In the Amazon, industrial agriculture has swept away the signs of an ancient civilization

The signs of the ancient indigenous civilization that inhabited part of the Brazilian Amazon, in today's state of Acre, have now almost completely disappeared.Priceless archaeological finds, such as ancient earthwork structures and geoglyphs traced on the ground, have been erased by the expansion of the agri-food industry.The latter, taking advantage of the lack of public protection, has replaced these ancient signs with intensive soy plantations.An even more mocking situation if we consider that it was precisely agricultural deforestation that revealed these finds hidden by the forest in the 1970s.Second an investigation published by Bloomberg, in recent years at least nine of the most important archaeological sites of the area, some extending over six square kilometers, were destroyed.This has erased much of the traces of a civilization that developed about two thousand years ago and thrived for a millennium, a period of duration similar to that of ancient Greece.

Geoglyphs are evidence of an ancient and sophisticated civilization which had aligned its agricultural calendar with the summer and winter solstices, also introducing fruit and nut trees.This shows how the pre-Columbian Amazon was inhabited by complex civilizations.The state of Acre is home to the largest concentration of these sites in Brazil, discovered only in the 1970s, when the jungle was cleared to plant African stargrass and graze livestock.At the time, the local population thought that the mysterious earthworks were trenches from the war with Bolivia (1899-1903). No one imagined that structures of this size could exist in the Amazon.The ancient civilization built networks of geoglyphs on plains between river valleys.A research published last year in the magazine Science estimates that at least 10,000 of these constructions still remain to be discovered in the southwestern Amazon, dating back to a period between 500 and 1,500 years ago.Today, the same land, thanks to its excellent drainage, has become ideal for growing soybeans, which in a decade has become the main export product of the State of Acre.

The world's largest commodity traders buy soybeans from Brazilian farmers.In 2023 the soybean exports from Brazil they achieved a value of 53.2 billion dollars, with a forecast of further increase.The pace of growth was the fastest since 2017, up 32% from the previous year.In terms of volume, exports rose to 102 million tonnes last year, an increase of 29% compared to 2022 figures.For the current year, the estimates vary between 140 and 155 million tonnes.Among the largest buyers by far is China, with 74 million tonnes.In second place we find Argentina with 4 million tonnes, followed by Spain with 2.7 million.From 2013 to 2023, the average annual volume growth rate to China was 8.4%.Brazil is seriously putting in difficulty the competitiveness of U.S. soybean production and exports.

As reported from Bloomberg, the entire sector Brazil's agri-food industry is worth 523 billion dollars.Farmers and ranchers represent 24% of the country's gross domestic product, making this sector a pillar of economic development.However, the Brazilian state is proving incapable of effectively regulating the compatibility between economic development, environment and archaeological heritage.The result is that, under the blows of the impetuous eleven-figure figures of the profits generated by exports, also the remains of ancient civilizations are succumbing.In fact, Brazil is erasing its historical memory, protected by the forest until about fifty years ago, then discovered and now sacrificed on the altar of the market.

[by Michele Manfrin]