Sustainability across the Neotropics: an archaeological perspective from the pre-Columbian Maya lowlands to the Amazon basin
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Exeter
Department Name: Archaeology
Abstract
The degradation of tropical forests is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century. However, current environmental conservation efforts in tropical forest environments often do not lead to desired results as organizations and governments experiment with new (allegedly) sustainable strategies and policies yet lack deep-time data in the evaluation of their success.
With this PhD project, I aim to improve our limited understanding of the dynamics of environmental sustainability in these environments by utilizing archaeology's capability to take lessons from the past on (un)sustainable land-use and to actively apply this knowledge to contemporary environmental debate and policy. This I intend to achieve through a comparative historical ecological study of selected pre-Columbian societies in the tropical forests of lowland Central America (Petén Basin) and the Amazon basin (Santarem and Llanos de Mojos). Subsequently, modern environmental policies in those regions will be scrutinized and validated based on the archaeological results.
My doctoral project will seek to address the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between economic, socio-cultural and environmental stability of pre-Columbian societies in the tropical forest environments of the Petén basin, Santarem and Llanos de Mojos? 2) Are these relationships characterized by fluctuation or were there long-term stable systems in place? 3) If there have been pre-Columbian sustainable systems in place, what land management strategies made this possible? 4) What insights does a cross-cultural comparative analysis of this evidence provide in the environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability of past societies within these tropical forest environments? 5) Can archaeology be of value in the validation of modern development plans and environmental policy?
During the first analytical stage of the project, the character of human-environment relationships and sustainability of pre-Columbian societies, across different levels of socio-cultural complexity, will be analysed within the case studies of the Petén basin, Santarem and Llanos de Mojos. To allow the reconstruction of past natural and cultural environments, existing deep-time paleoclimatic, paleoenvironmental and archaeological records will be analysed within each of the case studies. Sustainability will be measured through a method based on an adapted version of the 'Circles of Sustainability' and 'Doughnut' models, which both are common in modern evaluations of sustainability.
The second stage will see the cross-cultural analysis of the results on a regional level, comparing and synthesizing the case studies from both lowland Central America and the Amazon basin within a GIS environment which will allow insights in what made certain societies more, or less, sustainable than others.
Finally, the archaeological results of the previous stages will be used to address the final stage, where I will reflect on the validity of modern development plans and environmental policies that are meant to improve development and environmental sustainability within the local study areas. This final stage will allow 'real-world' implementation of the knowledge generated by this research project, by indicating how current environmental sustainability in those environments can be improved based on the archaeological results and which modern strategies would have low or high potential in their specific environments. Thus preventing 're-invention of the wheel'. In addition, due to their indigenous nature, these insights would be much more receptive to local communities than the currently common implementation of novel western ideas.
Ultimately, this PhD project offers the opportunity to work towards an impactful archaeology that is highly relevant to the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
With this PhD project, I aim to improve our limited understanding of the dynamics of environmental sustainability in these environments by utilizing archaeology's capability to take lessons from the past on (un)sustainable land-use and to actively apply this knowledge to contemporary environmental debate and policy. This I intend to achieve through a comparative historical ecological study of selected pre-Columbian societies in the tropical forests of lowland Central America (Petén Basin) and the Amazon basin (Santarem and Llanos de Mojos). Subsequently, modern environmental policies in those regions will be scrutinized and validated based on the archaeological results.
My doctoral project will seek to address the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between economic, socio-cultural and environmental stability of pre-Columbian societies in the tropical forest environments of the Petén basin, Santarem and Llanos de Mojos? 2) Are these relationships characterized by fluctuation or were there long-term stable systems in place? 3) If there have been pre-Columbian sustainable systems in place, what land management strategies made this possible? 4) What insights does a cross-cultural comparative analysis of this evidence provide in the environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability of past societies within these tropical forest environments? 5) Can archaeology be of value in the validation of modern development plans and environmental policy?
During the first analytical stage of the project, the character of human-environment relationships and sustainability of pre-Columbian societies, across different levels of socio-cultural complexity, will be analysed within the case studies of the Petén basin, Santarem and Llanos de Mojos. To allow the reconstruction of past natural and cultural environments, existing deep-time paleoclimatic, paleoenvironmental and archaeological records will be analysed within each of the case studies. Sustainability will be measured through a method based on an adapted version of the 'Circles of Sustainability' and 'Doughnut' models, which both are common in modern evaluations of sustainability.
The second stage will see the cross-cultural analysis of the results on a regional level, comparing and synthesizing the case studies from both lowland Central America and the Amazon basin within a GIS environment which will allow insights in what made certain societies more, or less, sustainable than others.
Finally, the archaeological results of the previous stages will be used to address the final stage, where I will reflect on the validity of modern development plans and environmental policies that are meant to improve development and environmental sustainability within the local study areas. This final stage will allow 'real-world' implementation of the knowledge generated by this research project, by indicating how current environmental sustainability in those environments can be improved based on the archaeological results and which modern strategies would have low or high potential in their specific environments. Thus preventing 're-invention of the wheel'. In addition, due to their indigenous nature, these insights would be much more receptive to local communities than the currently common implementation of novel western ideas.
Ultimately, this PhD project offers the opportunity to work towards an impactful archaeology that is highly relevant to the environmental challenges of the 21st century.