Vegetational fluctuation and prehistoric cultural adaptation in amazonia some tentative correlations

Vegetational Fluctuation and Prehistoric Cultural Adaptation in Amazonia: Some TentativeCorrelationsAuthor(s): Betty J. MeggersSource: World Archaeology, Vol. 8, No. 3, Human Biogeography (Feb., 1977), pp. 287-303Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/124311 .Accessed: 25/04/2011 23:47

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World Archaeology Volume 8 No. 3

Vegetational fluctuation and prehistoric cultural adaptation in Amazonia: some

tentative correlations

Betty J. Meggers

Introduction

The great rain forest that extends from eastern Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia across southern Venezuela to the Atlantic and over most of the Amazon river network in Brazil has fascinated Europeans and their descendants since its discovery. Initially explorers and settlers were lured by the prospect that untapped riches lay concealed beneath the magnificent vegetation, and this quest continues despite centuries of disillusionment. More recently, biologists have been intrigued by the problem of recon-

ciling the great diversity of plant and animal life with the absence of natural barriers to interbreeding and dispersal. Archaeological and linguistic evidence also exhibit greater heterogeneity than seems warranted, given the multitude of waterways facilitating communication throughout the lowlands.

A solution to the biological paradox was proposed by Haffer (I969), who postulated that several times during the Quaternary the forest was reduced to 'refugia' or enclaves

separated by savanna or parkland. Formerly interacting populations of forest fauna were isolated long enough to differentiate into races, sub-species or full species. Each time the

vegetation coalesced, the flora and fauna of the refugia were brought into contact and

competition. There were some extinctions, but the more common outcome was adaptation to different niches, permitting coexistence of increasing numbers of taxa. For non-forest plants and animals, the opposite occurred: they were able to invade Amazonia as corridors opened in the rain forest and were isolated, altered or exterminated when their habitat was diminished or destroyed.

This refugia model, developed by Haffer from analysis of the present distributions of forest birds, has been successful in accounting for the geographical patterning of other

organisms. When the sizes and locations of the hypothesized forest remnants are com-

pared, they differ less than might be expected given the indirect, incomplete and varied nature of the evidence. Dating is tentative, but Carbon-14 results obtained so far indicate that the two most recent periods of fragmentation impinge upon or postdate man's arrival in South America. It is unlikely that environmental changes of the magnitude inferred

by the biologists would have affected human beings and examination of the linguistic, archaeological and ethnographic data reveals several features suggestive of environmental stress. A summary of the biological model will serve as a basis for interpreting the cultural evidence.

Human biogeography

288 Betty J. Meggers

Forest refuges reconstructed from animal and plant distributions

Forest birds Haffer (1969: fig. 5) combined inferences derived from modern patterns of avian distribution, variations in rainfall and data on paleoclimate to reconstruct nine locations where forest appeared to have persisted during arid intervals in the Quaternary. Subsequently, more detailed analysis of two families, toucans (Ramphastidae) and

jacamars (Galbulidae), led him to add five small regions in Venezuela and eastern Brazil, and to adjust the size or shape of some of those previously proposed (fig. 4; Haffer 1974).

He also postulated survival of gallery forest along major waterways. Shrinkage of the

Figure 4 The present extent of the tropical rain forest (Amazonia), compared with the locations of the refugia postulated from modern distributions of birds (cross-hatch) and lizards (outline). The arrows indicate routes of intrusion of non-forest fauna from open habitats to the south during the period of reduction of the forest. (After Haffer 1969: fig. 5; 1974: fig. 13 :; Vanzolini 1970: map 7; Meggers 1971: fig. 6.)

Vegetational fluctuation and prehistoric cultural adaptation in Amazonia 289

forest not only affected the composition of species in this biome; it also provided oppor- tunities for non-forest fauna to expand into and across the lowlands from the south. Relict populations in isolated patches of savanna, especially in the interior of the Guianas and between some of the southern tributaries of the Amazon, testify to the former

continuity of open vegetation and provide a basis for postulating routes of dispersal (fig. 4; Haffner i969: 134).

