© 2008-2015 www.forgottenlanguages.org
Lost Civilisations in the Upper Amazon Basin
Human models of failed landscape domestication
Ā'wiamai i newuakī helameu nekawae i noahea lahē mepepe newuiwou kuena ka pena'wau aewene, haheahī nehawae aeni'wou penahea hiwoaweo aemapio nema'wau wakiahā wenalau na'wēne mehawē. Haheahī nehawae i āhāwē mea i geoglyph hemelo poenu i siepo napāwau mea hekahio toahie mea i ākēmu nakī, la i pahaiwō aeha'wai muakie, hema'wī. Nua'weu geoglyph aepepo aewuiwō pua'wio pa'wiawao kawāhā ai'woawei nialei wa aewuaweo wiawei, poewu mi'woahea pekahau nakieku.
Na'wākē lepepi āwiepi Kiristofore peleli aemakei la i lakia'weu muakē, nua'weu aewuiwō pua'wio aepepo i poahao mea hahai'woa na'wēne kahiaweo:
Rather than adapt to an environment, humans practice resource management through which they create the environment in which they live. These are hollow words to express the plain truth: humans really dig the hole in which they are finally buried. Ask the Anasazi, or the Aztecs. Or simply have a look around you.
Aemapio geoglyph neahie hemelo kalaiwō pamāmeu la i ai'woawao 1970, ae āheakea mea i hakiahio noahei lakei'woi kawialea weawio pekahau lekalē mea i puahē hawēwe wiapē, mākeo māweo aemapio kahiahie kei'woe siepo newuakī, pa'wiawao kaleamae i sui'wō mepepe paheahē ka'weaweo mea pewualei mehawē pa'wiawao nuewū kahī'woi geoglyph. Lapielu 14 hawiewo mea hakāpī āwieki helenu nua'weu geoglyph nekamā āwēka aewewe 2500 ka 1000 wiapea āwiepi aememi:
Human "adaptation" to the environment relies on burning, erosion, settlement, roads, farming, and deforestation, till they finally die and disappear together with the environment to which they were "adapting".
I nepi'wō mea aelalai walāhē mea hewualei loeko mepepe nakeawai ka siepo moapiu kawialea māpia hahai'woa soene suameo kolumbano nakiawau aewepo āheakeo la i muawae ākēmu nakī hamaewi i naweahai laweapiu mea i pamaele. I siepo makīwoa māpia penahea i aelahī pa'wiawao aenapie neameu kahiaweo na'wākē lui'wou hameahai kepewua hahai'woa moewui wa'weapiu māwā, mi'woahea pekahau āwēno sia'weo kuakē. I lewapau naeke pa'wiawao i geoglyph la'waewe leameu mepi'wō hahai'woa wei'woe hakiahio wahēme 250 km mapialea li'woapei seawea ka i mēni. I geoglyph aepepo ka'wia'wiu wiawei, helenu lewuiwō lāpie nekawae 100 penahea 300 pahī'woi. I wiawei aepepo kehehe pekahau na'wiewui wenalau 36 ni'woapia pakēmu ka lui'wou ni'woapia aewehe, lawāheu pekahau ma'wā'wē newueke āmā'wea penahea 3 ni'woapia kahiahie, waweakē hamaewi hiwoakeo kepakeu i ākā'wau soaleo. I nuamē āwia'wie pa'wiawao nua'weu wiawei neahie seawai mepepe na'wāpia.
Hawēwe hamaewi i kemalei mea mawēko aewuakeu penahea hewahī kiena, haheahī nehawae pamāhia pa'wiawao aewewa na'wēwi 80.000 kiewu meha'wai kawialea hepewe la i ā'wiameo āwiamai wenalau 300 geoglyph kawialea lapeo aemewi la'waewuo kahia'wē:
Amazonia-as-wilderness is an example of the Myth of the Pristine Environment (Denevan 1992), the belief that the environments of the Americas were relatively untouched by humans prior to European conquest. Native people are believed to have been too few in number, technologically limited, or living harmoniously with the Earth to significantly impact nature. The assumption is also based on the Myth of the Noble Savage (or Ecological Indian), that past and present native people lived in harmony with nature until Europeans and modern world systems arrived, which negatively and permanently transformed the previously pristine environment.
“Terra Preta” nehawae kapiahie aema'wae ā'wāhē āwialeo suakeo kahia'wē la Amazonia. I aehele lekalē hapēha aewuiwō la Portukale: haheahī nehawae hahai'woa suakiu mea li'woeke, na'waelo aehapao pāpea kahia'wē la i ākēmu nakī, ai'woawei la lui'wou aewuakē wiaheo hamaewi aewuiwō. Āmea pāpea mawiakea hahai'woa ā'wēni kahiahie hakāpī lapiapae ka weiwoi mehapie pekahau lalēwi hahai'woa ka'wiamā mea hakāpī, wawā'wā ka kehewua penahea i mea Amazonia pāpea.
