Chapter
46
The Llanos de Mojos
JOHN H. WALKER
INTRODUCTION
The Llanos de Mojos (hereafter Mojos) is a tropical savanna in the Bolivian Amazon,
shaped by cycles of drought and flood and the labor of generations of farmers. The accounts
of Jesuit missionaries from the mid 1600s described large villages with powerful chiefs and
influential shamans in the savanna. Was this true? And what kind of economy would have
supported these societies? The answers first became apparent in the 1950s with the spread
of air travel that revealed artificial earthworks, including agricultural fields, causeways and
canals on the landscape below. Recent archaeological research confirms that Mojos was
one of several areas within the Amazon basin that had large sedentary populations.
Mojos is a research frontier where scant archaeological investigation has been conducted compared to, say, Syria or the Yucatan Peninsula, whose areas are similar. Mojos
is a fascinating test case to understand relationships between politics and economics in
the Amazon basin over the long term. Because of its location between the Xingu,
middle Amazon and Andes, Mojos is also relevant to discussions of cultural history and
the movement of groups of people across the continent. Finally, study of the region’s landscapes shows how pre-Columbian peoples acted on their understanding of the relationship
between nature and culture to build their environment. This chapter reviews the physical
and human geography of Mojos, describes previous archaeological research, and then discusses political and social organization, analyses of interregional contacts, and the creation
of anthropogenic landscapes.
GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT
Although it shares many characteristics with other parts of the Amazon basin, the combination of strong seasonality in rainfall and the flooded savanna ecosystems makes Mojos a distinctive geographical region. Mojos is a shallow basin covering approximately 110,000 km2
Handbook of South American Archaeology, edited by Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell.
Springer, New York, 2008
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Figure 46.1. Location of the Llanos de Mojos (shaded area) within the Madeira River basin of South America.
(John Walker)
between the Andes to the west and south and the uplands of the Brazilian shield to the
east and north (Hanagarth 1993; Langstroth 1996; Denevan 2001) (Figure 46.1). The soils
derive primarily from Pleistocene lacustrine sediments, more than two kilometers deep
near the Andes and a few hundred meters deep near the Brazilian shield. This thick cover
makes stone usable for construction or tools very rare. Topographical relief is minimal,
with elevations that only vary between 150 and 170 masl across most of the region.
Lying entirely within the tropics, Mojos has a climate characterized by high, stable
average temperatures, high humidity and high rainfall. Aside from human activity, the
determining ecological feature is the seasonal cycle of flood and drought, which affects
soils, plants and animals. Mojos is therefore defined as a humid savanna, a grassland environment with a 2- to 7-month dry season and a total annual rainfall varying between 1,500
and 1,800 mm (Harris 1980). The dry season lasts from May through September, when
weeks pass without precipitation. During these months the passage of southern cold fronts
occasionally breaks the heat and humidity, dramatically lowering temperatures and sometimes bringing heavy rain.
The wet season lasts roughly from November through March. During these months
widespread flooding changes the landscape in two different ways. Modern inhabitants call
these two types of flooding “water from below” and “water from above.” The first kind of
flooding results when tributaries of the Mamoré River rise because of high water levels
downstream. When the Mamoré is high, these rivers “back up” and inundate large areas.
Some rivers that are easily forded in the dry season are several hundred meters across in
The Llanos de Mojos
Figure 46.2. Schematic diagram illustrating the patterning of local environments in Mojos. (John Walker)
the wet season. The second type of flooding is the result of heavy local rainfall. Rains can
leave 20 or 30 cm of standing water on poorly drained terrain, even though that terrain may
be at a higher elevation. During the dry season, this water drains more quickly, and these
areas remain underwater for a short time. During the wet season, rainfall inundates large
areas, making them much more difficult to cross on foot.
The interaction of these two processes with local topography creates a mosaic of
environments. Low-lying gallery forests along rivers and streams contrast with higher river
levees and savannas alongside. Topography and drainage influence the spatial arrangement of plant communities because soils vary with drainage and differences in elevation.
Broadly speaking, four types of environments are present today: flooded forests, dry
forests, dry savannas and wet savannas (Figure 46.2).