These refugia are generalizations of repeated ebbs and flows during the Quaternary. Haffer (I969: I35; I974: 17I) observes that birds with rapid reproductive rates may require no more than 20,000 to 30,000 years, and perhaps only a few thousand years, to achieve speciation. At the opposite extreme, slow-breeding species may require several hundred thousand years. With regard to Amazonia, he concludes that 'some of the more

strongly differentiated species probably originated in early Pleistocene refuges, while most other species and semi-species may date back to the late Pleistocene or, in the case of the latter, to the post-Pleistocene only' (I969: 135-6).

Forest Lizards While Haffer was developing a model of climatic fluctuation and vegetational change from patterns of bird distribution, Vanzolini (I970) was arriving at similar conclusions from analysis of the ranges and degrees of differentiation exhibited

by two genera of forest lizards: Coleodactylus and Anolis. His refugia are fewer and smaller than those proposed by Haffer; they are also peripheral to the lowlands and more

closely correlated with relief (fig. 4; Vanzolini 43 and Map 7). The biogeographical evidence led him to infer two or three periods of forest fragmentation. The most recent, during which Anolis chrysolepis diverted into four well defined sub-species, is estimated to have occurred some 2,700 years ago (I970: 42).

Vanzoloni considers that this model 'explains perfectly why patterns of differentiation in the center of the basin are generally complicated and confused. This area reflects the fusion of numerous stocks differentiated on the periphery and brought into contact

during a period of ecological complexity, such as the reconstitution of the forest' (I970: 44; also I973).

Woody plants When Prance (I973) analyzed the distribution of genera and species of four families of woody plants that occur over most of northern lowland South America, he found them compatible with the model of past climatic change. The inability of many primary trees to survive in habitats that have been significantly reduced in size, or to recolonize areas that have been extensively disturbed, led him to conclude, however, that the refugia must have been larger and more numerous than those postulated by the

zoologists. He proposed sixteen enclaves, which include most of those inferred by Haffer

(1974) plus a large expanse east of the junction between the Negro and the Amazon

(fig. 2, area 13) and smaller ones in western Amazonia between the Solim6es and the Jurua (fig. 5, areas 11-12; Prance 1973: fig. 24).

Other botanists have expressed similar reservations about the ability of rain-forest

vegetation to survive in refugia as small as those suggested by Haffer and Vanzolini, or to expand as rapidly as would be necessary for coalescence within the span of time available (e.g. G6mez-Pompa, et al. I972; Langenheim, et al. I973: 33).


Heliconius butterflies Butterflies of the genus Heliconius are remarkable for their ability to mimic the colors and patterns of other Lepidoptera, with the result that a species may be composed of several races that differ markedly in appearance. The most satisfactory explanation for such striking phenotypical diversification is the isolation of populations of Heliconius, followed by natural selection that 'encouraged' survival of individuals most similar to the commonest distasteful species confined to the same refuge (Brown et al. 1974; Brown and Benson 1974: 226).

The refugia reconstructed from the present ranges of the species and races of Heliconius and other butterflies are more comparable to those proposed by Prance than to the extreme reductions hypothesized by the other zoologists, but are even more numerous

Figure 5 Forest refugia, reconstructed from the present distributions of four families of woody plants (hachure) and several races and species of butterflies (outline). (After Prance 1973: fig. 24; Brown, Sheppard and Turner I974: fig. 3.)

Vegetational fluctuation and prehistoric cultural adaptation in Amazonia 29I

(fig. 5; Brown et al. 1974: fig. 3). Although the entomologists do not suggest a time scale, the fact that they are often dealing with races rather than species or even sub-species may imply a relatively short period of isolation.

