "They have quite remarkable planning and self-organization, more so than many classical examples of what people would call urbanism." Lessons for current land use in the Amazon The authors suggest that ancient Amazonian societies may provide insight for modern day efforts to sustainably use the region, which is fast being cleared for industrial soy farms and cattle ranches. For example, instead of extensive monocultures which are sensitive to inclement conditions and are at constant risk from pests, a wiser land use might be modeled on the "garden cities" of indigenous Amazonians, where a resilient mix of agroforestry and aquaculture maintain and even enhance biological diversity, while providing nourishment to local populations.
"The recognition of complex social formations, such as those of the Upper Xingu, emphasizes the need to recognize the histories, cultural rights, and concerns of indigenous peoples—the original architects and contemporary stewards of these anthropogenic landscapes—in discussions of Amazonian futures." Heckenberger and his colleagues first announced the discovery of the settlements in a paper published in Science in 2003. The research contributed to a lively debate over the pre-Colombian human population density in the Amazon. While most experts believe most settlement of Amazonia was limited to the river banks of major rivers and that the bulk of region was sparely populated, some have argued that the rainforest may have supported far higher populations than previously imagined. Regardless of the controversy, it is increasingly clear that at least some parts of the Amazon supported sizeable and sedentary societies of great complexity. These societies produced pottery, cleared sections of rainforest for agriculture, and managed forests to optimize the distribution of useful species.
Michael J. Heckenberger et al (2008). Pre-Columbian Urbanism, Anthropogenic Landscapes, and the Future of the Amazon. SCIENCE 29 AUGUST 2008 VOL 321 Related articles Heavily-populated Amazon was decimated by old world disease (6/9/2008) Ecologists and archaeologists agree that when Columbus struck the Americas in 1492 everything changed, but questions persist over the kind of world Columbus and his followers would soon transform. Recently the state of the pre-Columbian Amazon has been under increasing debate among scientists across numerous fields. In a lecture given at the ATBC conference (Association of Tropical Biology and conservation) in Paramaribo, Suriname, Dr. Francis Mayle weighed in on the debate.
(5/17/2007) Terra preta, the ancient charcoal-based soil used by ancient Amazonians to create permanently fertile agricultural lands in the rainforest, is getting serious consideration as a means to fight global warming and meet domestic energy demand, reports an article in Scientific American. Amazon Stonehenge suggests advanced ancient rainforest culture (5/14/2006) The discovery of an ancient astrological observatory in Brazil lends support to the theory that the Amazon rainforest was once home to advanced cultures and large sedentary populations of people. Besides the well-known empires of the Inca and their predecessors, millions of people once lived in the forests and shaped the environment to suit their own needs. Archaeologists with the Amapa Institute of Scientific and Technological Research said they uncovered the ruin near Calcoene, 390 kilometers (240 miles) from Macapa, the capital of Amapa state, near Brazil's border with French Guiana.
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