Flooded forests are often found in areas of lower elevation along rivers and can be
underwater for as much as half of the year. Trees that are submerged for months tower
overhead in the dry season. Many flooded forests are located in “galleries” along the
rivers, on the sloping banks rather than the adjacent levees. Dry forests are elevated above
floodwaters, and are well drained so that rainwater does not accumulate. These forests
are often located on levees along the rivers, and in forest “islands” along smaller creeks
and abandoned river channels. Dry savannas are also elevated and well drained. Many dry
savannas are located on river levees. There are many transitional zones between dry forest
and savanna, and it is difficult to separate the two categories clearly. Finally, wet savannas
are found both in areas that are elevated but poorly drained, and in lower elevation back
slopes. Some soils in the wet savannas accumulate sediment and organic material from
annual floods. Older rivers have also cut channels across the savanna, leaving behind levees
and back slopes.
Differences in earthworks have prompted archaeologists to distinguish four “divisions” within the Mojos region (Denevan 1966, 2001; Erickson 2006) (Figure 46.3). Each
of these four divisions has a distinct form of landscape modification:
●
●
North. Large raised fields comprise the most imposing element of the built environment. Occupation debris suggests that villages with 1,000–2,000 inhabitants
could have been present (Walker 2004) (Figure 46.4).
South. The built environment is composed of large mounds, some of which were
burial mounds. This is where most archaeological work in Mojos has taken place
(Nordenskiöld 1913, 1920, 1924; Bennett 1934; Dougherty and Calandra 1981,
1981–82, 1984; Erickson and Balée 2006; Prümers 2004). Many of the mounds
contain urn burials, and some of them contain several dozen burials. The largest
mounds are close to 20 m tall, and some of them are hundreds of meters across.
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Figure 46.3. Map illustrating the regional diversity of anthropogenic landscapes in Mojos. (Adapted from
Denevan 1966: fig. 4)
●
●
East. Earthworks include long causeways, zig-zag causeways and circular ditches
(Erickson 1996; Dougherty and Calandra 1985). The circular ditches are distinct
from the landscapes modified by the zig-zag causeways, which Erickson interprets
as weirs for the harvesting of fish (Figure 46.5).
West. Here are perhaps the most complex built environments, where canals, causeways, mounds and several kinds of raised and ditched fields were combined into
integrated landscapes (Erickson 1980; Erickson and Walker ms.).
Many raised fields seem well suited to the production of root crops, such as manioc or
New World taro. Because raised fields reduce the effects of flooding, they help protect root
crops from rotting. Botanical remains from a raised field excavation show that Xanthosoma, Annatto and Ilex were being grown: a root crop, a dye, and a stimulant, respectively
(Erickson 1995). This roster suggests that multi-cropping was a cultivation strategy, and
The Llanos de Mojos
Figure 46.4. Reprojected aerial photograph of large raised fields and settlement north of Santa Ana del Yacuma,
along the Iruyañez River. (John Walker)
Figure 46.5. Long causeways near Baures. a. Aerial photograph; b. Diagram (adapted from Erickson 2000:
fig. 4). (John Walker)
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that industrial products were as important as food crops. Mojos is within the southern Amazon
basin, which has been proposed as the “hearth” of both manioc and peanut cultivation
(Olsen and Schaal 2001; Jarvis et al. 2002). Deposits of anthrosols indicate large areas
of human occupation along the large tributaries and main course of the Amazon River.
Appearing as a distinct soil type on national surveys, anthrosols are nuanced evidence both
for settlement and for intentional modification of soils for agricultural uses (Lehman et al.
2003; Glaser and Woods 2004).
The human geography of Mojos is also complex. According to the Summer Institute of Linguistics, thirteen languages are present in Mojos today, including groups classified as Arawak (Baure, and Mojo, which is split into Ignaciano and Trinitario), Tupi
(Guarayu and Siriono), Tacanan (Ese Ejja and Cavineña), Panoan (Chácobo), and isolated
languages (Canichana, Cayuvava, Itonama, Movima and T’simane) (Gordon 2005).
Several of these are extinct or nearly extinct (Baure, Canichana, Cayuvava and Itonama).
This situation suggests that before the European conquest a variety of languages were
present, as in other regions within the upper Amazon. A recent study of mitochondrial
DNA among modern populations suggests that considerable genetic diversity is represented (Bert et al. 2004). The study is a significant step and continued research will
provide an independent line of evidence to compare with linguistic and archaeological
data about population history.