Direct evidence for Quaternary climatic change

Geology andpalynology Although information is scattered, it is sufficient to demonstrate that alternations between forest and savanna occurred repeatedly over much of the lowlands during the Quaternary. Lateritic horizons and paleopavements have been observed in the following regions: Belem-Maraj6, Santarem (two strata), lower Rio

Tocantins, Roraima, Amapa (two strata), Cuiaba and Brasilia. The geomorphology of the Rio Caroni valley in eastern Venezuela and of valleys in eastern Peru testifies to recurring dry episodes (Vanzolini 1970: 41; Haffer 1974: I37). Pollen profiles from forested

portions of coastal Guyana and Surinam, southwestern Guyana, the Colombian llanos and Rondonia in southwestern Brazil reveal that savanna prevailed during one or more

periods of increased aridity (Van der Hammen I972; Haffer 1974; I37-8, 140-I). By contrast, the Maranhao highlands of northeastern Brazil, the Mato Grosso de Goias on the eastern margin of Amazonia and the Tumuc-Humac range dividing Brazil from the Guianas appear to have remained permanently forested (Vanzolini 1970: 42-3). As yet, these data are insufficient to define the boundaries of the refugia or to identify the

episode represented.

Chronology A few Carbon-14 dates provide a general time framework for the two most recent disruptions of the forest. In southern Brazil, the last period began between about 3,500 and 3,280 years ago and ended about 2,680 years ago. In eastern Colombia, the corresponding ages are 3,095 and 1,99o years ago (Vanzolini 1970: 42). On the basis of geomorphical evidence from several parts of Brazil, this episode has been bracketed between about 4000 and 2500 B.P. (Haffer 1974: I42). Consideration of sea-level change and geological data suggests a slightly earlier inception and longer duration, between

5,ooo and 2,300 years ago (Miiller I973: I89). These differences in age estimates reflect the paucity of evidence, unequal precision of methods of dating, local variations in rates of change, discrepancies in the portions of the cycle being dated and other variables.

The chronological boundaries of the preceding period are even more uncertain. Study of ocean sediments originating in the Guyana and Brazilian shields suggests that arid conditions prevailed about 11,000 years ago (Vanzolini 1970: 42). Palynological data from the eastern cordillera of the Colombian Andes indicate that 'the interval between ca. 21 000 and ca. 13 000 B.P. was considerably drier than... the periods just before or after that interval' (Van der Hammen 1972: 64I). Evidence that the climate was more moist gooo9000 to Io,ooo years ago than at present provides a terminal date for this episode (Haffer I974: I40-I).


The biological model

Comparison of the refugia postulated from the present distributions of several types of organisms reveals that they fall into two general categories. One is composed of small and widely separated remnants (fig. 4); the other of larger, more numerous and less isolated areas (fig. 5). Even when the incompleteness of the data, differences in rates of evolution, hazards of inferring past distributions from existing ones and other potential sources of distortion are taken into consideration, the discrepancies seem sufficiently great to imply that different episodes of forest fragmentation may be represented. This interpretation is compatible with the nature of the biological evidence: the small and peripheral areas proposed by Haffner and Vanzolini are based on the analysis of higher categories of taxa, which suggest greater antiquity of separation than the sub-species and races studied by the entomologists.

Allocation of the two types of refugia reconstructions to different episodes also seems warranted by the existing dates. The earlier period seems to have been about five times longer than the later one (about Io,ooo versus about 2,000 years' duration) and ten thousand years of lowered rainfall would have permitted (or caused) more extreme alteration in the vegetation than is likely to have been achieved in 2,ooo years. Thus, the smaller enclaves can be tentatively equated with the earlier, longer episode and the larger ones with the more recent, briefer disruption.

In employing this dichotomy as a working hypothesis, it is essential to keep in mind that the refugia reconstructions presumably depict climax situations. The retreat and advance of the forest is likely to have been gradual, but we do not know how much time it consumed. Was the rate constant or variable? Was it faster in some parts of Amazonia than in others? When was the climax reached and how long did it endure? These are among the uncertainties that affect an attempt to correlate cultural distributions with the refugia model.

Application of the refugia model to cultural distributions

Anthropologists possess three categories of data potentially useful for reconstructing the past: linguistic, archaeological and ethnographic. Their inherent limitations as indicators of prehistoric events are enhanced in Amazonia by the small amount of

systematic investigation. Large parts of the lowlands are unknown archaeologically; numerous languages are represented by only a few words; many indigenous groups are acculturated or extinct. Furthermore, the fact that language and culture are independent variables prevents automatic transfer of reconstructions based on either type of data to the other. In spite of these handicaps, some of the characteristics observed by bio-

geographers can be discerned, among them localized heterogeneity, disjunct distributions and widespread dispersals. Examples of these phenomena provide a basis for judging the relevance of the refugia model to the reconstruction of Amazonian prehistory.

