Description

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The legendary El Dorado—the city of gold—remains a mere legend, but astonishing new discoveries are revealing a major civilization in ancient Amazonia that was more complex than anyone previously dreamed. Scholars have long insisted that the Amazonian ecosystem placed severe limits on the size and complexity of its ancient cultures, but leading researcher Denise Schaan reverses that view, synthesizing exciting new evidence of large-scale land and resource management to tell a new history of indigenous Amazonia. Schaan also engages fundamental debates about the development of social complexity and the importance of ancient Amazonia from a global perspective. This innovative, interdisciplinary book is a major contribution to the study of human-environment relations, social complexity, and past and present indigenous societies.

About the Author

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An internationally renowned researcher, Denise Schaan is associate professor of archaeology at Federal University of Pará in Belém, Brazil. Her groundbreaking research on geoglyphs in the Western Amazon have attracted worldwide media attention. Schaan has published 44 scientific articles and book chapters, authored three books and edited two volumes.