Anthropology

Chapter 23 HISTORICAL ECOLOGY AND FUTURE EXPLORATIONS
CLARK ERICKSON, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA in J. Lehmann, et al. (eds.), Amazonian Dark Earths: Origin, Properties, Management, 455-500. © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

Soils in Amazônia are traditionally thought of as a given, limited homogeneous resource labeled as poor or marginal for agriculture. Historically and ethnographically, the strategy of settlement and farming in Amazônia is to colonize new farmland (a form of agricultural expansion) and use them for 2-3 years until crop yields decline and/or weeds become too much of a problem, abandon the field and move on to a new location (e.g. slash-and-burn agriculture and now increasingly modern ranching in the tropical forest). Agricultural intensification, increasing yields through addition of labor, fertilizers, irrigation (infrastructure), mechanization, and capital to unit area of production has had limited success in Amazônia. Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE)1 may represent a significant case of agricultural intensification by Native Americans, the artificial creation of new, highly productive soils. The investment of energy, materials, and resources into permanent farmland near settlements apparently had positive results based on the archaeological evidence for size and longevity of occupation on these sites. The form and internal variation of ADE provides insights about patterned human activities within pre-Columbian settlements that produced them. Research on ADE may also contribute to contemporary rural development.