Linguistic distributions At first glance, linguistic maps of northern lowland South America appear hopelessly confused (fig. 6). The two best known are by Mason (1950)


and Loukotka (I967). They differ in detail, but exhibit several general similarities. First, both classifications include numerous small relict families, which tend to be concentrated around the margins of Amazonia. Second, some families have disjunct or discontinuous

distributions, implying interference with formerly continuous ranges. Third, each of the three major families (Arawakan, Tupi-Guaranian, and Cariban) contains at least one

language that is spoken over an extensive area. These kinds of phenomena are interpreted by biogeographers as indicating past disruptions of the habitat and it is reasonable to attribute their linguistic occurrence to the same cause.

m ARAWAKAN

TUPI - GUARANIAN

M CARIBAN

mM PANOAN

m CAINGANG

TUCANOAN

I PUINAVEAN - MACU

Figure 6 Locations of the principal languages of lowland South America, based on the classification by Mason. Noteworthy are the concentration of isolated languages or relict families on the

periphery of Amazonia, the disjunct distributions of languages belonging to four minor families

(Caingang, Panoan, Tucanoan, Puinavean-Maci), and the widespread dispersal of the three

largest families (Arawakan, Tupi-Guaranian, Cariban). (After Mason I950: map.)

1-r3


A more general classification that combines all South American languages into four ancestral stocks has been proposed by Greenberg (I960). Two are insignificant in Amazonia, but the other two display some intriguing patterns of distribution. When the locations of groups assigned to Ge-Pano-Carib are compared with the refugia maps, they suggest that dispersal occurred during the earlier episode of forest reduction. In

fact, the routes postulated by Haffer for the intrusion of non-forest fauna into and across Amazonia from open habitats to the south lead toward, or pass through, most of the areas occupied by speakers of languages belonging to this stock (fig. 7). If this correlation is valid, it implies that reconstitution of the forest around ten thousand years ago injected an ecological wedge into central Amazonia that isolated groups to the north from those

Figure 7 Distribution of the primary linguistic stocks, reconstructed by Greenberg (1960) for northern South America. The correlation between the areas assigned to Ge-Pano-Carib and the routes of faunal dispersal proposed by Haffer is extremely close. (After Steward and Faron 1959: 23; Mason I950: map; Haffer I969: fig. 5.)


C4iTN~

\ : ,

Q~~I

A I I' 'TUPI-GUARANI V EM PURUBORA

/ 0111111E ARIKEM

a ...~. ? ~| .~ YURUNA

Figure 8 Correlation between the archaeological phases assigned to the Tupiguarani tradition (circles) and the distribution of speakers of coastal Tupi-Guaranian at the time of first reporting. Glottochronological and Carbon-14 estimates place the arrival of this population on the Brazilian coast about i,200 years ago. Concentration of representatives of six of the Tupian families in southwestern Amazonia makes it the probable homeland. (After Meggers and Evans I973.)

to the south long enough to permit differentiation of Ge-Pano-Carib into subfamilies

(fig. 9). Evaluation of the role of the refugia in subsequent linguistic diversification is facilitated

by detailed information on Tupian and Arawakan, which belong to the Equatorial division of Greenberg's Andean-Equatorial stock. Rodrigues (1955, i958a: 234) has assigned to Tupian all languages that share at least I2 percent of their standard vocabula- ries. He recognizes seven families, the largest (Tupi-Guarani) composed of six subfamilies, twenty languages and numerous dialects. At the opposite extreme are five families, twenty languages and numerous dialects. At the oppsosite extreme are five

:.? ". o "sliiL'?...?

