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Riches of the Amazon

Archaeologists say the heart of the Amazon was home to an advanced, even spectacular civilization that managed the forest and enriched infertile soils to feed thousands.

In San Martin de Samiria, Peru, archaeologists Santiago Rivas (in blue) and Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, study bits of ceramics they've come across in the jungle.

In San Martin de Samiria, Peru, archaeologists Santiago Rivas (in blue) and Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, study bits of ceramics they've come across in the jungle.

Juan Forero-TWP

Rivas uses a soil coring device to dig deep and see what kind of earth he can come up with in the jungle outside San Martin de Samiria. What he and Oyuela-Caycedo have found is that the earth is terra preta, modified by Indians hundreds of years ago to turn infertile soil into fertile soil.

Rivas uses a soil coring device to dig deep and see what kind of earth he can come up with in the jungle outside San Martin de Samiria. What he and Oyuela-Caycedo have found is that the earth is terra preta, modified by Indians hundreds of years ago to turn infertile soil into fertile soil.

Juan Forero-TWP

Daniel Saldana, 66, is an Indian guide who has taken Oyuela-Caycedo to a site near San Martin de Samiria where it's believed pre-Columbian Indians farmed and lived. Salda had found the site and had been farming it. Oyuela-Caycedo and his colleagues, though, came to the conclusion that pre-Columbian Indians had enriched that soil.

Daniel Saldana, 66, is an Indian guide who has taken Oyuela-Caycedo to a site near San Martin de Samiria where it's believed pre-Columbian Indians farmed and lived. Salda had found the site and had been farming it. Oyuela-Caycedo and his colleagues, though, came to the conclusion that pre-Columbian Indians had enriched that soil.

Juan Forero-TWP

Nigel Smith, a geographer at the University of Florida, and Oyuela-Caycedo, an archaeologist there, study a clump of jungle fruit trees outside 20 de Enero, a village in northeastern Peru. Such clusters of trees, these scientists believe, were signs of Indian management of the Amazon.

Nigel Smith, a geographer at the University of Florida, and Oyuela-Caycedo, an archaeologist there, study a clump of jungle fruit trees outside 20 de Enero, a village in northeastern Peru. Such clusters of trees, these scientists believe, were signs of Indian management of the Amazon.

Juan Forero-TWP

An Indian guide from the 20 de Enero village climbs a tree to bring down aguaje, a fruit. Like other jungle fruits, it was managed by pre-Columbian Indians.

An Indian guide from the 20 de Enero village climbs a tree to bring down aguaje, a fruit. Like other jungle fruits, it was managed by pre-Columbian Indians.

Juan Forero-TWP

An Indian guide brought aguaje from a tree. Ancient civilizations managed orchards of fruit trees across the Amazon, evidence that instead of having been home to hunter-gatherers, the forest was inhabited by big, sedentary civilizations that were advanced enough to manage the forest.

An Indian guide brought aguaje from a tree. Ancient civilizations managed orchards of fruit trees across the Amazon, evidence that instead of having been home to hunter-gatherers, the forest was inhabited by big, sedentary civilizations that were advanced enough to manage the forest.

Juan Forero-TWP

Aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa), or palm fruit, soaks in a bowl of warm water, the usual practice before eating or making juice. Aguaje are gathered in floodplain forests throughout Amazonia and the Orinoco.

Aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa), or palm fruit, soaks in a bowl of warm water, the usual practice before eating or making juice. Aguaje are gathered in floodplain forests throughout Amazonia and the Orinoco.

Courtesy Of Nigel Smith, Pr-Courtesy of Nigel Smith, Pr

A vendor holds fruit while roasting seeds in a market in Loreto, Peru.

A vendor holds fruit while roasting seeds in a market in Loreto, Peru.

Courtesy Of Nigel Smith, Pr-Courtesy of Nigel Smith, Pr

Men work on an excavation at the Lago do Limao archaeology school on the outskirts of Iranduba, in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. In 12 years working in an area of about 350 square miles between the Negro and Solimoes rivers, a group of archaeologists at the University of Sao Paulo's Central Amazon Project has established dozens of archaeological sites where pottery and other signs of early human presence in the rain forest are being found.

Men work on an excavation at the Lago do Limao archaeology school on the outskirts of Iranduba, in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. In 12 years working in an area of about 350 square miles between the Negro and Solimoes rivers, a group of archaeologists at the University of Sao Paulo's Central Amazon Project has established dozens of archaeological sites where pottery and other signs of early human presence in the rain forest are being found.

Fernanda Preto-LatinContent/Getty Images

Archaeologists show the typical black earth at the Lago do Limao archaeology school on the outskirts of Iranduba. Scientists in the Central Amazon Project are in search of the pre-colonial cultures that have inhabited the Central Amazon region from 500 to 2,300 years ago. Fragments of pottery and a very fertile blackish gray soil called black earth are helping build knowledge about the life and culture of millions of South Americans who lived in the Amazon before the arrival of European explorers.

Archaeologists show the typical black earth at the Lago do Limao archaeology school on the outskirts of Iranduba. Scientists in the Central Amazon Project are in search of the pre-colonial cultures that have inhabited the Central Amazon region from 500 to 2,300 years ago. Fragments of pottery and a very fertile blackish gray soil called black earth are helping build knowledge about the life and culture of millions of South Americans who lived in the Amazon before the arrival of European explorers.

Fernanda Preto-LatinContent/Getty Images

Men work on an excavation at Lago do Limao on the outskirts of Iranduba.

Men work on an excavation at Lago do Limao on the outskirts of Iranduba.

Fernanda Preto-LatinContent/Getty Images

Ancient indigenous Manacapuru pottery was recovered in 2006 at the Hatahara archaeological site within the Amazon, and photographed at the Archaeological Laboratory of University of Sao Paulo's Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Manaus, Brazil.

Ancient indigenous Manacapuru pottery was recovered in 2006 at the Hatahara archaeological site within the Amazon, and photographed at the Archaeological Laboratory of University of Sao Paulo's Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Manaus, Brazil.

Fernanda Preto-LatinContent/Getty Images

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This Story Scientists find evidence discrediting theory Amazon was virtually unlivable Article \| SAN MARTIN DE SAMIRIA, PERU - To the untrained eye, all evidence here in the heart of the Amazon signals virgin forest, untouched by man for time immemorial - from the ubiquitous fruit palms to the cry of howler monkeys, from the air thick with mosquitoes to the unruly tangle of jungle vines. Riches of the Amazon Footprints in the forest		Network News X Profile View More Activity TOOLBOX E-Mail This Reprints		More on washingtonpost.com • More Photo News » washingtonpost.com
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