Jan Barterk – AncientPages.com – Scientists have recently discovered that a pre-Columbian society in the Amazon, known as the Casarabe Society of the Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia, developed an advanced agricultural engineering system. This innovative approach enabled them to cultivate maize year-round, challenging earlier theories that dismissed intensive monoculture agriculture in this region.
Photo of ponds from airplane. Credit: Umberto Lombardo – Public Domain
The Casarabe people inhabited this tropical lowland savanna from 500 to 1400 A.D. faced extreme weather with intense rainy and dry seasons. They designed a sophisticated landscape engineering system with extensive drainage canals and farm ponds to overcome these challenges.
These structures transformed flooded tropical savannas into highly productive fields and played a crucial role in what is referred to as the “Neolithic Revolution” in the Amazon—a shift towards an economy based on grain production.
Led by environmental archaeologist Umberto Lombardo at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB), this discovery highlights a unique agricultural infrastructure previously undocumented globally. The system effectively drained excess water during rainy seasons to boost agricultural productivity. Additionally, clusters of farm ponds acted as reservoirs for irrigation during dry seasons, ensuring continuous maize cultivation throughout the year.
Photo of Umberto Lombardo in the field. Credit: Sergio Quezada – Public Domain
This dual water management system enabled at least two harvests of maize per year, ensuring a stable food supply year-round, which was essential for sustaining a relatively large population.
“This intensive agricultural strategy indicates that maize was not only cultivated but was likely the staple crop of the Casarabe culture,” explains Lombardo in a press release.
This agricultural model diverged from the traditional slash-and-burn methods typically used to create fertile fields. Instead, the Casarabe people strategically preserved nearby forests for purposes like gathering firewood and medicinal plants.
They employed innovative practices to optimize water and soil use in the seasonally flooded savannas. These insights were derived from thorough fieldwork that integrated techniques such as microbotanical analysis, remote sensing, and environmental archaeology.
The examination of 178 phytolith (plant microfossils) and pollen samples from a farm pond confirmed maize cultivation in these fields, highlighting maize monoculture’s significant role in the diet of this pre-Columbian society.
Artwork of the ponds. Credit: Julian Puig Guevara – Public Domain
“The data shows the absence of other types of crops. We can document that this is the first grain-based agrarian economy in the Amazon, where until now it was believed that agriculture was based on agroforestry polyculture and not on large-scale monocultures.
Now we know that this was not the case in Llanos de Moxos”, says Lombardo, who asserts that this innovative piece of engineering allowed for the transformation of a challenging environment into a productive system that ensured food stability and supported the development of a growing population.
The research provides insight into the technological capabilities of pre-Columbian civilizations and offers important lessons for modern agricultural sustainability. This discovery highlights the ingenuity and adaptability of the Casarabe people, who succeeded by developing long-term sustainable agricultural solutions in challenging environments.
The study was published in Nature
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
