Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia
Abstract
The extent and intensity of pre-Columbian impacts on lowland Amazonia have remained uncertain and controversial. Various indicators can be used to gauge the impact of pre-Columbian societies, but the formation of nutrient-enriched terra preta soils has been widely accepted as an indication of long-term settlement and site fidelity. Using known and newly discovered terra preta sites and maximum entropy algorithms (Maxent), we determined the influence of regional environmental conditions on the likelihood that terra pretas would have been formed at any given location in lowland Amazonia. Terra pretas were most frequently found in central and eastern Amazonia along the lower courses of the major Amazonian rivers. Terrain, hydrologic and soil characteristics were more important predictors of terra pretadistributions than climatic conditions. Our modelling efforts indicated that terra pretas are likely to be found throughout ca 154 063 km2 or 3.2% of the forest. We also predict that terra pretaformation was limited in most of western Amazonia. Model results suggested that the distribution of terra preta was highly predictable based on environmental parameters. We provided targets for future archaeological surveys under the vast forest canopy and also highlighted how few of the long-term forest inventory sites in Amazonia are able to capture the effects of historical disturbance.
Department
Earth Sciences, Earth Systems Research Center
Publication Date
2-2014
Journal Title
Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society Publishing
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1098/rspb.2013.2475
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
McMichael, C., M.W. Palace, M.B. Bush, B.H. Braswell, S. Hagen, E.G. Neves, M.R. Silman, E.K. Tamanaha, C. Czarnecki. Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 281:1777, 2014.