Jodï horticultural belief, knowledge and practice: incipient or integral cultivation?

Abstract

This paper describes the Jodï horticultural system, including belief, knowledge and practice aspects. The horticultural practices of the Jodï were previously characterized as 'incipient cultivation' but such practices were poorly described and documented. The antiquity of cultivation among this group is suggested by the prominence and significance of horticultural products and techniques in myth and ritual. Our field observations uncovered a fairly sophisticated system of plant management in swiddens, house gardens, trail gardens and natural forest gaps. An inventory of 67 cultivated plant species was documented, of which 36 are utilized for food, 20 for magical or medicinal purposes, and 11 for technology. The Jodï prolong the productive phase of their gardens for five years or more through successive planting-harvesting-replanting operations. Jodï swiddens display an elaborate polycultivated appearance and they possess at least five principal crops: plantain/banana, maize, yams, sweet potato, and sweet manioc. Another distinctive feature is the extensive use of natural gaps in the forest canopy as cultivation zones. The results of this study suggest that while Jodï horticultural practice is well integrated with a nomadic, foraging-dependent lifestyle, nevertheless this system does not deserve to be labeled as 'incipient' and instead is more integral than was recognized previously.

How People Domesticated Amazonian Forests

“…For instance, the Kayapó Indians in southern Amazonia use Azteca ants to repel leaf-cutting ants that eat useful species' leaves (Posey, 1987). The Huaorani Indians in western Amazonia and Hotï Indians in northern Amazonia increase the abundance of several useful plant species by keeping fruit trees alive in their territory (Rival, 1998;Zent and Zent, 2012). Aggregated patches of many useful plants are spared when clearing the forest for crop cultivation (Shanley et al, 2016), increasing the survival rates of these plants.…”

“…Planting practices may increase a useful plant's performance, survival and reproduction because people usually take care of seedlings after planting. In Amazonia, several tree and palm species are planted mostly in agroforestry systems, forest gardens and forest gaps surrounding settlements (Denevan et al, 1984;Balée, 1993;Zent and Zent, 2012). In the past, indigenous groups also planted several perennial species, originating patches of useful trees and palm species across the basin (Frikel, 1978).…”

Was there ever a Neolithic in the Neotropics? Plant familiarisation and biodiversity in the Amazon

“…There is always a breach in which fallows play a central part. Instead of a marked discontinuity between cultivated land and forest, we have a chromatic succession caused by human ‘creative disturbances’ that result in further diversity (Balée 1989; Zent & Zent 2012). While the concept of domestication often implies a rupture between nature and culture, familiarisation may provide us with a more nuanced perspective to approach such interactions.…”

Aspectos etnoecológicos de la agricultura entre los Pumé

“…Después de dos a tres años de cultivo, siembra y resiembra de yuca, los terrenos de los conucos son abandonados por siete o más años antes de una nueva tala y quema. Los conucos abandonados son espacios ideales para las actividades de cacería y recolección (Posey, 1983;Padoch;Denevan, 1988;Zent, 1992Zent, , 1995Freire, 2007;Zent, E., 2012). Es decir, son espacios manejados para el aprovechamiento de recursos vegetales cultivados y no cultivados.…”

“…Las fases de cultivo que se describen a continuación están basadas en el manejo agrícola en conucos grandes (ĉhado), ya que este tipo de manejo es comparable con los conucos de tumba y quema o conucos de barbecho, que es el modelo agrícola de los grupos amazónicos más conocido (Triana-Moreno et al, 2006;Robert et al, 2012;Zent, E., 2012;López Garcés, 2016). En forma general, el ciclo de cultivo se puede resumir en un esquema (Figura 2), aunque enfatizamos que se trata de un modelo.…”