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ANTHROSOLS AND HUMAN CARRYING CAPACITY IN AMAZONIA∗

1980; American Association of Geographers; Volume: 70; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1467-8306.1980.tb01332.x

1467-8306

Nigel J. H. Smith,

Indigenous Health and Education

ABSTRACT The occurrence of numerous areas of black soil associated with potsherds in Amazonia has stirred controversy on the origins of the soil type and its significance in terms of precontact aboriginal population densities in the region. The theories on the origin of black earth are reviewed and it is argued that it is anthropogenic. An analysis of the physical and chemical properties of the soil type, based on widespread sampling, supports the anthropogenic argument. The abundance and depth of black earth sites indicates that Indian populations were dense and in many cases sedentary before the arrival of Europeans, even in interfluve areas. Notes ∗Soil samples were collected under grants from the Center for Latin American Studies, Berkeley, a Dean's Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, and from INPA, Manaus. I am grateful to Italo Falesi for arranging to have the soil samples analyzed at the EMBRAPA and IDESP laboratories in Belém, Brazil. I would like to thank the Ford Foundation for providing me with a travel grant to conduct library research for the paper at Berkeley. I am also grateful to David Arkcoll, Woodrow Borah, Susanna Hecht, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on a preliminary version of the manuscript. 1 B. Meggers, "Environmental Limitation and the Development of Culture,"American Anthropologist, Vol. 56 (1954), pp. 801 24; E. Ferdon, "Agricultural Potential and the Development of Cultures,"Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 15 (1959), pp. 1 19; and B. Meggers, Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise (Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1971). 2 I. Falesi, "Soils of the Brazilian Amazon," in C. Wagley, ed., Man in the Amazon (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1974), pp. 201–29. 3 J. Bennema, "Soils," in P. Alvim and T. Kozlowski, eds., Ecophysiology of Tropical Crops (New York: Academic Press, 1977), pp. 29–55. 4 F. 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