Climate change and cultural resilience in late pre-Columbian Amazonia

de Souza, Jonas Gregorio; Robinson, Mark; Maezumi, S. Yoshi; Capriles, José; Hoggarth, Julie A.; Lombardo, Umberto; Novello, Valdir Felipe; Apaéstegui, James; Whitney, Bronwen; Urrego, Dunia; Alves, Daiana Travassos; Rostain, Stephen; Power, Mitchell J.; Mayle, Francis E.; da Cruz, Francisco William; Hooghiemstra, Henry; Iriarte, José (2019). Climate change and cultural resilience in late pre-Columbian Amazonia. Nature ecology & evolution, 3(7), pp. 1007-1017. Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41559-019-0924-0

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The long-term response of ancient societies to climate change has been a matter of global debate. Until recently, the lack of integrative studies using archaeological, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological data prevented an evaluation of the relationship between climate change, distinct subsistence strategies and cultural transformations across the largest rainforest of the world, Amazonia. Here we review the most relevant cultural changes seen in the archaeological record of six different regions within Greater Amazonia during late pre-Columbian times. We compare the chronology of those cultural transitions with high-resolution regional palaeoclimate proxies, showing that, while some societies faced major reorganization during periods of climate change, others were unaffected and even flourished. We propose that societies with intensive, specialized land-use systems were vulnerable to transient climate change. In contrast, land-use systems that relied primarily on polyculture agroforestry, resulting in the formation of enriched forests and fertile Amazonian dark earth in the long term, were more resilient to climate change.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Paleo-Geoecology
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Lombardo, Umberto

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
500 Science
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology
500 Science > 560 Fossils & prehistoric life
900 History > 910 Geography & travel
900 History > 930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499)
900 History > 980 History of South America

ISSN:

2397-334X

Publisher:

Nature Publishing Group

Language:

English

Submitter:

Lukas Munz

Date Deposited:

31 Jul 2019 15:55

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:29

Publisher DOI:

10.1038/s41559-019-0924-0

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Archaeology, Climate change, Palaeoclimate

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.132069

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/132069

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