Offers an alternative view of the New World by detailing the impact of native cultures on the so-called undisturbed ecosystems prior to their contact with Europeans. Draws on a wide range of experts from the fields of paleoclimatology, historical ecology, paleontology, botany, geology, conservation science, and resource management.
4. Anthropocentric Food Webs in the Precolumbian Americas, by David L. Lentz3. Vegetation in the Floristic Regions of North and Central America, by Andrew M. Greller2. Climate Changes in the Northern American Tropics and Subtropics since the Last Ice Age: Implications for Environment and Culture, by David A. Hodell, Mark Brenner, and Jason H. Curtis1. Introduction: Definitions and Conceptual Underpinnings, by David L. LentzForeword, by William DenevanSummary and Conclusions15. The Lower Amazon: A Dynamic Human Habitat, by Anna C. Roosevelt14. Lowland Vegetation of Tropical South America--An Overview, by Douglas Daly and John Mitchell13. Andean Land Use at the Cusp of History, by Terence N. D'Altroy12. The Lake Titicaca Basin: A Precolumbian Built Landscape, by Clark L. Erickson11. Vegetation of the Tropical Andes, by James Luteyn and Steven Churchill10. Hohokam Impacts on Sonoran Desert Environment, by Suzanne Fish9. Native Farming Systems and Ecosystems in the Mississippi River Valley, by Gayle J. Fritz8. Precolumbian Silviculture and Indigenous Management of Neotropical Forests, by Charles Peters7. Stability and Instability in Prehispanic May a Landscapes, by Nicholas Dunning and Timothy Beach6. Prehispanic Water Management and Agricultural Intensification in Mexico and Venezuela: Implications for Contemporary Ecological Planning, by Charles S. Spencer5. Prehispanic Agricultural Systems in the Basin of Mexico, by Emily McClung de Tapia
David Lentz is director of the graduate studies program at The New York Botanical Garden. He is the author or coauthor of and contributor to more than fifty scholarly articles and books.
The combination of articles and examples in [this] book is able to draw a picture of pre-Columbians as integral and influential parts and components of the landscape. The volume brings together natural scientists, archaeologists, and cultural ecologists to investigate the interaction between natural systems and human intervention. Such a combination is rarely seen in this comprehensive manner.