Evidence for the construction of a wooden palisade fence around a village site and its fields of Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) has been uncovered at the Versalles archaeological site. The site sits along the Iténez River in Bolivia, and is being investigated by an international team of researchers, and members of the modern Versalles community.
This particular village grew maize, manioc, and fruit. Their agriculture was made possible by enriching nutrient-poor tropical soils over generations through burning, mulching, and the addition of organic waste products. The earth around Versalles began being enriched around 500 BCE. Then around 1300 CE, the villagers added defensive ditches and embankments which have left traces of a decayed wooden palisade. These were not puny, either, but quite deep ditches, as shown in the picture. It is known that around this time was a period of unrest in Amazonia.
While fortifications have previously been found around such enriched soil in Amazonia, this is the first time that they have yielded the remains of a wooden fence as well.