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
The first archaeologist to carry out research in Mojos was Erland Nordenskiöld, who excavated several large mound sites near Trinidad and surveyed material culture throughout the
region (Nordenskiöld 1913, 1924). His research was the basis for Métraux’s summary of
eastern Bolivian archaeology and the ceramic data from these excavations were later interpreted in light of evidence from across the entire South American lowlands (Métraux 1942;
Howard 1948). Denevan’s subsequent geographical studies of earthworks revolutionized
the study of pre-Columbian Mojos, introducing and carefully documenting the scale of
landscape modification (Denevan 1966, 2001). Although Denevan did not excavate, his
aerial and pedestrian survey of earthworks completely changed the understanding of preColumbian Mojeño societies and placed them in a larger context of intensive agriculture
throughout the Americas. His book is still the most useful reference on Mojos.
Since Denevan drew attention to the region, a number of archaeological projects have
conducted research in the area. Some have focused on documenting and analyzing ceramic
industries, attempting to establish chronologies (Dougherty and Calandra 1981, 1981–82;
Calandra and Salceda 2004). A few projects have carried out fieldwork at a single location (Arnold and Prettol 1998; Bustos 1978; Ryden 1941). Three projects currently active
in Mojos are the Finnish Archaeological Project (Siriäinen and Korpisaari 2002, 2003),
the KAVA project (Prümers 2004) and the Proyecto Agro-Arqueológico del Beni (PAAB)
(Erickson 1995, 2006; Erickson and Balée 2006; Erickson and Walker ms.; Walker 2004).
The Finnish project has carefully documented a fortified site in the far north along the Beni
River. The KAVA project has used careful analysis of stratigraphy in combination with
ceramic analysis to interpret the large Mendoza mound in southeastern Mojos. The PAAB
project has focused on archaeological landscapes, using remote sensing, survey and test
excavations in locations throughout Mojos. Archaeologists working in Mojos also depend
on information from other sources: historical, ethnographic, and geographic.
The Llanos de Mojos
Mojos culture history continues to be debated by the archaeologists. Their focus is
on three critical issues: social and political organization, contact between Mojos and neighboring areas, and the creation of anthropogenic landscapes.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
Mojos drew the attention of European explorers in the sixteenth century as they sought
opportunities to extract riches from indigenous states very quickly. El Dorado, Paitití and
Gran Mojos were all names for a mythical kingdom of gold, or for its leader. Early historical documents describing the area were written in the course of these explorations, and
later as part of Jesuit missionary work in Mojos. These documents described large villages
and powerful chiefs; one missionary claimed in a matter-of-fact way to have met this king
himself.
The image of El Dorado has recently been the rhetorical focus of a discussion of
social and political organization in Amazonia (Meggers 2004; Stahl 2002; Heckenberger
et al. 1999). In Mojos, this discussion considers two lines of evidence, historical and archaeological. Denevan (1966, 2001) and Block (1994) summarize the early historical sources.
The documents describe groups of people living in large villages (larger than 200 people, and
in many cases larger than 500 people); alliances between large villages; and political leaders
with considerable power, including the power to kill offenders. These sources originally
led Julian Steward, in the Handbook of South American Indians, to classify the societies of
Mojos with “Circum-Caribbean” societies, in contrast to simpler “Tropical Forest” societies
that characterized most of Amazonia (see Chapter 1 in this volume).
Historical documents must be carefully interpreted, but this does not mean that early
descriptions of Mojeño peoples should be discarded. Jesuit accounts in particular, in their
comprehensiveness and detail, provide relevant information for the seventeenth century.
These documents (which have been analyzed only in part) indicate that a variety of societies
were present in Mojos at the time of contact. They describe hunters, accomplished farmers
(but say little about earthworks), weavers, potters, feather workers, fishermen and gatherers.
They contrast Indians who wore clothes and were “gentle,” with “wild,” naked cannibals. The
ethnohistoric record suggests that Mojos was a multilingual and perhaps multiethnic region,
with many different forms of social and political organization present at the same time.
The outlines of this argument changed in the late 1950s, when a number of different researchers independently recorded the existence of earthworks on a regional scale.
