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Traditional Tropical Root Crop Technology: Some Interactions with Modern Science

RESUMEN Tecnología tradicional de las cosechas raiceras en los trópicos: ciertas interacciones con la ciencia moderna En la humedad tropical, las cosechas raiceras tales como mandioca, ñame y batata, junto con varias cosechas de rafíces aroides, son muy preferidas a los céréales como alimentos corrientes, ya que son m´s eficaces desde el punto de vista alimenticio en estos ecosistemas. Se ha estimado que constituyen la dieta corriente de unos 400 a 500 millones de personas. Los científicos agrícolas han prestado muy poca atención a los problemas de almacenamiento y tratamiento posterior a la cosecha de estos productos, pero las sociedades tradicionales que tanto dependen de ellos han evolucionado unos sistemas muy eficaces, con recursos muy limitados. Estas sociedades suelen ser ecocéntricas en lugar de tecnocéntricas y podrían beneficiarse por interacción con la moderna technología, siempre y cuando esta última no domine ni destruya los sistemas tradicionales. SUMMARY In the humid tropics, root crops such as cassava, yams, sweet and white potatoes and a variety of aroid root crops are widely preferred to grains as staple foods, as they are often more efficient food producers under these ecosystems. They have been estimated to provide the staple food of some 400?500 mn people. Little attention has been given by agricultural scientists to the post?harvest storage and processing problems of these crop products, but traditional societies dependent on them have evolved effective systems, with very limited resources. These societies are usually ecocentric rather than technocentric, and could benefit by interaction with modern technology so long as this neither dominates nor destroys the traditional systems. RÉSUMÉ La technologie tradionnelle des cultures tropicales de racines alimentaires; quelques interactions avec la science moderne Sous les tropiques humides, les cultures de racines alimentaires telles que manioc, igname, patates et pommes de terre blanches ainsi qu'une diversité de cultures de racines aracées ont en grande mesure la préférence sur les graines en tant que nourriture de base, vu qu'elles sont souvent des productrices d'aliments plus efficaces sous ces écosystèmes. On a calculé qu'elles assurent la nourriture de base à environ 400 à 500 millions de personnes. Les techniciens agronomes se sont peu penchés sur les problèmes d'emmagasinage et de traitement des produits se ces récoltes, mais les sociétés traditionnelles qui en dépendent ont mis au point des systèmes efficaces, avec des ressources de plus limitées. Ces sociétés sont d'habitude écocentriques plutôt que tecnnocentriques, et pourraient bénéficier de l'interaction avec la technologie moderne pour autant que cette dernière ni domine ni détruise les systèmes traditionnels

The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems

Almost every ecosystem has been amended so that plants and animals can be used as food, fibre, fodder, medicines, traps and weapons. Historically, wild plants and animals were sole dietary components for hunter–gatherer and forager cultures. Today, they remain key to many agricultural communities. The mean use of wild foods by agricultural and forager communities in 22 countries of Asia and Africa (36 studies) is 90–100 species per location. Aggregate country estimates can reach 300–800 species (e.g. India, Ethiopia, Kenya). The mean use of wild species is 120 per community for indigenous communities in both industrialized and developing countries. Many of these wild foods are actively managed, suggesting there is a false dichotomy around ideas of the agricultural and the wild: hunter–gatherers and foragers farm and manage their environments, and cultivators use many wild plants and animals. Yet, provision of and access to these sources of food may be declining as natural habitats come under increasing pressure from development, conservation-exclusions and agricultural expansion. Despite their value, wild foods are excluded from official statistics on economic values of natural resources. It is clear that wild plants and animals continue to form a significant proportion of the global food basket, and while a variety of social and ecological drivers are acting to reduce wild food use, their importance may be set to grow as pressures on agricultural productivity increase.</jats:p

On confluence and contestation in the Orinoco interaction sphere: the engraved rock art of the Atures Rapids

The Atures Rapids have long been considered a major point of confluence in the Middle Orinoco landscape, Venezuela. This has been underlined by newly discovered rock art panels on islands within the Rapids and on the margins of the Orinoco River. The panels were recorded photographically and photogrammetrically, and the spatial organisation and taphonomic factors affecting the corpus were investigated. The rock art was also examined in the context of established models of chronology and authorship. Placing the corpus in relation to archaeological and ethnographic evidence from Amazonia and the Guianas emphasises how the Atures Rapids structured pre-Columbian and Colonial contact between diverse groups in lowland South America

Pre-Columbian land use in the ring-ditch region of the Bolivian Amazon

The nature and extent of pre-Columbian (pre-1492 AD) human impact in Amazonia is a contentious issue. The Bolivian Amazon has yielded some of the most impressive evidence for large and complex pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon basin, yet there remains relatively little data concerning the land use of these societies over time. Palaeoecology, when integrated with archaeological data, has the potential to fill these gaps in our knowledge. We present a 6,000-year record of anthropogenic burning, agriculture and vegetation change, from an oxbow lake located adjacent to a pre-Columbian ring-ditch in north-east Bolivia (13°15’44” S, 63°42’37” W). Human occupation around the lake site is inferred from pollen and phytoliths of maize (Zea mays L.) and macroscopic charcoal evidence of anthropogenic burning. First occupation around the lake was radiocarbon dated to ~2500 years BP. The persistence of maize in the record from ~1850 BP suggests that it was an important crop grown in the ringditch region in pre-Columbian times, and abundant macroscopic charcoal suggests that pre-Columbian land management entailed more extensive burning of the landscape than the slash-and-burn agriculture practised around the site today. The site was occupied continuously until near-modern times, although there is evidence for a decline in agricultural intensity or change in land use strategy, and possible population decline, from ~600-500 BP. The long and continuous occupation, which predates the establishment of rainforest in the region, suggests that pre-Columbian land use may have had a significant influence on ecosystem development at this site over the last ~2000 years

