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River floodplain relocations and the abandonment of Aborigine settlements in the Upper Amazon Basin: A historical case study of San Miguel de Cunibos at the Middle Ucayali River
Author(s) -
Pärssinen Martti H.,
Salo Jukka S.,
Räsänen Matti E.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
geoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1520-6548
pISSN - 0883-6353
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6548(199607)11:4<345::aid-gea3>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - floodplain , amazon rainforest , fluvial , human settlement , abandonment (legal) , avulsion , geography , structural basin , geology , archaeology , drainage basin , shoal , channel (broadcasting) , progradation , geomorphology , cartography , ecology , facies , political science , law , biology , electrical engineering , engineering
Lathrap introduced the concept of lateral channel migration of the meandering rivers as a potential factor for human community dynamics in the Upper Amazon. Nevertheless, the dynamics considered by Lathrap is restricted to particular floodplains. He payed no attention to a large scale fluvial phenomenom: the sudden river relocations (avulsion), which also profoundly affected the Upper Amazon cultures. We present here a historical case study analyzing a river floodplain avulsion at the Middle Ucayali River during the late 1700s, causing the abandonment of a settlement called San Miguel de Cunibos and probably leading to the massive migration of the Cunibos Indians. Furthermore, we argue that similar situations have frequently occurred during the human history of the Upper Amazon, and thus these fluvial phenomena should be taken into consideration in future archaeological and ethnohistorical studies. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.