Denevan showed that pre-Columbian people had produced many artificial landscapes
across Mojos, of many types, and over a great area. This placed Mojos, as an example of
raised field agriculture, alongside many important locations around the Americas, including the Andean altiplano, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, West Mexico, the Valley of
Mexico, the Maya region, and the upper Midwestern United States (see Chapters 11, 12,
13, 16, 17, 23 in this volume). Mojos is an example of the intensive use of the landscape by
indigenous Amazonians, implying greater social and political complexity than generally
admitted for pre-Columbian Amazonia. The anthropogenic landscape allows this organization to be studied on three scales: the regional scale of broad divisions in the archaeological
record, the local scale of the creation and maintenance of the agricultural landscape, and
the intermediate scale of large political units.
At the regional scale (across tens to hundreds of kilometers), differences between the
four landscape types correspond to differences in how much labor was required to reshape
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the terrain, and how much coordination would be required to use and maintain it. For example,
the amount of earth moved per unit area can serve as a proxy for labor mobilization. In
rough terms, the average figure is highest for the west, followed by the east, then the north
and finally the south. The coordination of different types of earthworks and water control
also would have been the most complex in the west and east, and much less so in the north
and south. Differences in labor costs vary within each area, but the general trends suggest
that there were significant differences in the organizational solutions devised by farmers.
This in turn suggests diversity in the social and political organization of Mojos raised field
farmers.
At the local scale (across tens to hundreds of meters), there is similar evidence for
diversity among farmers. In the northern region, the spatial patterns of large raised fields
were analyzed in conjunction with estimates of raised field construction costs and production. This suggests that groups of between 30 and 100 people might have been responsible
for the construction of many large fields, in discrete spatial groups. These groups of people are likely to correspond to a local social unit (Walker 2000, 2004). A similar analysis
is underway in western Mojos, along the Apere River, where there are spatially discrete
areas of raised fields that may correspond to local social units (Erickson and Walker ms.).
The complexity of the built environment creates many opportunities for analysis and for
the study of spatial pattern. Scholars of many different theoretical perspectives agree that
landscapes contain information about the social and political organization of the peoples
who produce it. These minimal units within Mojos landscapes are indicators of the smallest
units of social and political organization.
Finally, attention should be focused on the intermediate scale between the local and
the regional, because this is where the evidence of what is usually called social and political
organization will be found. If the predecessors of the “chiefdoms” described in the ethnohistoric literature were associated with raised field construction and maintenance, then it
will be possible to discern outlines of large units within the spatial patterns of earthworks.
Connections between political organization and agricultural organization are to be investigated and not assumed. In one case where settlement evidence is associated with raised
field patterning, it appears that large settlements were associated with a comparatively
simple agricultural landscape (Walker 2004).
CONNECTIONS TO OTHER REGIONS
Mojos is near the geographic center of South America, between the Andes mountains and
the Brazilian highlands and upstream from the middle Amazon. Discussions of cultural
contact and migration in South America have focused on the origins of complex society at
the mouth of the Amazon and the movement of language groups throughout the Amazon
basin (Lathrap 1970, 1977; Heckenberger 2005; Hornborg 2005). Enough information is
available from several other areas to place Mojos in a larger context.
Altiplano
The well-known societies of the altiplano and southern Andes were close to Mojos in both
space and time. Tiwanaku is less than 300 km from western sites associated with agricultural earthworks, and several Mojeño contexts date to Tiwanaku times and earlier (Walker
2004). The ceramics recovered in Nordenskiöld’s excavations made it possible to speculate
The Llanos de Mojos
on links to the Andes. Although some ceramic similarities exist, possibly indicating that
the southeastern mound cultures were derivative from the highlands, strong arguments have
been advanced that these ceramics have more in common with Amazonian examples from
further downstream and with other upper Amazonian ceramics (Bennett 1936; Howard
1948; Lathrap 1970).
Raised field agriculture is well documented in Tiwanaku (see, e.g., Kolata 1993). As
the scale and antiquity of raised field use in Mojos becomes clearer, this becomes relevant
to the question of the relationship between Tiwanaku and Mojos (Hornborg 2005). Such
systems represent the accumulation of labor over centuries, and it is unlikely that the technology diffused rapidly either from Mojos to the altiplano, or vice-versa. The slow process
of creating agrodiversity through building agricultural landscapes suggests that there was
no single moment of innovation in the development of raised field agriculture. There are
many differences in form and function between raised fields, associated with different
agricultural problems and different social and political organizations.