;"?:;t '' 0

'o


families containing no subfamilies and only one to five languages. The presence of

representatives of six of the seven families in southwestern Amazonia suggests this region was the center of origin and dispersal (fig. 8). Glottochronological estimates place the

separation of Tupian from other members of the Equatorial division about five thousand

years ago, the origin of the widespread Tupi-Guarani family about 2,500 years ago, and differentiation of the latter into subfamilies about 1,2oo years ago (fig. 9; Rodrigues i958b: 684).

The emergence of Proto-Arawakan has been estimated by Noble (1965: 107) to have occurred between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago in southeastern Peru. This agrees with

Rodrigues' reconstruction of the time and place of origin of Tupian and indirectly supports Greenberg's assignment of these languages to a common ancestor in the Equa- torial division. Differentiation of Proto-Maipuran into six subgroups appears to have been

CH ICHAN MACRO-CHl8CHAN - -

- _4 4 .

A_ _-

PtAEZAN

MACRO- GE

MACRO- PANOAN

NAMBICUARA GE- PANO-CARIB -

-" HUARPE _____

MACRO-CARIB

TARUMA

ANDEAN

JIVARO, ETC. ANDEAN - EQUATORIAL -

-' - EQUATORIAL

Figure 9 Correlation between periods of major diversification in South American languages estimated by glottochronology, and the durations of the two most recent episodes of forest fragmentation, dated by Carbon-14. Families in the Equatorial division of Andean-Equatorial seem to have diverged a little before the onset of the last arid period; Tupian and the Proto- Maipuran branch of Arawakan, as it was drawing to a close. Arawakan separated into seven segments about the climax of the episode. (After Greenberg I960; Noble 1965; Rodrigues 1958a.)


generally contemporary with the divergence of Tupian into seven families, since both classifications define these categories by the possession of about thirty-six percent cognates. Noble (I965: io8, IIo), however, recognizes an earlier episode of Arawakan

divergence, when Taino (spoken in the Greater Antilles at the time of European contact), Proto-Uruan (spoken in the Titicaca area of highland Peru-Bolivia), and four other Arawakan groups separated form Proto-Maipuran. Glottochronology places this event about 3,300 years ago (ibid: III).

Assuming that their origin has been reconstructed correctly, it is of interest to see whether the differentiations and dispersals of Arawakan and Tupian can be attributed to the most recent episode of forest fragmentation, tentatively dated by Carbon-I4 between about 4,000 and 2,000 years ago. At first glance, the correlation appears poor (fig. 9). Arawakan and Tupian separated about a millennium before its inception; Arawakan began differentiating prior to the middle of the period; Proto-Maipuran and

Tupian were diverging half a millennium before it ended. These dates are all tenuous, however, and some authorities place the onset of fragmentation around 5,000 years ago and reconstitution of the forest about 2,500 to 2,300 years ago. Better agreement with the glottochronological estimates is not necessarily an indication of greater accuracy however, because the rate of linguistic change may be in error. Furthermore, local conditions probably accelerated or decelerated the climatic and vegetational transitions, which in turn increased or reduced the adaptive pressures of human populations. The uncorrected nature of the Carbon-14 results is another potential source of error when

comparisons are made with dates obtained by different methods. Given these and other

uncertainties, the correlation between periods of major linguistic and environmental

change is good enough to warrant the suspicion that they are related.

Archaeological distributions Prior to European contact most Amazonian tools, weapons and other kinds of objects were made from perishable materials. The possibility is

consequently slight of encountering sites belonging to the period prior to the introduction of pottery making about 3,000 years ago. The Zoned Hachure tradition of Amazonia is known mainly from the island of Marajo, where it has a terminal age of about 2,900 years. The diagnostic decorative technique, broad-line incision, was employed to create geo- metric patterns or to outline zones filled with fine cross-hachure. The presence of similar ornamentation on earlier pottery from Ecuador and Colombia suggests an intrusion from the northwest (Meggers I975: 156-7). Pottery of the Barrancoid tradition, which was being made in the delta of the Orinoco about 2,800 years ago, is also decorated by incision, but motifs and vessel shapes are different. The antecedents of this tradition

appear to be on the Caribbean coast of Colombia (Sanoja I976). The inceptions of the Zoned Hachure and Barrancoid ceramic traditions fall within

the most recent period of forest fragmentation. This, added to their affiliations with northern Andean complexes, suggests that settlement of Amazonia by groups adapted to more open habitats was facilitated by the presence of 'corridors' of parkland. This hypothesis also accounts for the lag of about a millennium between adoption of pottery making throughout the Andean area and its spread into the lowlands.

