Civilizations in the Amazon Until

Civilizations in the Amazon

Until as recently as the 1970s, the possibility of significantly sized ancient civilizations in the Amazon Basin has not been acknowledged. The reason for this is the fact that the area's ecology is unsuitable to support large civilizations, being low in land animal populations and fertile soil. However, authors such as Michael J. Heckenberger and Charles C. Mann are beginning to change widely accepted paradigms regarding populations in the Amazon Basin by means of new discoveries. These discoveries suggest that the Amazon Basin once housed not only considerably sophisticated civilization, but also such civilizations of significant size.

Heckenberger for example has conducted in-depth study with the Kuikuro tribe in the Amazon Basin. Here he found significant evidence to suggest a complex pre-Columbian society (Heckenberger 64). This society lived in a network of towns, villages and roads to suggest a population size significantly larger than the current numbers of Kuikuro. The author notes that the population could have been as much as 20 times in number of what it is today. He also sees evidence of this in the biodiversity in the region, which indicates human intervention in ancient times.

The author further hypothesizes that these large numbers of people succumbed to European invasion by means of disease, colonization, and other forms of violence, after which the forest simply overgrew the settlements. This hypothesis is confirmed by the journals of early explorers and colonizers, which report large populations of native people along the Amazon River. According to Heckenberger (67), these populations were organized in an interactive system of trade. Specifically, the author's investigations led him to believe that areas such as Marajo Island at the mouth of the river, as well as less well-known areas such as Llanos de Mojos in Bolivian and Acre in Brazil probably supported complex and sophisticated societies.

In the Upper Xingu Basin, excavations have revealed ancient towns and interconnected roads across the region (Heckenberger 70). This indicates a large amount of sophisticated regional planning and integration. The roads connected two hierarchical clusters of towns and villages, each with a ceremonial center and satellite towns, precisely oriented in terms of the center. According to the author, it is likely that the towns held 1,000 or even more citizens. In total, Heckenberger notes that the total regional population could have been some 30,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. However, the number is difficult to determine accurately, as a large part of the region is still to be studied.

In his article, Charles C. Mann addresses the find of "geoglyphs" in Acre, Brazil during the 1970s. This find was the first to lead to an acknowledgement of more than small civilizations in the ancient Amazon (Man 1148). Although the purpose of the geoglyphs is unclear, they do suggest a sophisticated civilization as recently as 1250 C.E., according to carbon dating. Indeed, researchers suggest that indigenous people lived in the region in dense settlements.