Footprints Of The Forest. Ka'Apor Ethnobotany - The Historical Ecology Of Plant Utilization By An Amazonian People

Footprints of the Forest is the clearest and most comprehensive account to date of the relationship between an Amazonian people and their botanical environment. Based on Balée's ten years of ethnographic and botanical research among the Ka'apor Indians of eastern Amazonia, this book documents how the Ka'apor use, manage, name, and classify hundreds of plant species found in their habitat. "[Balée] did far more than prepare lists of plants, foods, and habits of the local people... He got to know them as a distinct group of individuals who have a past, and, if permitted, a future." -Environmental History "The most detailed and thorough analysis ever produced of indigenous plants and plant use in Amazonia.... Balée's perspective skillfully integrates historical and ethnohistorical data with his contemporary research, yielding a finely nuanced view of Ka'apor ethnology and neatly meshed comparisons with a number of other Amazonian groups." -American Anthropologist "This remarkably penetrating volume will repay the diligent study of botanists, ethnobotanists, linguists, and conservationists who are interested in the status of Amazonian phytodiversity and the role of Amerindians in their environment. One can only hope that future generations of Brazilian and worldwide students of tropical ecosystems will be stimulated to initiate long-terra studies comparable to this landmark undertaking." -National Geographic Research and Exploration "The complete ethnobotany has yet to be written, but Footprints of the Forest... moves one step closer to that Sisyphean goal... I know of no other work as comprehensive as this one." -BioScience