One widely disseminated language that can be traced archaeologically is the coastal branch of Tupi-Guarani (fig. 8). Historical information and association with objects of

EWA


European origin indicate that pottery decorated principally by polychrome painting and

corrugation is associated with speakers of Tupi-Guarani. Extensive archaeological survey has permitted establishment of numerous localized relative sequences, identification of about a hundred Tupi-Guarani archaeological phases, and verification via Carbon-I4 dating of a dispersal from south to north (Meggers and Evans 1973: 54-56). Dates from several sites in southern Brazil place the arrival of this ceramic tradition about 1300 years ago, which agrees with the glottochronological estimate of about 1200 years ago for the differentiation of Tupi-Guaranian. Although the region between the Brazilian coast and the base of the Andes is too little known as yet to follow the trail toward the west, the fact that both painting and corrugation occur several centuries earlier in the Andean area

supports the linguistic evidence for intrusion from this direction. Where and when the

language and the ceramic tradition joined remain to be established.

Ethnographic distributions No obvious correlation exists between the refugia and any of the culture areas that have been defined in Amazonia (e.g. Murdock 195I: fig. I; Steward 1948: map 8; Galvao 1967: map 4). An indication that this lack of agreement reflects emphasis on traits susceptible to adaptive pressures is provided by the combination of cultural homogeneity and linguistic diversity along the upper Rio Uaupes in northwestern Amazonia (Sorensen I967: 670; Galvao I967: i8I). The existence of more than twenty-five distinct languages representing several families implies cultural conver-

gence by groups with heterogeneous ancestry. The possibility that patterns more in

keeping with linguistic and archaeological evidence for past mobility can be obtained from analysis of other kinds of ethnographic traits is provided by the distributions of pole snares and simple nooses for trapping game. Confinement of the former to the northern and southern periphery suggests they were displaced in the interviewing lowlands by users of simple nooses (Ryden 1950: fig. 25; see also Meggers I975: 155-6). Although there is no direct means of estimating antiquity, it seems reasonable to equate the introduction of simple nooses with the coalescence of the forest some ten thousand years ago.

The refugia model offers a new perspective for interpreting other puzzling ethnographic patterns. Within the Amazon Basin, Steward distinguished six varieties of Tropical Forest culture and five disjunct enclaves occupied by groups that made little or no use of domesticated plants (fig. io). The best explanation he could propose was that the latter regions were 'difficult of access in pre-Columbian times no less than in modern times to essentially riparian peoples'; inventions and discoveries associated with agricultural subsistence 'flowed along the coast and up the main waterways, stopping where streams were less navigable and leaving the hinterland tribes on a more primitive level' (1948: 883). He also commented that 'more advanced technologies were absent to a surprising degree, even among the tribes who adjoined or formed enclaves within the Tropical Forest peoples and would seem to have had considerable opportunity for borrowing' (I949: 691). The fact that a negative correlation seems to exist between regions occupied by hunter- gatherers and the postulated locations of the most recent refugia (fig. 5) suggests a different hypothesis; namely, when the forest was replaced by savanna, the inhabitants abandoned agriculture (if they had begun to practice it) for an economy based on wild foods, which they retained when the forest returned. From this perspective, their failure


Figure o1 Subdivisions of the Tropical Forest culture area recognized by Steward (numbered), showing the patchwork created by regions dominated by hunter-gatherers (hachure) and incipient agriculturalists (stipple). The negative correlation between the locations of hunter-gatherers and the postulated refugia (cf. fig. 5) may be significant. (After Steward I948: map 8.)

to adopt 'more advanced technologies' indicates achievement of an efficient adaptation to the environment.