Interdisciplinary progress in approaches to address social-ecological and ecocultural systems

SUMMARYThe emergent human cultures have shaped, and in turn been shaped by, local ecosystems. Yet humanity's intense modification of the environment has resulted in dramatic worldwide declines in natural and cultural capital. Social-ecological systems are becoming more vulnerable through the disruption of livelihoods, governance, institutions, resources and cultural traditions. This paper reviews the environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged to seek solutions for conservation and maintenance of the resilience of social-ecological systems. It shows that a central component is engagement with the knowledges of people within their contexts. Local knowledges of nature (traditional, indigenous, local ecological knowledge and ecoliteracy) are used by place-based cultures to guide actions towards nature. The importance of new engagements between different knowledges is now becoming more widely recognized by scientific institutions. Yet there still exist many false dualisms (for example local knowledge versus science) which tend to emphasize a superiority of one over the other. Ecocultures retain or strive to regain their connections with the environment, and thus improve their own resilience. Revitalization projects offer ways to connect knowledge with action to produce optimal outcomes for both nature and culture, suggesting that systems can be redesigned by emphasis on incorporation of local and traditional knowledge systems.</jats:p

The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils

The emergence of sedentism and agriculture in Amazonia continues to sit uncomfortably within accounts of South American pre-Columbian history. This is partially because deep-seated models were formulated when only ceramic evidence was known, partly because newer data continue to defy simple explanations, and partially because many discussions continue to ignore evidence of pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape transformations. This paper presents the results of recent geoarchaeological research on Amazonian anthropogenic soils. It advances the argument that properties of two different types of soils, terras pretas and terras mulatas, support their interpretation as correlates of, respectively, past settlement areas and fields where spatially-intensive, organic amendment-reliant cultivation took place. This assessment identifies anthropogenic soil formation as a hallmark of the Amazonian Formative and prompts questions about when similar forms of enrichment first appear in the Amazon basin. The paper reviews evidence for embryonic anthrosol formation to highlight its significance for understanding the domestication of a key Amazonian crop: manioc (Manihot esculenta ssp. esculenta). A model for manioc domestication that incorporates anthropogenic soils outlines some scenarios which link the distribution of its two broader varieties—sweet and bitter manioc—with the widespread appearance of Amazonian anthropogenic dark earths during the first millennium AD

Hunting and fishing focus among the Miskito Indians, eastern Nicaragua

The amounts of native animals taken in hunting and fishing by Amerind peoples are almost unknown. The interrelationships of cultural and ecological systems determine to a large extent hunting and fishing returns, focus, and strategies. This study presents data obtained in a coastal Miskito Indian village in eastern Nicaragua. Measurements were made of meat yields by species and of the time and distance inputs involved in securing fish and game. Hunting and fishing focus and strategies are adaptive mechanisms enabling the Miskito to achieve high and dependable returns from a limited number of species. Several factors are examined which influence hunting and fishing focus: dietary preferences and prohibitions, costs involved, differential productivity and dependability of particular species, seasonality and scheduling, and the impact of cash market opportunities for faunal resources. Under the impetus of population growth and rising aspirations, the Miskito's efforts to secure increasing numbers of animals for both subsistence and market are leading to severe pressures on selected species and to cultural and ecological disruptions .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44475/1/10745_2005_Article_BF01791280.pd

Continuous human presence without extensive reductions in forest cover over the past 2500 years in an aseasonal Amazonian rainforest

The impact of pre‐Columbian indigenous communities on forest cover in Amazonia is highly contentious, particularly for the wettest forests. To contribute to this debate, we studied the vegetation and fire history of a site, Quistococha, which lies within the aseasonal forests of the northern Peruvian Amazon and is associated with independently dated pre‐Columbian and recent human occupation. Paired cores from swamp and lake environments were used to distinguish landscape‐scale changes in vegetation from local‐scale succession. An increased abundance of disturbance‐adapted taxa in the pollen record from the lake, but not swamp, since c. AD 1860 probably reflects extensive deforestation related to the expansion of the nearby city of Iquitos. However, previous persistent occupation of the site by pre‐Columbian indigenous communities, indicated by the charcoal record from the lake site, is not associated with evidence for similarly extensive disturbance of the landscape. The unique features of this site therefore demonstrate that occupation by indigenous communities over thousands of years was not associated with large‐scale deforestation. These results support an emerging model of persistent but localized impacts by pre‐Columbian indigenous communities on aseasonal Amazonian forests