‘Lost’ Amazonian tribes: Why the West can’t get over its obsession with El Dorado
A mythical Amazonia is easy to challenge on a factual basis, but such objections appear rather feeble in the face of the power of cliché.
Yesterday · 11:30 pm
Stephen Nugent, The Conversation
A number of ancient settlement sites were recently discovered in the Amazon’s Upper Tapajós Basin. This is no El Dorado – although you’d be forgiven for thinking so. The press coverage demonstrates a fixation on the idea that the tropical New World may once have been the site of monumental societies, such as those in Egypt or Mesopotamia. The recent discoveries were heralded by Newsweek as “rewriting†the history of the Americas before Columbus: not a modest claim. The Guardian proclaimed: “Lost Amazon villages uncovered by archaeologists.â€
https://scroll.in/article/874707/lost-amazonian-tribes-why-the-west-cant-get-over-its-obsession-with-el-dorado
