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Originally Posted by Tim Simmons
A British historian "Michael Woods" made a very fine set of TV documentaries the "Conquistadors" episode 3 is all about that amazing Amazon journey. The set is available from amazon. It really does help you understand the Amazon basin.
http://www.mytvblog.org/?p=310 |
That looks neat. The
Lost Cities of The Amazon on National Geographic covers similar ground, I think. It shows up on the National Geographic Channel in the US.
The story Tim and I are alluding to is Orellana's voyage down the Amazon, the first time a European had seen the place. While on the river, he encountered what he called cities, and places where settlements stretched for kilometers along the bank.
For centuries, his report was disregarded as a fantasy, but the archeologists are finding evidence in the soil (see
terra preta that Orellana's report may be accurate.
The implication is that the Amazon basin was once densely populated, and that our modern view of wandering tribes is actually a product of European contact. It also implies that many of the curiosities of Amazonian culture, particularly things such as curare and other drugs, may actually have been discovered by people in a largely vanished, and very unusual culture.
Speaking of which, cultural erosion continues apace in the Amazon. I read a few months ago that the tribe that supplied westerners with the first, identifiable curare preparation no longer know how to make or use it. They rely instead on western-supplied guns and food. If you happen to have Amazonian artifacts, I'd suggest curating them well. The children or grandchildren of the tribes who made them may one day want them back, when they start reclaiming their heritage and trying to find out how their ancestors did things. Collectors may inadvertently become the guardians of their cultures. We all realize that we may not be the last owner of a piece, but in this case, a piece we like today may be a cultural treasure in decades to come.
Best,
F