Areas dominated by incipient agriculture tend to overlap with refugia. Did greater environmental stability encourage the development and persistence of their subsistence orientation? The distribution of slash-and-burn agriculturalists has no apparent relation to previous vegetational patterns. Does this imply that the Tropical Forest type of culture spread over the lowlands during the two millennia since the last coalescence of the forest? The combination of widespread distribution of the diagnostic traits - cultivation


of tropical root crops, effective watercraft, hammocks and manufacture of pottery (Lowie I948: i)- with regional or tribal diversity in dress, ornaments, featherwork and other cultural elements (Steward I948: 885-6) becomes understandable if the Tropical Forest life style is a recent development. The archaeological evidence that pottery making is a relatively late introduction also supports this hypothesis.

Conclusions

The recognition that Amazonia has suffered successive episodes of fragmentation of the forest during and since the Pleistocene provides biologists with a mechanism for explaining the extensive speciation, disjunct distributions of taxa, and other biogeographical features that could not be accounted for in the absence of natural barriers to interbreeding and dispersal. The same kinds of patterns are discernible in linguistic, archaeological and ethnographic data, implying that human beings were similarly affected by the ebb and flow of the forest. Although geological, palynological, biogeographical and cultural types of evidence are all limited and often tenuous, the correspondences in patterning and chronology are too close to be coincidental.

Comparison of the manner in which the refugia model has been applied to biological and cultural phenomena reveals an interesting difference. Perhaps because the overriding problem for biologists has been explaining the diversity of the tropical forest biome, they have emphasized the role of refugia in isolating populations and inhibiting dispersal. Linguistic and archaeological data suggest, however, that Homo sapiens often became more mobile as the forest disappeared. Culture may be a significant variable here, since it provides human beings with the capacity to store and transport food while searching for more productive habitats, and to switch readily from one type of diet to another. The existence of ethnohistorical reports that coastal Tupian speakers were migrating in search of an earthly paradise at the time of European contact raises the possibility that some earlier dispersals may also have been purposeful and of long duration. Other groups probably adapted to changing conditions or followed the plants and animals upon which they depended for subsistence. While human beings were strongly affected by fluctuations in their environment, the 'choice' between surviving in a forest remnant or becoming extinct was mitigated by the possession of culture.

The occurrence of several episodes of reduction and coalescence of the lowland tropical forest during and since the Pleistocene provides a new and exciting context for analyzing prehistoric cultural development. In addition to offering an explanation for several puzzling features of the linguistic and archaeological data, this model calls attention to the potential significance of less obtrusive phenomena. For example, do the differences in degree of emphasis on wild foods that characterize Tropical Forest agriculturalists reflect differences in the length of time since they adopted domesticated plants? What impact did the oscillating environment have on the process of domestica- tion? On population density? On migration into and out of Amazonia? Two things are clear:

(I) given the differential shortcomings of linguistic, archaeological and ethnographic evidence, finding the answers to these questions will require collaboration between specialists in all three disciplines.


(2) given the immensity of Amazonia, tribal and regional studies are unlikely to provide a sufficiently broad perspective. As Vanzolini once observed: 'The phenomena of differentiation can only be understood in their totality' (1970: 44). I.viii. 1976 Department of Anthropology

Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.

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Abstract

Meggers, B. J.

Vegetational fluctuation and prehistoric cultural adaptation in Amazonia: some tentative correlations

Biogeographical studies have generated the hypothesis that the remarkably large number of

plant and animal species inhabiting Amazonia are a consequence of several episodes of forest

fragmentation and coalescence, in which periods of isolation that permitted biological differentiation alternated with periods of renewed interaction. Geological and palynological evidence support this reconstruction, but data are insufficient to permit definition of the dimen- sions and locations of the refugia, or to separate one episode from another. Dating is tentative, but the two most recent episodes appear to fall within the span of human occupation of the continent. Examination of linguistic, archaeological and ethnographic data reveals widespread dispersals, disjunct distributions and other patterns of the kinds observed by biogeographers. Glottochronological and Carbon-14 dates correlate well enough with estimates for the durations of the forest refugia to suggest that the biogeographical model is useful for interpreting prehistoric cultural adaptation to Amazonia.

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Vegetational fluctuation and prehistoric cultural adaptation in amazonia some tentative correlations

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