A Finnish-Bolivian project has recovered evidence of an Inca presence, well dated to
the Late Horizon, at a site along the Beni River in far northern Mojos (Siiriäinen and
Korpisaari 2002, 2003). Both the ceramic evidence and radiocarbon dating are convincing.
The nature of the occupation is unclear, although it seems that material evidence of the
Incas is not widespread, and that highlanders were interested in lowland resources. The
location along the Beni, a major river that reaches into the highlands is unsurprising. Being
near its confluence with the Madre de Dios River would have furthered trade and contact
with large areas of the lowlands, both in Mojos and further downstream.
Intensive agriculture was widespread in Mojos, and estimates of its extent continue to
expand, while those of its antiquity continue to deepen. Improved remote sensing resources
in combination with survey will allow a more accurate estimate in the future, but new
earthworks continue to be discovered, and it is likely that agricultural earthworks in Mojos
were of the same order of magnitude as those in the altiplano. Mojos represents both a comparative case of the development and abandonment of raised field farming and possibly a
shared history with the altiplano.
Eastern Slopes
Between Mojos and the altiplano lie the eastern slopes of the Andes, a region sometimes
characterized as a frontier, but which clearly has its own identity. An increasing amount of
research is being conducted in the humid valleys of the eastern slopes. Stone axes, which
are rare but widespread in Mojos, may indicate contact with the eastern slopes. Material
for ground stone tools does not appear naturally in Mojos, and the best sources are in the
Andes (although the Brazilian shield is another possibility). Such axes could have had symbolic value, but because they do not occur in large numbers, it is unlikely that they played
a pivotal role in agriculture. Stone axes would have been less effective than the use
of fire for clearing vegetation. Slash-and-burn agriculture probably was not widespread
before the arrival of the Spanish, and there are good reasons to believe that this form of
agriculture developed after the advent of metal tools (Denevan 2001).
There are similarities between Mojos ceramics and some of the ceramic industries
present in the altiplano and the Bolivian eastern slopes before Tiwanaku (Lathrap 1970).
These similarities point to the ease with which cultural traits, and ceramic attributes in particular, may have passed between the lowlands and highlands. Environmental differences
seem to make strong boundaries, but they were crossed repeatedly in the past, as they are
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being crossed today. It may be more accurate to think of these regions as all being part of a
single area with regard to many characteristics.
Xingu
More archaeological work is being done in the highlands of Brazil drained by the Xingu
River, and there are several parallels to some Mojeño cultures. Heckenberger (2005; see
Chapter 47 in this volume) has detailed the antiquity and extent of settlement in the Xingu.
Large settlements are associated with ringed ditches and long causeways, and connections
between the archaeological evidence and modern Arawak speakers seem strong (see also
Hornborg 2005). The landscapes of eastern Mojos also include ringed ditches and several
kinds of causeways (Erickson 2000). In addition to being the region within Mojos closest
to the Xingu, the Baure speakers from whom the region gets its name are Arawak speakers.
Arawak speakers (including both Baure and Mojo speakers) make up a large part of the
diversity of cultures in Mojos, but they are not exclusively associated with either earthworks or political complexity. The Movima, Itonama, Canichana and Cayuvava are other
modern language groups with similar associations that lived across Mojos and are known
from ethnohistoric sources.
Middle Amazon
There are significant parallels between the ceramics of the middle Amazon and those of
Mojos, and this information is relevant to the reconstruction of cultural history throughout the Amazon basin. New research is taking place along the middle Amazon that builds
on previous studies that focused primarily on ceramics. Barrancoid style ceramics, first
described along the lower Orinoco in Venezuela, bear a resemblance to many ceramic
styles across the Amazon basin. Barrancoid traits have been noted among the ceramics
excavated by Nordenskiöld, and there may be other Barrancoid assemblages as well
(Walker 2004). The relationship between Icotiara, Guarita and other ceramics from
the middle Amazon to Mojeño ceramics suggests that Mojeños were a part of regional
processes.
