Between October 1st and 7th, the IV International Meeting of Amazonian Archeology was held in Trinidad, capital city of Beni Department, Bolivia. Zulema Lehm, a specialist in social issues at Wildlife Conservation Society, gave a keynote speech that opened the meeting attended by more than 70 researchers from different places around the world who are working in the Amazon. Her presentation addressed the landscapes, history, indigenous peoples and cultures of the Llanos de Moxos, one of the most biologically and culturally complex regions of the Amazon Basin. It brought the audience closer to the different historical moments that characterized the region, the different economic booms, the social transformations and the indigenous peoples’ struggles to maintain their traditional spaces and their culture. It also emphasizes the importance of indigenous territories (5,575,886 ha), protected areas (7,575,886 ha) and RAMSAR sites (6,920,256 ha), representing 59% of Beni's forests and savannas for biodiversity conservation.
Archaeological studies are contributing to a better understanding of the history of human occupation in the Amazon region and its relationship with the landscape: the profusion of various land works, in extensive regions of the Amazon, are expressed in mounds, channels, embankments and geoglyphs, revealing a diversity of cultural complexes and a considerable demographic density during the pre-Columbian period. The study of forest islands with ‘shell middens’ verifies human presence and agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Among other topics presented in the meeting we can highlight studies on the life, rituality, art and iconography of Amazonian societies, the early sites of plant domestication, cultural boundaries and connections between the Amazon and other regions. In the Amazon basin context, the Llanos de Moxos attract the attention of researchers for their particular concentration of archaeological monuments.