Flood Regimes, Earthworks, and Water Management in the Domesticated Landscapes of The Bolivian Amazon

Summary

Exploitation and control of wetland resources was a major strategy of early sedentary peoples in many areas of the world. In some cases, indigenous knowledge about flood pluses and water dynamics and anthropogenic transformation of waterscapes increased to the point where some wetlands were transformed into domesticated landscapes. Analysis and interpretations of relevant radar (TerraSAR-X, ALOS SAR-X, Sentinel-1), multispectral (Landsat ETM and ETM+, ASTER), DEMs (SRTM, ASTER) satellite and aerial imagery is used map and understand the distribution, volume, and movement of water through anthropogenic landscapes in the Bolivian Amazon. Pre-Columbian peoples built numerous earthworks including raised fields, causeways, canals, fish weirs, and fish ponds within the seasonally inundated savannas and wetlands of the region. Our research attempts to show that these earthworks were created to capture, control, and manage large volumes of water, and as a result could produce, capture, and sequester carbon, aquatic/alluvial organic sediments, and aquatic food resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22234