ANTHROPOGENIC LANDSCAPES
Archaeological studies in South America and, specifically, Amazonia have frequently
focused on the effects of the environment on human society. Particularly due to preservation in the coastal deserts, the great antiquity of plant domestication in South America is
well documented. The agricultural earthworks, savannas and forests of Mojos are examples
of a separate but related phenomenon, the domestication of landscape.
Domestication of the landscape means the use of tools such as fire and the control of
water to change distributions of plants and animals (Erickson 2006). This makes the environment much more useful, with fruits more easily harvested, animals more easily hunted,
fish more easily caught, and distances more easily traversed. This depends more on the
creation of desirable attributes in the environment, and less on the manipulation of genetic
material to push species across the boundary between “wild” and “domesticated.” Mojos
is one of many places where this process has taken place, and three examples demonstrate
how the landscape was domesticated.
The Llanos de Mojos
First, the modern Siriono people of southeastern Mojos use a wealth of knowledge
of forest species, modifying the distribution of economically useful trees (Erickson and
Balée 2006). Concentrations of peach palm trees show that much of the “pristine” forest
in eastern Bolivia is, in fact, the result of generations of modification. Peach palms have
many economic uses, from consumption of their high-fat fruits to the making of palm
wine. Because the life cycle of trees is long, genetic modification of tree crops is unlikely.
Instead, the imprint of human activity takes the form of the location of trees within the
forest. Balée estimates that a considerable portion of the forests of the Amazon basin may
have been modified in this way.
Second, the construction of causeways in the flooded savanna modifies the environment in several ways. It makes low-lying areas easier to traverse on foot, and could make
higher areas easier to pass in a canoe, using the canal alongside the causeway. In the wet
season, when large areas are inundated, causeways can change flows of water over many
square kilometers. A well-maintained causeway only two meters high, if it crosses between
the levees of two rivers, can impound many square kilometers of water, maintaining inundation and harvesting rainfall for agricultural uses.
Third, the built environment may have made hunting and fishing easier. In the wet
season, floods force prey animals onto scarce dry land. Modern inhabitants keep prey “on the
hoof” in such situations, and hunt them at leisure (as long as the flooding conditions persist).
In the north, for example, there is a strong correlation between dry forest and human settlement and it might have been feasible to use the landscape to predict the movements of prey
animals (Walker 2004). To a much greater extent, the builders of “zig-zag” causeways in
the northeast could have used their flooded savannas to harvest fish (Erickson 1996).
The canals in raised fields also create environments in which frogs, snails and insects flourish, attracting waterfowl as well. Finally, raised field crops themselves would attract animals, which in many cases could be resources rather than pests.
The modification of the savanna makes Mojos a clear example of how native Amazonians modified their environment to make landscapes. Domestication of the landscape
is not unique to Mojos by any means, but this case highlights the importance of processes
that change the availability of resources, without necessarily changing the genetic code of
plants and animals.
CONCLUSION
The archaeological record of pre-Columbian Mojos has only been sketched in this chapter [Note 1]. The combination of well-preserved earthworks and well-developed ceramic
industries provides an opportunity to combine studies of the archaeological landscape with
cultural-historical goals. Such a synthesis can provide common ground between local interests in archaeology and international interests in questions of the Amazonian landscape.
The variety of connections that can be drawn to other parts of South America suggests that
there were distinctive aspects to a Mojeño way of life, but also shared histories with groups
of people from outside the savanna.
Evidence for the complexity of anthropogenic landscapes in South America continues to accumulate from widely divergent settings: geoglyphs on the Peruvian coast; fields
and terracing in the Andes; and raised fields and earthworks from around the lowlands.
Similarly, evidence for the variety and complexity of social organization in South America,
well attested in the Andes, is also mounting for the Amazonian lowlands. These two
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features of the archaeological and ethnohistoric record—agricultural landscapes and complex political organizations—have been the defining characteristics of Mojos. As more
evidence is assembled and compiled, the unique position of Mojos will be seen as the norm
for much of the Amazon basin: a complex, multilingual mix of different economic strategies and ethnic groups, with a turbulent history over many millennia. At that point, the
archaeology of the Llanos de Mojos and of the Amazon basin will have matured.
NOTE
1. The reader will find extensive bibliographies for further reading in Erickson (2006) and Walker (2004).
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