Waterscapes Domestication: Ponds, Fish Weirs, and Evidence of Managed Aquatic Environments in Amazonia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Animal management and domestication have been widely studied in relation to terrestrial mammals; however, there are still debates over what “domestication” means for aquatic animals. Across the Amazon, in recent years, a great number of archaeological structures such as fish weirs, canals, ponds, and turtle and fish corrals have been documented, dating back to at least AD 300. For example, fish weirs have been discovered in different regions of the Bolivian Amazon in the Llanos de Mojos and more than a hundred ponds have been recorded on the Belterra Plateau in the Lower Amazon. The function of these ponds seems to be linked to water dynamics as during the wet season they can fill and retain water. However, Amazonian pond function is not always clear. In Central Amazonia, where post molds were found, it is possible that they served as corrals for turtles. The durations of animal “captivity” and the periods over which ponds could store fish are likely to vary greatly. We propose the concept of “waterscape domestication” as a way to understand how humans and animals have interacted throughout history in varied aquatic environments in Amazonia and to understand aquatic environments as places of domestication scenarios.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37420.0