In this episode of Urban Nature, Eduardo Góes Neves and Gabriel Kozlowski discuss how archaeology can be a means to understand change in human–natural systems over long timescales. Neves elaborates on the connection between ancient Amazonian societies with large-scale transformations of the natural environment. He emphasizes that what see as pristine forests are, most of the times, anthropic landscapes and, therefore, new attention should be given to the historical human factor in forest settings, which has the power to offer us alternatives models for the development of tropical societies.
“Archaeology in the Amazon is not only about the past but also about the present and the future.” —Eduardo Góes Neves, Professor of Archeology and Anthropology
“There was a strong argument against what we call environmental determinism. It was a demonstration, based on the principles of historical ecology, that nature could have been formed under certain kinds of technology and forms of knowledge in the Amazon in the past.” —Eduardo Góes Neves, Professor of Archeology and Anthropology
“The idea of domestication is based on a world view, on an ontology, that separates the word of nature from the word of culture, and that nature is there for us to transform and modify according to our own needs.” —Eduardo Góes Neves, Professor of Archeology and Anthropology