Sacred Geographies of Ancient Amazonia

The legendary El Dorado—the city of gold—remains a mere legend, but astonishing new discoveries are revealing a major civilization in ancient Amazonia that was more complex than anyone previously dreamed. Scholars have long insisted that the Amazonian ecosystem placed severe limits on the size and complexity of its ancient cultures, but leading researcher Denise Schaan reverses that view, synthesizing exciting new evidence of large-scale land and resource management to tell a new history of indigenous Amazonia. Schaan also engages fundamental debates about the development of social complexity and the importance of ancient Amazonia from a global perspective. This innovative, interdisciplinary book is a major contribution to the study of human-environment relations, social complexity, and past and present indigenous societies. <p>1. Introduction: Historical Ecology and Archaeological Landscapes in Amazonia2. Moving Earth, Managing Water3. Land of the Ancestors4. Ponds, Lakes and Feats: The Cultural Geography of Anthropogenic Soils5. Marks on Earth: Territoriality and Memory6. ConclusionReferencesIndexAbout the Author</p>