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El monocultivo de maíz apoyó el urbanismo precolombino en el suroeste de la Amazonia

Umberto Lombardo^1,2, Lautaro Hilbert^3,4, McKenzie Bentley^5,6

¹Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Umberto.Lombardo@uab.cat.

|January 29, 2025

Resumen

La antigua cultura Casarabe en la Amazonía practicaba un monocultivo intensivo de maíz durante todo el año utilizando ingeniería de paisaje sofisticada. Este sistema agrícola, con canales de drenaje y estanques agrícolas, probablemente apoyó a su sociedad a escala urbana.

Área de la Ciencia:

Arqueología
Paleoetnobotánica
Ciencias del medio ambiente

Sus antecedentes:

La cultura Casarabe (500-1400 CE) en los Llanos de Moxos de Bolivia representa el urbanismo amazónico precolombino con montículos monumentales y una infraestructura compleja.
La evidencia sugiere el cultivo de maíz, pero su estatus básico y el sistema agrícola que apoya a esta sociedad urbana siguen sin estar claros.

Objetivo del estudio:

Para determinar si el maíz era el cultivo básico para la cultura Casarabe.
Identificar el sistema agrícola empleado para sostener su sociedad a escala urbana.

Principales métodos:

Integración de la teledetección y las inspecciones de campo.
Análisis microbotánicos, específicamente el análisis de fitolitos de 178 muestras de suelo.
Análisis de perfiles de suelo de campos drenados, estanques agrícolas y áreas boscosas.

Principales resultados:

La cultura Casarabe diseñó paisajes con canales de drenaje y estanques agrícolas para el manejo del agua.
El maíz (Zea mays) estaba omnipresente en los campos y estanques agrícolas precolombinos.
No se encontraron pruebas de prácticas agrícolas en entornos boscosos.

Conclusiones:

La cultura Casarabe implementó un monocultivo intensivo de maíz durante todo el año a través de la gestión del paisaje.
Este sistema agrícola probablemente sostuvo a su numerosa población urbana.
Los hallazgos desafían los puntos de vista tradicionales de la agricultura amazónica, presentando una economía basada en el grano similar al Neolítico.

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