Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T08:17:41.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prehistoric Human Occupations of the Western Venezuelan Llanos

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alberta Zucchi
Alberta Zucchi*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 1827, Caracas, Venezuela
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent archaeological research in the western Venezuelan llanos has provided very old dates related to maize cultivation. The evidence obtained at Mound I, at the site Hato de la Calzada, indicates that these seasonally flooded savannas were occupied from 920 B.C. to A.D. 500 by the Caño del Oso people who practiced hunting, fishing, and maize farming. Around A.D. 500 manioc cultivation and artificial earthworks were introduced in this area. Both elements were probably obtained from the Arauquinoid people who inhabited the Orinoco riverbanks. The available data regarding the antiquity of manioc, based on agricultural systems in seasonally flooded savannas of South America, suggests that such systems developed in the Amazon Basin.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , April 1973 , pp. 182 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Broadbent, Sylvia M. 1968 A prehistoric field system in Chibcha territory. Nawpa Pacha 6:135–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruxent, José M. 1952 Notes on Venezuelan archaeology, preliminary accounts of the causeways in the state of Barinas. Introductory notes. XXIX International Congress of Americanists, Selected Papers, pp. 280–294. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cruxent, José M. 1966 Apuntes sobre las Calzadas de Barinas, Venezuela. Departamento de Antropología, IVIC, Boletín Informativo 4:10–24.Google Scholar
Cruxent, José M., and Irving, Rouse 1958-59 An archaeological chronology of Venezuela. Social Science Monographs VI. Pan American Union.Google Scholar
Denevan, William M. 1966 The aboriginal cultural geography of the Llanos de Mojos of Bolivia. Ibero-Americana 48. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Denevan, William M. 1970 Aboriginal drained-field cultivation in the Americas. Science 169:647–654.Google Scholar
Laeyendecker-Roosenburg, D. M. 1966 A palynological investigation of some archaeologically interesting sections in northwestern Surinam. Leidse Geologische Mededelingen 38:31–36.Google Scholar
Lathrap, Donald W. 1962 Yarinacocha: stratigraphic excavations in the Peruvian montaña. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Lathrap, Donald W. 1970 The upper Amazon. Praeger, New York and Washington.Google Scholar
Meggers, Betty J. 1966 Ecuador. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Meggers, B. J., and Clifford, Evans 1957 Archaeological investigations at the mouth of the Amazon. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 167.Google Scholar
Meggers, B. J., and Clifford, Evans 1961 An experimental formulation of horizon styles in the Tropical Forest area of South America. In Essays in pre-Columbian art and archaeology, edited by Samuel K., Lothrop, pp. 373–388.Google Scholar
Mielke, J. E., and Austin, Long 1969 Smithsonian Institution radiocarbon measurements V. Radiocarbon 11:163–182.Google Scholar
Parsons, James 1969 Ridged fields in the Rio Guayas Valley, Ecuador. American Antiquity 34:76–80.Google Scholar
Parsons, James, and William A., Bowen 1966 Ancient ridged fields of the San Jorge River floodplain, Colombia. Geographical Review 65:317–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, James, and William M., Denevan 1967 Pre-Columbian ridged fields. Scientific American 217:93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo 1965 Colombia. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving, and José M., Cruxent 1963 Venezuelan archaeology. Yale University Press, New York and London.Google Scholar
Smith, C. T., W., Denevan, and P., Hamilton 1968 Ancient ridged fields in the region of Lake Titicaca. The Geographical Journal 134:353–367.Google Scholar
Sternberg, Hilgard O'Reilly 1964 Land and man in the tropics. In Economic and political trends in Latin America. Academy of Political Science, Proceedings. Google Scholar
Tamers, Murry A., 1965 Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas. Natural radiocarbon measurements. I. Radiocarbon 7:59–61.Google Scholar
Tamers, Murry A. 1969 Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientifícas. Natural radiocarbon measurements IV. Radiocarbon 11:396–422.Google Scholar
Wagner, Erika, and Alberta Zucchi, 1966 Mazorcas de maíz prehistórico de Venezuela occidental. Departamento de Antropología, IVIC, Boletín Informativo 4:36–38.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1958 Estimated correlations and dating of South and Central American cultural sequences. American Antiquity 23:353–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burling, Robbins 1967a La Betania. Un yacimiento arqueológico del occidente de Venezuela. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas.Google Scholar
Burling, Robbins 1967b Boleadoras de Arcilla en los llanos occidentales de Venezuela. Departamento de Antropología, IVIC, Boletin Informativo 5:18–22.Google Scholar
Zucchi, Alberta 1968 Algunas hipótesis sobre la población aborígen de los llanos occidentals de Venezuela. Acta Científica Venezolana 19:135–139.Google Scholar