Ancient wetland earthworks in Bolivia reveal sustainable Indigenous land management that continues to inspire modern conservation.
In Bolivia’s hidden tectonic lakes, researchers uncovered vast ancient earthworks that reshaped the Amazon’s wetlands for centuries. Their findings reveal a long history of ecological innovation, one that still informs conservation today.
In September 2021, a team of specialists set out to study one of the most remote and least understood areas of the Bolivian Amazon—the Great Tectonic Lakes of Exaltación in the department of Beni.
The expedition, organized by the GTLM, united experts from multiple conservation, ecology, biodiversity, and anthropology research organizations.
Landscapes as Living Archives
In the southwestern Amazon, Bolivia’s great tectonic Lakes Rogaguado and Ginebra reveal a landscape shaped by generations of human ingenuity. Beneath their shallow waters and surrounding grasslands lie vast earthworks, raised fields, and sophisticated canal systems that record thousands of years of interaction between people and their environment.
These lakes are located within the Municipal Protected Area of Grandes Lagos Tectónicos de Exaltación and form part of the Río Yata Ramsar wetland complex, a site recognized by UNESCO for both its ecological and cultural importance. The region sits in the Llanos de Moxos—the largest wetland in the Amazon basin—composed of an intricate network of savannas, forests, and floodplains. For centuries, this landscape has inspired stories and speculation, even appearing in historical accounts of the mythical “Land of Paititi.” Yet only recently has its deeply human past become clear.
Through field surveys, excavations, and LiDAR mapping, researchers documented several key archaeological sites—Paquío, Coquinal, Isla del Tesoro, and Jasschaja—each representing a unique phase in the long continuum of settlement and land use in the area.
Unearthing ancient settlements and earthworks
Radiocarbon analysis revealed successive periods of occupation between roughly 600 and 1400 CE, showing how ancient communities continually reshaped these wetlands. At Paquío, an early settlement phase around 600 CE was later followed by a period of intensified activity between 1000 and 1200 CE, characterized by shell middens, dense pottery layers, and a sophisticated network of canals and raised fields likely linked to maize-based agriculture.
Meanwhile, Jasschaja, dated between 1300 and 1400 CE, displayed broader modifications to the landscape and greater plant diversity, suggesting expanded management of forests and crops during this later period.
The landscape, like many across the Llanos de Moxos, is marked by geometrically shaped relief that resolves, upon examination, into circular and quadrangular ditches, drainage canals, raised fields, and clusters of mounds form an intricate system of water control and cultivation.
These earthworks were carefully engineered to manage floods, channel water, and create habitable and cultivable spaces within a seasonally inundated environment. Their variety, from geometric enclosures to elongated cultivation platforms, suggests not a single plan but centuries of local experimentation and adaptation to changing ecological and social conditions. Together, they reflect the cultural diversity and long-term resilience of the peoples who shaped them.
Excavations at Paquío and Jasschaja also revealed a remarkably diverse pre-Hispanic diet, showing how ancient societies utilized the resources of a dynamic wetland. Fish such as wolf fish, peacock bass, and South American lungfish dominated the assemblages, complemented by reptiles like caimans and turtles, and mammals such as capybaras, pacas, and armadillos.
Botanical evidence indicates the use of maize, legumes, and several palm species — moriche palm, corozo palm, cumare palm, totai palm, palmita, and peach palm. Together, these findings depict a mixed economy of fishing, hunting, gathering, and cultivation.
Biocultural Heritage and Collaboration in the Field
The Cayubaba and Movima communities continue to inhabit these landscapes, where exceptional biodiversity is interwoven with deep cultural history. Their long-standing presence and knowledge sustain a unique form of biocultural heritage, where ecological and cultural diversity have coevolved through centuries of interaction.
During the post-COVID-19 field seasons, collaboration was grounded in dialogue and respect. Representatives of the Cayubaba Indigenous Council, encompassing 21 Cayubaba and Movima communities, helped identify research areas, guided access to culturally significant sites, and requested that certain places remain untouched. Although contact was necessarily limited for health reasons, this coordination ensured that the research aligned with community priorities and contributed to a broader understanding of the region’s living heritage.
Through the GTLM, scientists and Indigenous representatives are creating a platform that connects archaeological and ecological research with conservation. The project highlights that the Llanos de Moxos is not only a biodiversity hotspot but also a landscape profoundly shaped by human history, while supporting ongoing efforts to strengthen the management of the Yata River Ramsar site and the protected areas with which it overlaps.
Why the Past Matters for the Future
At a time when deforestation, industrial agriculture, and climate change threaten the Amazon’s integrity, the landscapes of Rogaguado and Ginebra offer more than archaeological insight: they offer lessons in sustainability. Archaeological evidence reveals long-term traditions of diversified livelihoods integrating farming, fishing, and forest management in flexible and adaptive ways.
Rather than seeking to dominate nature; ancient Amazonians worked with its rhythms, transforming seasonal floods into opportunities. Although the construction and use of raised fields eventually ceased—likely as a consequence of demographic collapse and social disruptions following European colonization—this does not diminish the sustainability of their practices.
For centuries, these societies maintained productive systems through their understanding of the dynamic wetlands. Their legacy challenges modern assumptions about ‘development’ and reminds us that resilience often arises from diversity: from species, knowledge, and ways of life.
Safeguarding this biocultural heritage has become a global responsibility. As the wetlands of the Llanos de Moxos continue to store carbon, regulate water, and sustain biodiversity, their conservation must also honor the people who have long cared for them. In this sense, archaeology becomes more than the study of the past: it is a bridge linking the knowledge embedded in ancient landscapes with today’s urgent conversations on sustainability and justice.
The Llanos de Moxos remind us that the Amazon has always been a biocultural landscape, dynamic, inhabited, and full of memory. Its monumental earthworks, forest islands, and living traditions reveal that the key to our shared future may lie in listening to these landscapes that remember.
Reference: “Historic landscapes, diversified livelihoods in the southwestern Amazon: the case of Lake Rogaguado and Lake Ginebra (Bolivia)” by Carla Jaimes-Betancourt, Geraldine Fernandez, Myrtle P. Shock, Hortensia Nina, Henry Delgadillo, Gabriela Prestes-Carneiro, Andrea Lima, Vinicius M. Nunes and Renan Torrico, 22 August 2025, Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
DOI: 10.3389/fearc.2025.1662950
Funding: The research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to the Wildlife Conservation Society (grant number 9673).
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