Primitive people did not live in harmony with nature, scientists say
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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The study of food remains from ancient sites along the lower Ika River in Peru confirmed the earlier assumption that even primitive people did not live in harmony with nature.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge (UK) and their colleagues analyzed food waste, covering the period from 750 BC. E. To 900 g. E., and found that in less than two thousand years, the inhabitants of the valley went through three stages: first they engaged in gathering, then devoted themselves to farming, and then again partially returned to the gathering.
This confirms the hypothesis that, by removing too much natural vegetation to make room for crops, the ancient farmers unwittingly contributed to flooding and erosion, which ultimately caused a shortage of land suitable for cultivation. "Farmers accidentally crossed the threshold, and environmental changes have become irreversible," says study author David Beresford-Jones.
Today, this barren wasteland, but the remains of the Huarango trees and spots of loosened soil suggest that this was not always the case. Previous work of the same group has already shown that once there was a region of highly developed agriculture.
Scientists took samples of garbage heaps, washed the sediment, leaving a mixture of plant and animal remains. The earliest did not bear any evidence of the existence of domesticated crops. People ate snails, sea urchins and mussels collected off the Pacific coast in eight hours' walk to the west. In the samples of the last centuries BC. E. Pumpkin seeds, cassava tubers and corn cobs began to come across, and a few hundred years later there was evidence of the existence of agriculture with a wide range of crops, including corn, beans, pumpkin, peanuts and peppers. But 500 years later everything returned to normal: piles again full of sea and land snails mixed with wild plants.
Agriculture here would not have been possible without the Huarango forest, which was a physical barrier between the ocean and the valley, and also maintained the fertility of the soil by fixing nitrogen and water. But the more land required for growing crops, the more forest was destroyed, and as a result, the balance was lost irrevocably. The valley was defenseless against El Niño, floods and erosion. The irrigation canals were destroyed, a piercing wind was blowing.
An indirect witness to this sad story is the bush of the indigo-gopher, from which an intense blue dye is obtained. The seeds of this plant are a frequent find in the early settlements of the Nazca culture (100-400 AD). Textiles relating to this period are easily recognized by the generous use of a characteristic paint. In later periods, the dye deficiency becomes obvious. Since the indigo grows in the forest shade along the watercourses, the disappearance of the bush suggests that the forest has the same thing.
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