一直以来考古学在亚马逊河地区都处于起步阶段,因为很难在一个热带雨林中发起大规模的发掘工作。同时很多考古学家也认为支撑城市所需的大规模农业在这一地区是不可能出现的。佛罗里达理工学院古生态学家Crystal McMichael的研究试图改变这一状况。前哥伦布时期的亚马逊人曾经自己“肥沃”了土壤,把土地养分提高到贫瘠土壤2至3倍,创造出考古学家所谓的亚马逊黑土。它往往比其他亚马逊土壤颜色要深,并有木炭和前哥伦布时期的陶器碎片混在其中。大部分亚马逊黑土出现于公元前6世纪~公元16世纪之间。 Archeology has long been in its infancy in the Amazon because it is difficult to launch a massive excavation in a tropical rainforest. At the same time, many archaeologists also think that the large-scale agriculture needed to support the city is impossible in this area. Research by Crystal McMichael, a paleo-ecologist at Florida Institute of Technology, is trying to change that. The Amazones of Pre-Columbian times once “fertile” the soil and raised the soil nutrients up to two to three times that of the barren soil, creating what archaeologists call Amazonian black soil. It is often darker than other Amazon soils and contains charcoal and pre-Columbian pieces of pottery. Most of the Amazon black soil appeared between the 6th century BC and the 16th century AD.