Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes

The history of climatic variations in Amazonia and their impact on the pre-Columbian world has long been ignored, due to a lack of solid data. The growth of interdisciplinary research since the turn of the millennium now makes it possible to better assess the links between climate and ancient cultur...

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Main Authors: Stéphen Rostain, François Renoux, Benjamin Iaparra Batista
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut des Amériques 2024-10-01
Series:IdeAs
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/19095
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author Stéphen Rostain
François Renoux
Benjamin Iaparra Batista
author_facet Stéphen Rostain
François Renoux
Benjamin Iaparra Batista
author_sort Stéphen Rostain
collection DOAJ
description The history of climatic variations in Amazonia and their impact on the pre-Columbian world has long been ignored, due to a lack of solid data. The growth of interdisciplinary research since the turn of the millennium now makes it possible to better assess the links between climate and ancient cultural development. For example, the drier period that accompanied the medieval climatic anomaly (950-700 years BP) most likely had direct consequences on human settlement. In the Guianas, climate change, documented in the soil archives of the Cariaco Basin in Venezuela, may have been the ultimate driving force behind the decline of the coastal Arauquinoid peoples. This situation of climatic tension may indeed have provoked conflict in the centuries preceding European contact. This state of acute belligerence has remained ingrained in native collective memory. For example, the oral tradition of the Palikur people of French Guiana bears witness to great drought and to wars between them and the Kali’na before the arrival of Europeans. The historical accounts and myths that have been repeated for centuries are based on specific events that fit perfectly into a plausible reconstruction of the ancient past of the first inhabitants. The intersection of archaeological, ethnohistorical, paleoecological and paleoclimatological data opens up an original field of investigation, revealing little-known episodes in the early history of the indigenous Guianas.
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spelling doaj-art-73d10e3bfd2f4ed4a7c4e764dbefa2432025-08-20T02:32:52ZengInstitut des AmériquesIdeAs1950-57012024-10-012410.4000/12hsaAvis de tempête sur les GuyanesStéphen RostainFrançois RenouxBenjamin Iaparra BatistaThe history of climatic variations in Amazonia and their impact on the pre-Columbian world has long been ignored, due to a lack of solid data. The growth of interdisciplinary research since the turn of the millennium now makes it possible to better assess the links between climate and ancient cultural development. For example, the drier period that accompanied the medieval climatic anomaly (950-700 years BP) most likely had direct consequences on human settlement. In the Guianas, climate change, documented in the soil archives of the Cariaco Basin in Venezuela, may have been the ultimate driving force behind the decline of the coastal Arauquinoid peoples. This situation of climatic tension may indeed have provoked conflict in the centuries preceding European contact. This state of acute belligerence has remained ingrained in native collective memory. For example, the oral tradition of the Palikur people of French Guiana bears witness to great drought and to wars between them and the Kali’na before the arrival of Europeans. The historical accounts and myths that have been repeated for centuries are based on specific events that fit perfectly into a plausible reconstruction of the ancient past of the first inhabitants. The intersection of archaeological, ethnohistorical, paleoecological and paleoclimatological data opens up an original field of investigation, revealing little-known episodes in the early history of the indigenous Guianas.https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/19095climate changeGuianasancient historywaroral traditionmythology
spellingShingle Stéphen Rostain
François Renoux
Benjamin Iaparra Batista
Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes
IdeAs
climate change
Guianas
ancient history
war
oral tradition
mythology
title Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes
title_full Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes
title_fullStr Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes
title_full_unstemmed Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes
title_short Avis de tempête sur les Guyanes
title_sort avis de tempete sur les guyanes
topic climate change
Guianas
ancient history
war
oral tradition
mythology
url https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/19095
work_keys_str_mv AT stephenrostain avisdetempetesurlesguyanes
AT francoisrenoux avisdetempetesurlesguyanes
AT benjaminiaparrabatista avisdetempetesurlesguyanes