Sedentism and plant domestication: North west Amazonia

Summary

Two different scenarios have been proposed to explain sedentarization and the transition from foraging to sedentary societies. In the first a key resource or a combination of resources allows the stability of the population giving rise, over time, to sedentarization; in the second, a population concentration caused by an external change such as drastic climatic fluctuation or regional population increase with its concomitant social problems force the adoption of a sedentary way of life. In these scenarios plant domestication and the adoption of agriculture has been underlined; a good example of this is the interpretations of the archaeological record of the Levant. Yet, while Amazonian paleobotanical record shows a robust processes of plant domestication and plant experimentation, the archaeological record, particularly in the North West Amazon, is very poor in examples of early sedentism associated with the adoption of agriculture. This paper explores the relationship between plant domestication and sedentarization in Amazonia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Formative Influences: A Gathering in Honor of J. Scott Raymond   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16884