IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i5p678-d807802.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forests and Farmers: GIS Analysis of Forest Islands and Large Raised Fields in the Bolivian Amazon

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas W. Lee

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall 309, Orlando, FL 32816, USA)

  • John H. Walker

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall 309, Orlando, FL 32816, USA)

Abstract

The Llanos de Mojos of the Bolivian Amazon is a domesticated landscape with a long history of management by pre-Columbian communities. This paper uses a landscape approach to interpret the settlement patterns of pre-Columbian raised-field farmers in west central Mojos. The pre-Columbian landscape was reconstructed by mapping the distribution of three types of landscape features: forest islands, raised agricultural fields, and water systems (rivers, streams and wetlands). Previous research has identified four types of patterned clustering or ‘constellations’ of these landscape features in west central Mojos. These constellations and the immediate area of the landscape that surrounds them afforded Mojos farmers a specific set of tasks or activities to take part in as part of harnessing resources from the landscape. The mapping of landscape features and their associated tasks onto the landscape provides insight into the organization of the communities that constructed and managed them. It was found that the landscape of west central Mojos is organized into two distinct regional patterns. In the northern part of the region, evidence of large farming communities is dispersed along the banks of the permanent rivers with networks of landscape features extending off into remote areas of the savanna. In the southern part of the region, evidence for large farming communities is clustered closer together in remote areas of the savanna with networks of landscape features extending back towards the permanent rivers. The two regions are melded together by a transitional zone that implies a type of interaction between the regions rather than a distinct separation.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas W. Lee & John H. Walker, 2022. "Forests and Farmers: GIS Analysis of Forest Islands and Large Raised Fields in the Bolivian Amazon," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:678-:d:807802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/678/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/678/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clark L. Erickson, 2000. "An artificial landscape-scale fishery in the Bolivian Amazon," Nature, Nature, vol. 408(6809), pages 190-193, November.
    2. Umberto Lombardo & José Iriarte & Lautaro Hilbert & Javier Ruiz-Pérez & José M. Capriles & Heinz Veit, 2020. "Early Holocene crop cultivation and landscape modification in Amazonia," Nature, Nature, vol. 581(7807), pages 190-193, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Galina Trebeleva & Andrey Kizilov & Vasiliy Lobkovskiy & Gleb Yurkov, 2022. "Evolving Cultural and Historical Landscapes of Northwestern Colchis during the Medieval Period: Physical Environment and Urban Decline Causes," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Xiaopiao Wu & Zhongfa Zhou & Meng Zhu & Denghong Huang & Changli Zhu & Qing Feng & Wanlin Luo, 2022. "Study on the Coupling Relationship between Relocation for Poverty Alleviation and Spatiotemporal Evolution of Rocky Desertification in Karst Areas of Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Camila Gianotti & A. César González-García & Nicolás Gazzán & Cristina Cancela-Cereijo & Moira Sotelo, 2023. "Knowledge of the Sky among Indigenous Peoples of the South American Lowlands—First Archaeoastronomical Analyses of Orientations at Mounds in Uruguay," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-24, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wolfgang Onyeali & Michael P. Schlaile & Bastian Winkler, 2023. "Navigating the Biocosmos: Cornerstones of a Bioeconomic Utopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-32, June.
    2. Jian Yin & Danqi Wei, 2023. "Study on the Crop Suitability and Planting Structure Optimization in Typical Grain Production Areas under the Influence of Human Activities and Climate Change: A Case Study of the Naoli River Basin in," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-28, November.
    3. Pierre Desrochers & Vincent Geloso & Joanna Szurmak, 2021. "Care to Wager Again? An Appraisal of Paul Ehrlich's Counterbet Offer to Julian Simon, Part 2: Critical Analysis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(2), pages 808-829, March.
    4. repec:arp:sjavsm:2021:p:85-91 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Christiam Paúl Aguirre Merino & Raquel Piqué Huerta & Lady Nathaly Parra Ordoñez & Verónica Alexandra Guamán Cazho & Walter Oswaldo Valdez Bustamante, 2023. "The Archeological Landscape of the Chanchán Basin and Its Agroecological Legacies for the Conservation of Montane Forests in the Western Foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-37, January.
    6. Marion Comptour & Sophie Caillon & Leonor Rodrigues & Doyle McKey, 2018. "Wetland Raised-Field Agriculture and Its Contribution to Sustainability: Ethnoecology of a Present-Day African System and Questions about Pre-Columbian Systems in the American Tropics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, August.
    7. Ma, Shimeng & Ritsema, Coen J. & Wang, Sufen, 2024. "Achieving sustainable crop management: A holistic approach to crop competitiveness assessment and structure optimization with dual natural-social environmental impacts," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    8. Douglas J. Kennett & Mark Lipson & Keith M. Prufer & David Mora-Marín & Richard J. George & Nadin Rohland & Mark Robinson & Willa R. Trask & Heather H. J. Edgar & Ethan C. Hill & Erin E. Ray & Paige L, 2022. "South-to-north migration preceded the advent of intensive farming in the Maya region," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Yaqiu Zhu & Bangyou Zheng & Qiyou Luo & Weihua Jiao & Yadong Yang, 2023. "Uncovering the Drivers and Regional Variability of Cotton Yield in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:678-:d:807802. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.