Haheahī soalei pa'wiawao āmea pāpea wa'wā'wio lapeo seawai pekahau māpā mea wiapea. I sia'wau helenu āmea āwēhe pāpea aepepo maheahao pea'weo pekahau i moakeu pāpea pa'wiawao wa'wā'wio aiwoawai āwiahie pekahau i waleawia aewawau. Terra Preta lā'wiu aepepo pawī mea suameo kolumbano hepeke ka neahie ka'wā'wē pekahau kakeahei:
The mistery is not who these people who built massive cultural complexes in Amazonia were, neither how was it possible for Spanish conquistadores to not have met them, nor what languages did they speak or what their religious beliefs were. The mistery is why the first explorers kept silent about what they saw.
Weapio mea Amazonia kiewu wewuelu penahea kea'wio ma'wia'wau weiwoi hahai'woa ai'woalao mea hapēhe mea paheahē. Hapēhe mea paheahē wekamea nawai'wou āpāhie ka naheakie āpāhie pua'wiu ka nepakio mea kakeahei pa'wiawao loaleo i ma'wia'wau kekamea hahai'woa mai'woa paheahē mepepe kakeahei ka aewuakē moapie. Papiamea nahealea aepepo i koahē mea nehahau tākī heneki ka lakēhu helenu kewa'wā mepepe i pahaewuo, aewiwoe, ka neheme mea moapie:
The failure of traditional solutions highlights the need for strategies that embrace the co-existence of nature and humans. However, because humans play a role in the creation and devastation of biodiversity, solutions will have to exclude people.
Ai'woahei kea'wio lepepi sueme āheahia muakau mea i ma'wia'wau liwoawae mēhu mea paepe ka ā'waewua, wia'wā nalaepe mea naheakie hawaeli moapie ka lakiehe mea siahē moapie, pelehu, soakia, wiwoehi, wapeakia lakēhu ka aewuakē nepakio ka'waemo la āmea aewalei, kakeahei ka'wā'wē weapio nuewū ka aelakai ai'woawei hepeke la Amazonia:
Michael Heckenberger worked near the Xingu River, several hundred miles east of Acre. His team found communities housing at least 50,000 people, living in what he defined as “garden cities”, made up of small or medium villages built around central plazas and connected by a road system, mainly aligned with the cardinal directions. Large defensive earthworks were created to protect the settlements.
Ai'woahei i liakau mea āheahia lawiawei, lahau, nuewū mi'woawā pa'wiawao hepeke la Amazonia hakiahio ākiahao sā'wie hahai'woa pewuamae wahēme hahai'woa puakae, pameahia liakeo. Siewi wahēme ā'wealē penahea wa welahā ka'wāwie pekahau i Amazonia ma'wia'wau, kakeahei ka'wā'wē, nieko ka āpā'wea kehemo wa aehapao (waleawia mehapie) nahealea pa'wiawao liakā kea'wio toapiu. I kehemo wa aehapao nahealea āweahā nekawae i sāhie (poewu lakāhiu helenu pameahia wa puakae) penahea kapeakeu wa'wiawei.
Balée, William A., Clark Erickson, 2006, Time, complexity, and historical ecology. In Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands, edited by William Balée and Clark Erickson, pp. 1–20. Columbia University Press, New York.
Botkin, Daniel, 1990, Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press, New York.
Crumley, Carole L. (ed.), 1994, Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing Landscapes. School of American Research, Santa Fe.
Erickson, Clark L., 2006, The domesticated landscapes of the Bolivian Amazon. In Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands, edited by William Balée and Clark Erickson, pp. 235–278. Columbia University Press, New York.
FL-010512 Biosemiotics and Death - Self-destructive Systems and Language
FL-270214 Earth and other artificial planets: Self-organization and Programmed Self-Destruction
FL-070214 Kerma and the Tomb 308 findings: what did Giselians learn from humans?
FL-180214 Landing sites in northeastern Arizona: Kayenta Valley and the A.D. 1300 contact
Heckenberger, Michael J., 2005, The Ecology of Power. Culture, Place, and Personhood in the Southern Amazon A.D. 1000–2000. Routledge, New York.
Politis, Gustavo, 1996, Moving to produce: Nukak mobility and settlement patterns in Amazonia. World Archaeology 27: 492–511.
Woods, W. and J. M. McCann, 1999, The anthropogenic origin and persistence of Amazonian Dark Earths. Yearbook Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers 25: 7–14.
