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Over 10,000 years ago, ancient human settlers began the construction of around 4,700 artificial forest islands in ancient Amazonia, according to the results of a recently-published paper. Archaeologists believe that the islands were used for farming, and that they can still be seen to this day.
[...] The team used satellite data to map 6,643 forest islands located in present-day Llanos de Moxos, Bolivia. Of these, 82 were surveyed, samples were taken from 30, and four were excavated.
Sixty-three of the islands were found to harbor dark sediments rich in organic matter including charcoal, burnt earth, animal bones and shells, which are indications of human occupation. It was concluded that they were not existing landscape features, and had instead been constructed completely artificially for the purpose of cultivating food.
Based on their findings, the researchers extrapolated that ancient settlers gradually built around 4,700 islands on which to grow food, with construction starting over 10,000 years ago. These forest islands had an average size of 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres), and were raised 0.5-3m (1.6-9.8 ft) above the savanna in order to remain above the water level during the wet season.
Researchers posit that the area represents another birthplace of agriculture, similar to Meso-America, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and others.
Journal Reference:
Umberto Lombardo, José Iriarte, Lautaro Hilbert et al. Early Holocene crop cultivation and landscape modification in Amazonia, Nature (DOI: doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2162-7)
Source: University of Exeter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2020, @01:19PM (4 children)
I'm dumb, I'll bite on the 'heavy taxation' bit. Adjusted for inflation:
1960: average family in the wealthiest 1% of US households had 1.46 million dollars in wealth. The top 1% of US households paid 13% of all US federal tax income.
2019: average family in the wealthiest 1% of US households had 10.4 million dollars in wealth. The top 1% of US households paid 38.5% of all US federal income tax.
You need both the wealth numbers and the tax numbers to have an informed perspective - taxes on the wealthiest Americans, as a proportion of wealth, are down 57% in the past 59 years. If the Republicrats and the Democrans try to fund COVID-19 programs by raising taxes on any class of American aside from the multi-millionaires, raise hell.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2020, @06:57PM
Listen, comrade, in whatever socialist paradise you live in it might work that way, but in the US of A we reward hard work and saving with lower taxes
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 13 2020, @01:48AM (2 children)
So right there, the 1% tripled the share of taxes that they pay. Why exactly should they be paying more than they already are?
(Score: 2) by nishi.b on Monday April 13 2020, @09:08PM (1 child)
If their part of the global wealth has more then tripled, they still won, so that does not mean a thing
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 14 2020, @01:27AM
Why are we taking measures of such wealth seriously? Can't eat credit default swaps, for example. Particularly, when we're ignoring important aspects of wealth, like future earning potential.