This
is odd. We seem to have an early period in which we presume this
culture gathered the snails and plausible boiled them to loosen the
meat, and then simply chucked the shells. That was followed by a
cultural break and we see tools been discarded as well.
It
does cover the full span of the Holocene and confirms human
occupation in serious numbers throughout. Again more evidence will
be welcome and we could well have many surprises before this is
finished. After all we now know to look for inland middens that
likely followed shifting lakes. The current sites need to be
searched carefully for alternative spoil tips. After all, no one
sets up a hearth in the garbage dump.
This
certainly takes occupation well back into time for Amazonia and we
can hope that we have also clearly established the earliest signs of
occupation.
Hidden
shell middens reveal ancient human presence in Bolivian Amazon
by Staff Writers
London, UK (SPX) Sep 09, 2013
Previously
unknown archeological sites in forest islands reveal
human presence in the western Amazon as early as 10,000 years ago,
according to research published in the open access journal PLOS ONE
by Umberto Lombardo from the University of Bern, Switzerland and
colleagues from other institutions.
The
study focuses on a region in the Bolivian Amazon thought to be rarely
occupied by pre-agricultural communities due to unfavorable
environmental conditions.
Hundreds
of 'forest islands'- small forested mounds of earth- are found
throughout the region, their origins attributed to termites, erosion
or ancient human activity.
In this
study, the authors report that three
of these islands are shell middens, mounds of seashells left by
settlers in the early Holocene period, approximately 10,400 years
ago.
Samples
of soil from these three mounds revealed a dense accumulation of
freshwater snail shells, animal bones and charcoal forming the
middens.
The
mounds appear to have formed in two phases:
an older layer composed primarily of snail shells,
and an overlying layer composed of organic matter containing pottery,
bone tools and human bones.
The two
are separated by a
thin layer rich in pieces of burnt clay and earth,
and the uppermost layer of deposits was also seen to contain
occasional fragments of earthenware pottery. Radiocarbon analysis of
two middens indicates that humans settled in this region during the
early Holocene, approximately 10,400 years ago, and shells and other
artefacts built up into mounds over an approximately 6,000 year
period of human use.
The
sites may have been abandoned as climate shifted towards wetter
conditions later.
Lombardo
adds, "We have discovered the oldest archaeological sites in
western and southern Amazonia. These sites allow us to reconstruct
10,000 years of human-environment interactions in the Bolivian
Amazon."
Lombardo
U, Szabo K, Capriles JM, May J-H, Amelung W, et al. (2013) Early
and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations in Western Amazonia:
The Hidden Shell Middens.PLoS
ONE 8(8): e72746. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072746
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