Paper short abstract:

The paper will examine the formation of anthropogenici dark earths of the cenral Amazon region from a geo-archaelogical perspective in order to highlight some of their wider implications for historical ecology and landscape history.

Paper long abstract:

The research programme of Historical Ecology argues that biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems are imprinted by the path-dependent and enduring effects on the landscape of trans-generational human action. Intriguing examples of this imprinting are Amazonian anthropogenic dark earths (ADEs), anthrosols of pre-Columbian age recognised as evidence of large, sedentary settlements in the Amazon basin. Research focused on their properties, land use and botanical inventories highlight these soils are anomalously fertile, are preferred locales for present-day cultivation, and contain higher concentrations of edible plants, especially fruit trees. My aim in this paper is to examine the role of ADEs in the long-term human history of Amazonia. To this effect, I first outline evidence about their variability as well as inferences about past land use that together illuminate the proximate causes for their formation. Next, I explore their ultimate causes by linking their appearance in the Amazonian archeological record to specific histories of plant domestication in the landscape. This dual perspective draws attention to plant domestication as a landscape process and endorses Historical Ecology's invitation to interrogate landscapes - past and present - with archaeological questions. (185 words, excl. title)