Identifying Past Vegetation Dynamics in Xingu Indigenous Territory Using Soil Phytolith Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology in the Xingu River Basin: Long-Term Histories, Current Threats, and Future Perspectives" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper presents the preliminary hypotheses of a soil sampling programme aimed at mapping precolumbian and historic vegetation dynamics in the Xingu Indigenous Territory (TIX), Brazil. Research carried out with the Kuikuro during the last three decades has resulted in the archaeology of the TIX being one of the best studied and best mapped in Amazonia, but until now there have been no archaeobotanical or paleoecological studies aimed at identifying plant management within these highly complex cultural landscapes. By applying phytoliths, charcoal, and geochemical analyses to strategically placed soil transects that capture visible gradients of both modern (village > gardens > forest) and precolumbian (site > dark earths > unaltered soils) land use, we aim to contribute new data about vegetation, fire, and resource management regimes over the last 1,000 years.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Archaeology in the Xingu River Basin: Long-Term Histories, Current Threats, and Future Perspectives

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32498