Colonisation and early peopling of the Colombian Amazon during the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene: New evidence from La Serranía La Lindosa

Morcote-Ríos, Gaspar; Aceituno, Francisco Javier; Iriarte, José; Robinson, Mark; Chaparro-Cárdenas, Jeison L.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.04.026

Cited by 51 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…They are predominant in early archaeobotanical records across lowland Amazonia, and changes in vegetation composition to greater proportions of palm is closely associated with humans from their first appearance (Morcote-Ríos and Bernal, 2001). The diets of these early settlers and first cultivators were certainly complemented by other faunal and terrestrial resources (Capriles et al, 2019;Morcote-Ríos et al, 2020;Roosevelt et al, 1996). Intriguingly, many of the earliest plants consumed by humans in the tropics later became Amazonian hyperdominants (shown in bold below in Table 1) (Levis et al, 2017).…”

Section: Roots and Tubersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Amazonian landscapes are heterogeneous, encompassing seasonal, humid and flooded forests along with wetlands and savannahs. They have a long history of human occupation starting at least~13ka (calibrated years before the present) (Magalhães et al, 2019;Morcote-Ríos et al, 2020;Roosevelt et al, 1996;Shock and Moraes, 2019). All these factors have combined to produce a remarkable number of distinct language families and one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the planet (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The origins of Amazonian landscapes: Plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America

Iriarte

Elliott

Maezumi

et al. 2020

Quaternary Science Reviews

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126

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During the last two decades, new archaeological projects which systematically integrate a variety of plant recovery techniques, along with palaeoecology, palaeoclimate, soil science and floristic inventories, have started to transform our understanding of plant exploitation, cultivation and domestication in tropical South America. Archaeobotanical studies are providing a far greater appreciation of the role of plants in the diets of early colonists. Since~13ka, these diets relied mainly on palm, tree fruits, and underground tubers, along with terrestrial and riverine faunal resources. Recent evidence indicates two areas of precocious plant cultivation and domestication: the sub-Andean montane forest of NW South America and the shrub savannahs and seasonal forests of SW Amazonia. In the latter area, thousands of anthropic keystone structures represented by forest islands show a significant human footprint in Amazonia from the start of the Holocene. While radiocarbon date databases show a decline in population during the middle Holocene, important developments happened during this epoch, including the domestication of cacao, the adoption of maize and the spread of manioc across the basin. The late Holocene witnessed the domestication of rice and the development of agricultural landscapes characterised by raised fields and Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs). Our multi-proxy analysis of 23 late Holocene ADEs and two lakes from southern Amazonia provides the first direct evidence of field polyculture agriculture including the cultivation of maize, manioc, sweet potato, squash, arrowroot and leren within closed-canopy forest, as well as enrichment with palms, limited clearing for crop cultivation, and low-severity fire management. Collectively, the evidence shows that during the late Holocene Amazonian farmers engaged in intensive agriculture marked by the cultivation of both annual and perennial crops relying on organic amendments requiring soil preparation and maintenance. Our study has broader implications for sustainable Amazonian futures.

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Section: Roots and Tubersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origins of Amazonian landscapes: Plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America

Iriarte

Elliott

Maezumi

et al. 2020

Quaternary Science Reviews

Self Cite

126

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“…Phytolith and charred plant remains dating from~12 k BP at Cerro Azul, Guaviare River, Colombia, highlight the expressive use of palms, such as assai (Euterpe precatoria), pataua (Oenocarpus bataua) and moriche (Mauritia flexuosa) [144]. At Peña Roja, a wide variety of palms appears between~10 and~9 k BP, including tucumã (Astrocaryum aculeatum), inajá (Attalea maripa), moriche, pataua, bacaba (Oenocarpus bacaba), and assai [141,145]. Fruit trees, such as Brosimum sp., aguacatillo (Anaueria brasiliensis), Vantanea peruviana, Sacoglottis sp.…”

Section: Early Human Entanglements In the Neotropicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling Domestication from Food Production Systems in the Neotropics

et al. 2021

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The Neolithic Revolution narrative associates early-mid Holocene domestications with the development of agriculture that fueled the rise of late Holocene civilizations. This narrative continues to be influential, even though it has been deconstructed by archaeologists and geneticists in its homeland. To further disentangle domestication from reliance on food production systems, such as agriculture, we revisit definitions of domestication and food production systems, review the late Pleistocene–early Holocene archaeobotanical record, and quantify the use, management and domestication of Neotropical plants to provide insights about the past. Neotropical plant domestication relies on common human behaviors (selection, accumulation and caring) within agroecological systems that focus on individual plants, rather than populations—as is typical of agriculture. The early archaeobotanical record includes numerous perennial and annual species, many of which later became domesticated. Some of this evidence identifies dispersal with probable cultivation, suggesting incipient domestication by 10,000 years ago. Since the Pleistocene, more than 6500, 1206 and 6261 native plant species have been used in Mesoamerica, the Central Andes and lowland South America, respectively. At least 1555, 428 and 742 are managed outside and inside food production systems, and at least 1148, 428 and 600 are cultivated, respectively, suggesting at least incipient domestication. Full native domesticates are more numerous in Mesoamerica (251) than the Andes (124) and the lowlands (45). This synthesis reveals that domestication is more common in the Neotropics than previously recognized and started much earlier than reliance on food production systems. Hundreds of ethnic groups had, and some still have, alternative strategies that do involve domestication, although they do not rely principally on food production systems, such as agriculture.

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“…In other biomes in north-western South America, such as tropical forests in the Amazon Basin, some studies have indicated that early foragers adapted to heterogeneous landscapes, relied heavily on wild plants and had generalised subsistence strategies (Gnecco & Mora 1997;Morcote-Rios et al 2020). Likewise, the results of the present study are not only consistent with interpretations from other tropical areas such as eastern-central Brazil (Da-Gloria & Spencer Larsen 2014), but also from sites such as Monte Verde in southern Chile (Dillehay et al 2008), where plants seem to have played a key role in the subsistence and diets of humans entering and dispersing in the Americas.…”

Section: Early Holocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of dietary diversity in Holocene north-west South America: new insights from Bayesian stable isotope mixing models

Delgado

2021

Antiquity

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Colonisation and early peopling of the Colombian Amazon during the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene: New evidence from La Serranía La Lindosa

Cited by 51 publications

References 42 publications

The origins of Amazonian landscapes: Plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America

The origins of Amazonian landscapes: Plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America

Disentangling Domestication from Food Production Systems in the Neotropics

Patterns of dietary diversity in Holocene north-west South America: new insights from Bayesian stable isotope mixing models

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