An insight into pre-Columbian raised fields: the case of San Borja, Bolivian lowlands

Pre-Columbian raised field agriculture in the tropical lowlands of South America has received increasing attention and been the focus of heated debates regarding its function, productivity, and role in the development of pre-Columbian societies. Even though raised fields are all associated to perman...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soil 2016-01, Vol.2 (3), p.367-389
Main Authors: Rodrigues, Leonor, Lombardo, Umberto, Trauerstein, Mareike, Huber, Perrine, Mohr, Sandra, Veit, Heinz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Agricultural management
Chemical analysis
Dating
Fields
Floods
Lowlands
Morphology
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Precipitation
Radiocarbon dating
Radiometric dating
Rivers
Sediments
Soil analysis
Soil chemistry
Soil properties
Soils
Studies
Surveying
Sustainable agriculture
Topographic mapping
Topographic surveying
Topographic surveys
Topography
Tropical climate
Water levels
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Summary:Pre-Columbian raised field agriculture in the tropical lowlands of South America has received increasing attention and been the focus of heated debates regarding its function, productivity, and role in the development of pre-Columbian societies. Even though raised fields are all associated to permanent or semi-permanent high water levels, they occur in different environmental contexts. Very few field-based studies on raised fields have been carried out in the tropical lowlands and little is known about their use and past management. Based on topographic surveying and mapping, soil physical and chemical analysis and OSL and radiocarbon dating, this paper provides insight into the morphology, functioning and time frame of the use of raised fields in the south-western Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazon. We have studied raised fields of different sizes that were built in an area near the town of San Borja, with a complex fluvial history. The results show that differences in field size and height are the result of an adaptation to a site where soil properties vary significantly on a scale of tens to hundreds of metres. The analysis and dating of the raised fields sediments point towards an extensive and rather brief use of the raised fields, for about 100–200 years at the beginning of the 2nd millennium.
ISSN:2199-398X
2199-3971
2199-398X
2199-3971
DOI:10.5194/soil-2-367-2016