Sacred geographies of ancient Amazonia historical ecology of social complexity - Schaan, Denise Pahl (Left Coast Press, 2012)
Includes bibliographical references and index
List of Figures and Table; Chapter 1: Introduction: Historical Ecology and Archaeological Landscapes in Amazonia; Chapter 2: Moving Earth, Managing Water; Chapter 3: Land of the Ancestors; Chapter 4: Ponds, Lakes, and Feasts: The Cultural Geography of Anthropogenic Soils; Chapter 5: Marks on the Earth: Territoriality and Memory; Chapter 6: Conclusion; References; Index; About the Author
The legendary El Dorado & mdash;the city of gold & mdash;remains a mere legend, but astonishing new discoveries are revealing a major civilization in ancient Amazonia that was more complex than anyone previously dreamed. Scholars have long insisted that the Amazonian ecosystem placed severe limits on the size and complexity of ancient its cultures, but leading researcher Denise Schaan reverses that view, synthesizing exciting new evidence of large-scale land and resource management to tell a new history of indigenous Amazonia. Schaan also engages fundamental debates about the development of social