Fields and Forests: A Stable Isotope Perspective on the Subsistence Strategies of Past Amazonian Peoples
type: CreativeWork
description: The subsistence strategies employed by the ancient peoples of the Amazon have been a fundamental and extensively debated topic since the inception of archaeological research in the region. Despite a general disagreement regarding carrying capacity and human development in past Amazonia, the initial subsistence debate converged upon strategies based on manioc cultivation and fish protein and the functional division of the Amazon territory between productive (várzea) and unproductive (terra firme) areas. These early remarks, however, were based mainly on limited ethnographic analogy supported by scarce archaeological evidence, highly compromising the validity of the proposed theories. Only in recent years, with the improvement of archaeological science techniques, researchers were able to give a new direction to understanding subsistence practices in ancient Amazonia. Yet, very little is known about the life ways of past Amazonian peoples. This thesis contributes to the debate by presenting newly generated bone collagen-derived carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from populations occupying three different Bolivian and Brazilian Amazon areas – the Llanos de Mojos, the Central and Lower Amazon basin – between around 2000 to 500 years BP. This study also compares the generated data with published stable isotope evidence from populations in other areas of the Amazon as well as other Neotropical lowland forests to build a larger picture of human subsistence practices in the Amazon under the known Neotropical context. Interpretations focus on a multiproxy perspective, relying on extensive contextual fauna and plant remains evidence recovered throughout the Amazon. The results show marked differences between the three areas. In the Lower Amazon, the data from the Maracá population indicate diets based on a combination of unknown C3 plants, supplemented by riverine protein and a potential small maize contribution. In the Central Amazon basin, the evidence from the Hatahar…
abstract: The subsistence strategies employed by the ancient peoples of the Amazon have been a fundamental and extensively debated topic since the inception of archaeological research in the region. Despite a general disagreement regarding carrying capacity and human development in past Amazonia, the initial subsistence debate converged upon strategies based on manioc cultivation and fish protein and the functional division of the Amazon territory between productive (várzea) and unproductive (terra firme) areas. These early remarks, however, were based mainly on limited ethnographic analogy supported by scarce archaeological evidence, highly compromising the validity of the proposed theories. Only in recent years, with the improvement of archaeological science techniques, researchers were able to give a new direction to understanding subsistence practices in ancient Amazonia. Yet, very little is known about the life ways of past Amazonian peoples. This thesis contributes to the debate by presenting newly generated bone collagen-derived carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from populations occupying three different Bolivian and Brazilian Amazon areas – the Llanos de Mojos, the Central and Lower Amazon basin – between around 2000 to 500 years BP. This study also compares the generated data with published stable isotope evidence from populations in other areas of the Amazon as well as other Neotropical lowland forests to build a larger picture of human subsistence practices in the Amazon under the known Neotropical context. Interpretations focus on a multiproxy perspective, relying on extensive contextual fauna and plant remains evidence recovered throughout the Amazon. The results show marked differences between the three areas. In the Lower Amazon, the data from the Maracá population indicate diets based on a combination of unknown C3 plants, supplemented by riverine protein and a potential small maize contribution. In the Central Amazon basin, the evidence from the Hatahar…
author: Hermenegildo, Tiago
language: eng
keywords: Stable Isotopes, Subsistence Strategies, Amazon, Archaeology, Carbon and nitrogen
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2022-01-21
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:33:15Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.85738