Amazonian Dark Earths

Arroyo‐Kalin, Manuel

doi:10.1002/9781118941065.ch33

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Phosphorus levels observed at some sites in this study (Table 2) may indicate the presence of “anthropogenic brown earth”, known as terra mulata , which was formed as result of permanent or semi‐permanent cultivation practices in pre‐colonization times (Arroyo‐Kalin, 2017; Glaser & Birk, 2012). This result also suggests that human management may have contributed to the transformation of these soils in the past, and for their stabilization in the present, making them currently less responsive to management.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Soil fertility in indigenous swidden fields and fallows in northern Amazonia, Brazil

Pinho

Pequeno

Alfaia

et al. 2023

Soil Use and Management

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In the northern Brazilian Amazon, indigenous peoples who inhabit the savannas of Roraima, plant their crop fields in frequently managed “forest islands” using a rotating “slash‐and‐burn” system. The system advocates long‐term sustainability, but population growth and threats to indigenous lands have led to shorter rotations and greater frequency of use of forest island areas. Our objective was to examine soil texture and fertility (0–20 cm in depth) in indigenous crop fields (roças) and fallow lands (capoeiras, secondary forests), generating recommendations that may help to optimize traditional soil management. Results indicated that roça sites are less acidic than capoeira sites, which was expected as ashes produced by burning are alkalizing, but acidity did not increase again after 8 months of cultivation, and pH was high in all sites (>6). The general increase in nutrients expected in roças compared with capoeiras did not occur. The expected decrease of soil fertility after first months of cultivation did not happen, nor the increase of soil fertility according to fallow length. Overall, soil texture proved to be the main determinant of fertility. The unexpected results suggest that the edaphic processes resulting from the traditional indigenous cultivations, practised for centuries or millennia in this region, likely contributed to the current stabilization of soil acidity and fertility. The stable moderate fertility and stable high pH observed in all sites are advantages for production in slash‐and‐burn systems in this region, and this is especially important for more pressured areas, where agroecological practices could improve soil use and management. Although not determinant for soil fertility recovery at the studied depth (0–20 cm), the fallow period (growth of capoeiras) is still important for recovery of environmental and social functions of forest islands.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Soil fertility in indigenous swidden fields and fallows in northern Amazonia, Brazil

Pinho

Pequeno

Alfaia

et al. 2023

Soil Use and Management

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“…SCHAAN, 2013), para focar em lugares específicos que podem ser: cachoeiras, lagos, encontros de rios, ilhas fluviais ou marítimas, serras, abrigos, afloramentos rochosos e áreas de transição entre ambientes. Dentro do quadro de referências fornecido pela Ecologia Histórica (BALÉE & ERICKSON, 2006;ARROYO-KALIN, 2017) trata-se de abordagens com foco na ecologia dos assentamentos. Tal abordagem propõe que o processo de interação de longa-duração entre as pessoas e seu entorno seja analisado através da compreensão das escolhas feitas por elas quanto ao local em que desejam habitar, e que as mudanças na paisagem produzidas pelas populações pretéritas serão levadas em conta no momento da reocupação desses lugares (KELLETT & JONES, 2017).…”

Section: Ecologia Dos Assentamentos Na Amazôniaunclassified

Variabilidade estratigráfica e espacial dos contextos cerâmicos no Sítio Teotônio

Kater

Almeida

Mongeló

et al. 2020

rsab

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Na arqueologia Amazônica são comuns sítios abrangendo vários hectares com sobreposição de camadas formadas por depósitos profundos e estratificados, com consequentes perturbações de depósitos mais antigos por ocupações posteriores. Tais características impõem dificuldades de interpretação dos registros. O objetivo deste artigo é realizar uma primeira tentativa de interpretar o significado da estratigrafia do sítio Teotônio, localizado às margens da cachoeira homônima, no alto rio Madeira, que tem uma cronologia de ocupação que chega há 9.000 anos antes do presente (AP). Nossa pesquisa se restringe às ocupações de grupos ceramistas que se estendeu desde cerca de 3.000 anos AP até o período colonial. Delineou-se a dispersão do material cerâmico assim como uma área específica que concentra quase todos os conjuntos.

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“…Despite this evidence, the origins of dark earth remain unclear (16). The presence of charcoal, food remains, and artifacts indicates that humans contributed to dark earth formation (17,18), but it is unknown how they did so and whether they created it intentionally (14,(19)(20)(21)(22), leading some researchers to still question whether humans created it at all (23).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon

Schmidt,

Goldberg,

Heckenberger

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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Fertile soil known as Amazonian dark earth is central to the debate over the size and ecological impact of ancient human populations in the Amazon. Dark earth is typically associated with human occupation, but it is uncertain whether it was created intentionally. Dark earth may also be a substantial carbon sink, but its spatial extent and carbon inventory are unknown. We demonstrate spatial and compositional similarities between ancient and modern dark earth and document modern Indigenous practices that enrich soil, which we use to propose a model for the formation of ancient dark earth. This comparison suggests that ancient Amazonians managed soil to improve fertility and increase crop productivity. These practices also sequestered and stored carbon in the soil for centuries, and we show that some ancient sites contain as much carbon as the above-ground rainforest biomass. Our results demonstrate the intentional creation of dark earth and highlight the value of Indigenous knowledge for sustainable rainforest management.

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Amazonian Dark Earths

Cited by 19 publications

References 53 publications

Soil fertility in indigenous swidden fields and fallows in northern Amazonia, Brazil

Soil fertility in indigenous swidden fields and fallows in northern Amazonia, Brazil

Variabilidade estratigráfica e espacial dos contextos cerâmicos no Sítio Teotônio

Intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon

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