Pre-Columbian Roads as Landscape Capital
نویسندگان
چکیده
Archaeological remains of roads are often neglected in settlement surveys. Because they are found between sites, roads are an important component of the landscape. In this paper, we apply the concept of landscape capital as defined by Harold Brookfield to preColumbian roads in the Amazon region of northeastern Bolivia. Previous studies have documented the importance of raised earthen causeways for transportation and communication between settlements across the seasonally inundated savannas. In this paper, we propose that farmers also used networks of causeways to manage water for savanna agriculture. Topography and cultural features at local and regional scales are modeled to simulate floodwater flow and capture within fields. The results provide insights about how generations of farmers engineered and managed this environment as landscape capital. Landscapes of Movement: Trails, Paths, and Roads in Anthropological Perspective Symposium organized by James Snead, Clark Erickson and Andy Darling University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology May 31-June 1, 2006 Erickson and Walker Draft 5 1
منابع مشابه
Pre-Columbian Roads of the Amazon
an efficient means of transportation and communication. Societies need to move goods, people, and information throughout the regions they control. Roads also have powerful social, political, and sacred functions. Formal roads are major transformations of the environment. Their patterns on the landscape provide information about the organization of settlements, social interaction, land tenure, r...
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