Application of the Biological Diversification Model to Cultural Distributions in the Lowland Tropics of South America
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52980/revistaamazonaperuana.vi8.211Keywords:
biological model, cultural distribution, cultural evidenceAbstract
Evidence from several fields suggests that the Amazon has not remained free from the drastic climatic fluctuations experienced in the temperate and mountainous regions of the Western Hemisphere during the Pleistocene and more recent times. Zoologists and botanists have employed a model of climatic and vegetational cycles, in which lowland tropical forests periodically contract into isolated enclaves surrounded by savannas or grasslands, to explain species abundance and distribution. Since the two most recent episodes occurred after the arrival of humans or their competing predecessors, their effects should be observable in the anthropological evidence. An examination of linguistic, ethnographic, and archaeological data reveals patterns consistent with the biogeographical model, opening a new avenue for interpreting the history of human adaptation to the tropical lowlands before European contact.
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