Amazon Basin ; Brazil ; C 14 dating ; Charcoal ; Forest ; Holocene ; Methodology ; Palaeo-environment ; Quaternary ; Tropical zone
Analysis of phytoliths and macroscopic charcoal from natural soils near Manaus, Brazil shows that the central Amazonian terra firme forest has not been stable during the Holocene. Because phytoliths survive over long periods in soils, they can