Stable isotope evidence for pre-colonial maize agriculture and animal management in the Bolivian Amazon

Tiago Hermenegildo (), Heiko Prümers, Carla Jaimes Betancourt, Patrick Roberts and Tamsin C. O’Connell
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Tiago Hermenegildo: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Heiko Prümers: Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures
Carla Jaimes Betancourt: University of Bonn
Patrick Roberts: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
Tamsin C. O’Connell: University of Cambridge

Nature Human Behaviour, 2025, vol. 9, issue 3, 464-471

Abstract: Abstract Over the past decade, multidisciplinary research has seen the Amazon Basin go from a context perceived as unfavourable for food production and large-scale human societies to one of ‘garden cities’, domestication, and anthropogenically influenced forests and soils. Nevertheless, direct insights into human interactions with particular crops and especially animals remain scarce across this vast area. Here we present new stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 86 human and 68 animal remains dating between ce ~700 and 1400 from the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia. We show evidence of human reliance on maize agriculture in the earliest phases before a reduction in the dietary importance of this crop between ce 1100 and 1400. We also provide evidence that muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata), the only known domesticated vertebrate in the South American lowlands, had substantial maize intake suggesting intentional feeding, or even their domestication, from as early as ce 800. Our data provide insights into human interactions with Amazonian ecosystems, including direct evidence for human management of animals in pre-colonial contexts, further enriching our understanding of human history in what was once considered a ‘counterfeit paradise’.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02070-9

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