Amazonie ; les 12 travaux des civilisations précolombiennes

Description

'Discover the true story of the first inhabitants of the largest rainforest!' What were Amazonian societies like before the arrival of Europeans? What we believe we know is often more myth than reality... Settlement, domestication, innovations, long-distance trade, funeral rituals, adornments, cannibalism... these are all parts of a human history that is still largely unknown. They are explored here using the famous twelve labours of Hercules as a guiding thread, because, in the immensity of the great rainforest, the peoples of the past did indeed accomplish a giant's work worthy of a demigod! The Augean stables thus refer us to the colossal earthworks uncovered by archaeologists, the doe of Cyrene to the countless technological innovations that were once thought to be the preserve of the Andes, and the golden apples of the Hesperides to the extraordinary fertility of the famous 'terra preta' that so intrigues agronomists. As for the Stymphalian birds, they are a symbol, sadly terrifying, of the chaos caused by European conquest... This veritable scientific journey, drawing on the latest knowledge in archaeology, but also in ethnology, geography, ecology and botany, invites us to do away with preconceived ideas about highly original indigenous cultures and delivers a magnificent plea for the world's largest tropical forest, now in danger.