Watling Jennifer, Iriarte José, Mayle Francis E, Schaan Denise, Pessenda Luiz C R, Loader Neil J, Street-Perrott F Alayne, Dickau Ruth E, Damasceno Antonia, Ranzi Alceu
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-070, Brazil;
Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QE, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Feb 21;114(8):1868-1873. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1614359114. Epub 2017 Feb 6.
Over 450 pre-Columbian (pre-AD 1492) geometric ditched enclosures ("geoglyphs") occupy ∼13,000 km of Acre state, Brazil, representing a key discovery of Amazonian archaeology. These huge earthworks were concealed for centuries under (upland interfluvial) rainforest, directly challenging the "pristine" status of this ecosystem and its perceived vulnerability to human impacts. We reconstruct the environmental context of geoglyph construction and the nature, extent, and legacy of associated human impacts. We show that bamboo forest dominated the region for ≥6,000 y and that only small, temporary clearings were made to build the geoglyphs; however, construction occurred within anthropogenic forest that had been actively managed for millennia. In the absence of widespread deforestation, exploitation of forest products shaped a largely forested landscape that survived intact until the late 20th century.
450多个前哥伦布时期（公元1492年以前）的几何形沟渠围场（“大地艺术”）分布在巴西阿克里州约13000公里的土地上，这是亚马逊考古学的一项重大发现。这些巨大的土方工程在（高地河间）雨林下被隐藏了几个世纪，这直接挑战了该生态系统的“原始”状态及其被认为对人类影响的脆弱性。我们重建了大地艺术建造的环境背景以及相关人类影响的性质、范围和遗留问题。我们发现，竹林在该地区占据主导地位达6000多年，建造大地艺术时只进行了小规模的临时清理；然而，建造是在经过数千年积极管理的人工林中进行的。在没有大规模森林砍伐的情况下，对林产品的开发塑造了一个大部分为森林覆盖的景观，该景观一直完好无损地存续到20世纪后期。
