First lady of Amazonia: Betty Meggers is a strong-willed octogenarian with immovable beliefs about ancient jungle cultures

Article Abstract:

An overview is presented on the controversial theories of archaeologist Betty Meggers, who performed research in the Amazon River Region and other South American sites during the 1940s and 1950s. Meggers has maintained that the environmental and topological characteristics of the region were too unstable to support advanced civilizations, a claim that has been disputed by other researchers.

United States, Science & research, Research, Appreciation, Environmental aspects, Natural history, Amazon River region, Rain forest ecology, Human settlements, Women archaeologists, Meggers, Betty

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Windows on the past; Africa's endangered rock art provides glimpses of vanished worlds

Article Abstract:

Threats to Africa's variety of rock art from millennia of exposure to the weather and from ever-increasing tourists and vandals are described. African peoples have for more than 10,000 years used the natural environment as a medium for human expression.

Africa, Petroglyphs, African history

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A vanished El Dorado

Article Abstract:

The ruins of the missions established by the Jesuits when they tried to convert the Guarani Indians of Paraguay are discussed. The Jesuit-Guarani civilization flourished for part of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Guaranis (South American native people), Spanish missions, Guaranis, Jesuits

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