The Archaeology of Amazonia - by José Iriarte (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

This open access book examines the untold human history of the Amazon rainforest, from the arrival of the earliest humans to the present. A spate of recent discoveries in unexplored regions and technological breakthroughs have allowed us to peer through the forest canopy to the earth below, revealing an entirely new picture of Amazonian past, which overturns the long-held assumption of a virgin rainforest.

This book demonstrates how Amazonia's current diversity of landscapes and people are deeply rooted in prehistory with lasting repercussions on today's rainforests. Among the major achievements of ancient Amazonian peoples were the domestication of globally important crops, including manioc, cacao, rice, yams and sweet potato, manufactured America's first ceramics, engineered the landscape for sustainable food production, built massive geometric ceremonial structures, and had distinctively complex, early urban polities that can rival any civilization of antiquity.

Amazonia is currently facing a crisis and lessons from its traditional peoples are more urgent than ever. The extraordinary archaeological discoveries of recent years are not just spectacle, but represent the history of a way of life that is rapidly disappearing, and on which the Amazonian rainforest as a major reservoir of biodiversity, and in turn all humanity, depends. By connecting the past to the present and bringing to light the critical role of today's indigenous and traditional lands in providing a barrier to deforestation under current climate and political pressures, The Archaeology of Amazonia lays out the way ahead to a more socially responsible future of rainforest management.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the European Research Council.

Review Quotes

"A timely summary of the multidisciplinary research that has transformed our understanding of human history in the Amazon and its legacy for the 21st century." --Patrick Roberts, Independent Research Group Leader in Archaeological Science, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Germany "

"A revealing book that gives voice to the people of the Amazon who disappeared in the fog of deep time." --Alceu Ranzi, Senior Researcher in Archaeology, Federal University of Acre, Brazil

"This book provides the most comprehensive and authoritative synthesis yet written, of the remarkable story, stretching back to the last Ice Age, of how humans have transformed Amazonia from a virgin wilderness into a domesticated landscape; a must-read for anybody interested in humanity's long-term relationship with Amazonia." --Francis Mayle, Professor in Tropical Palaeoecology, University of Reading, UK

"A richly embellished overview that brings to life the Amazonian past, still the least known chapter of human history. It sheds new light on the achievements and challenges I[i]ndigenous peoples have faced in this river and forest world, still shrouded in mystery [for most]. It reflects on the unnatural history of the region, referring to the consensus that the world's greatest tropical forest is an artifact of the ingenuity and agency of its I[i]ndigenous peoples, as well as clues for how the past may inform us about saving the forest and its people." --Michael Heckenberger, Professor of Anthropology, University of Florida-Gainesville, USA

About the Author