AT-1020

Intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon

DOI · Primary evidence / text

verifiedRetraction / correction review1 usage record

Source record

This is one canonical bibliographic record with topic-scoped research-use entries. It does not reproduce the paper, book, text, dataset, image, or manuscript and does not imply that full text was reviewed.

Canonical source ID: AT-1020
Accepted usage IDs: AT-1020
Types: DOI
Roles: Primary evidence / text
Verification: verified
Archive state: unavailable-through-registered-public-or-tdm-routes
Access: unavailable-through-registered-public-or-tdm-routes
Rights: not identified; not cleared
Public reproduction: Not cleared; citation and link only.
Correction / retraction: no retraction flag in checked Crossref/OpenAlex metadata

Recorded research uses

AT-1020

Amazonian Dark Earth / Terra Preta

Why Connected Atlas uses this citation here

2023 primary study comparing ancient and modern dark earth and documenting modern Indigenous soil-enrichment practices; supports intentional creation at the studied contexts without proving one process for every ADE deposit.

What this usage does not establish

Bibliographic verification does not by itself establish that the full text was read.

Topics citing it and claims using it

Topic citing this source

Amazonian Dark Earth / Terra Preta

Supporting citation for public claim

Many Amazonian Dark Earth deposits are human-influenced, but the catalog does not support uniform deliberate engineering across the entire Amazon.

Human influence is strongly supported. The exact formation pathway varies and should not be oversimplified.

Open claim topic

Supporting citation for public claim

Intentional soil creation is supported in studied contexts, but intentionality and formation pathways cannot be generalized to every Amazonian Dark Earth deposit.

Answer / theory: Sometimes likely, but not always in a single planned way. Some may be settlement by-product, some deliberate improvement, some enhancement of good patches. What supports it: Soil fertility, charcoal, garden contexts, and long-term occupation. What is weak or disputed: Intent is harder to prove than human influence. Evidence level: Mixed Evidence.

Open claim topic

Supporting citation for public claim

Amazonian Dark Earth often records long-term Indigenous settlement and landscape management in specific regions.

Answer / theory: It supports settled and managed landscapes. It does not prove a single lost civilization by itself. What supports it: Dark earth often occurs with archaeological sites. What is weak or disputed: Soil alone does not define urban scale or political organization. Evidence level: Plausible but Unproven when generalized.

Open claim topic

Supporting citation for public claim

Terra Preta can inform soil-management research, but the catalog does not support treating living Indigenous practices as a universal, context-free biochar recipe.

Answer / theory: It can inspire soil restoration and biochar research, but it is not a simple copy-paste recipe. What supports it: Stable carbon and fertility in many dark earth soils. What is weak or disputed: Modern biochar outcomes depend heavily on context. Evidence level: Mixed Evidence.

Open claim topic

Supporting citation for public claim

Terra Preta is one strong, regionally variable line of evidence for long-term Indigenous landscape management before European conquest.

Answer / theory: No. Terra Preta is one strong sign of long-term Indigenous landscape management in many regions. What supports it: Anthropogenic soils, earthworks, domesticated plants, and settlement archaeology. What is weak or disputed: The scale and distribution of human impact varied across the basin. Evidence level: Strong Evidence for human impact, mixed for total scale.

Open claim topic

Limiting / critical citation for public claim

Dark earth evidence alone does not establish urban scale, political unity, or a single lost Amazonian civilization.

The evidence does not automatically support broader causal, technological, transmission, or literalizing claims beyond the cited record.

Open claim topic

Access and actions

Intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon