I found the article “Amazon findings blazing trails in migration theory,” by Laurie Goering (Main news, April 8), very interesting. Having been to the Amazon, I find her theories very believable. But, I found a statement from one of the anthropologists quoted very surprising.
It said, “Amazonia, they thought, was little more than a barrier to early man, its forest environment too closed and resource-poor to support anything but transitory human populations making their way south to Patagonia.”
For early man, Amazonia would be the most resource-rich region in the entire planet. The incredible variety of plants, animals, fish, birds, insects, etc., is unique to this planet. Amazonia could easily be called the “the cradle of life on this planet.”
