Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise, Revised Edition

by Betty J. Meggers

Overview

When first published in 1971, Amazonia was a pioneering contribution to the emerging field of cultural ecology. Betty Meggers argued that the Amazon's luxurious vegetation concealed significant limitations for human exploitation, placing a ceiling on pre-Columbian population density and social complexity. This controversial view has implications for academic anthropology and also relates to the modern development of Amazonia, including attempts to introduce sustainable methods of intensive exploitation.

Amazonia in this revised new edition includes recent biological and climatic data. Ethnographic and archaeological evidence reemphasize the complexity of the ecosystem and broaden our understanding of past and present sophisticated adaptations among indigenous groups.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560986553
Publisher:	Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication date:	07/17/1996
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	5.45(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Betty J. Meggers is a research anthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Instituion, and an honorary fellow of the Association for Tropical Biology.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface to the Revised Edition Chapter 2 Preface to the Original Edition Chapter 3 Introduction Chapter 4 1. The Ecosystem Chapter 5 2. Aboriginal Adaptation to the Terra Firme Chapter 6 3. Adaptive Aspects of Terra Firme Culture Chapter 7 4. Aboriginal Adaptation to the Várzea Chapter 8 5. Amazonia in the Modern World Chapter 9 6. The Evolutionary Significance of Adaptation Chapter 10 Epilogue: Recent Developments Chapter 11 Selected References Chapter 12 Glossary Chapter 13 Index

Editorial Reviews

Amazonia provides the most comprehensive anthropological discussion so far of the Amazon basin as a human habitat. . . . This book specifies variables influencing cultural adaptation in the Amazon basin and presents a set of general principles constituting a theory of cultural evolution. In two descriptive sections of the book, Meggers analyzes the selective pressures in two distinct geographical zones: the terra firme or unflooded land, and the várzea or periodic floodplain. (Ellen B. Bass Science)

Meggers has marshalled an impressive argument on the ecological imperatives of a truly unique Amazonia. . . . We are given a well-written and quite thorough description of the physical features of the two zones and a series of ethnographic vignettes to illustrate the action of cultural adaptation. (Man)

An excellent, concise statement of the facts of the ecology of humid tropical lowlands, systematic descriptions of a number of widely spread Amazonian cultures, and a skillful integration of these two bodies of knowledge. The result is a demonstration that cultures are as surely subject to and molded by natural selection and environmental characteristics as are species of plants and animals. . . . Amazonia will inevitably be a basic text for the field of tropical ecology. (F. R. Fosberg Ecology)

From the Publisher

An excellent, concise statement of the facts of the ecology of humid tropical lowlands, systematic descriptions of a number of widely spread Amazonian cultures, and a skillful integration of these two bodies of knowledge. The result is a demonstration that cultures are as surely subject to and molded by natural selection and environmental characteristics as are species of plants and animals. . . . Amazonia will inevitably be a basic text for the field of tropical ecology.
— F. R. Fosberg

Ecology

Amazonia provides the most comprehensive anthropological discussion so far of the Amazon basin as a human habitat. . . . This book specifies variables influencing cultural adaptation in the Amazon basin and presents a set of general principles constituting a theory of cultural evolution. In two descriptive sections of the book, Meggers analyzes the selective pressures in two distinct geographical zones: the terra firme or unflooded land, and the várzea or periodic floodplain.
— Ellen B. Bass

Science