Evaluating long-term trends in seasonality and land-use changes in the post-Contact Llanos de Mojos

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Llanos de Mojos region in the Bolivian Amazon has a long history of human occupation that challenges long-held ideas about the nature of pre-Contact communities. It has a tropical savanna ecosystem with very strong seasonality, resulting in annual cycles of flooding and drought. Large, long-term sedentary populations appear to have adapted to this environment by constructing extensive anthropogenic landscapes, including raised agricultural fields, which were eventually abandoned after thousands of years of sustained use. The exact timing and reason for the abandonment of raised-field agriculture is unknown, though some argue the arrival of Jesuit missionaries, domesticated livestock, and new agricultural practices in Mojos in 1683 CE played a significant role. This project utilizes stable oxygen isotope analysis of sediment cores to determine if the abandonment of traditionally managed landscapes can be attributed to environmental factors in addition to the cultural factors associated with the arrival of Europeans in the region. If extreme changes in expected seasonal climate patterns occurred, then environmental factors may have contributed to the changing land-use practices evidenced by the abandonment of raised field agriculture, vegetation shifts, and increased reliance on European domesticates.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40341.0