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Was there ever a Neolithic in the Neotropics? Plant familiarisation and biodiversity in the Amazon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2018

Carlos Fausto  and
Eduardo G. Neves
Carlos Fausto
Affiliation:
Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, Rio de Janeiro, 20.940-040Brazil
Eduardo G. Neves*
Affiliation:
Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Professor Almeida Prado, 1466 São Paulo, 05508-070Brazil
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: edgneves@usp.br)
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Abstract

The Amazon is one of the few independent centres of plant domestication in the world, yet archaeological and ethnographic evidence suggest a relatively recent transition to agriculture there. In order to make sense of this time lag, the authors propose the use of the concept of ‘familiarisation’ instead of ‘domestication’, to explain Amazonian plant management, and the long-term relationship between plants and people in the region. This concept allows them to cast a fresh eye over ancient and contemporary patterns of plant cultivation and management that may be distinct to the ones described for the Old World.

Keywords

Amazoniaplant domesticationcultivationfamiliarisation
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 366 , December 2018 , pp. 1604 - 1618
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

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