Pieces of History

Author: Colum McGrath

A podcast that delves into some renowned and lesser-known events throughout history.
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Language: en

Genres: History

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Engineering the Amazon: The Lost Landscapes of the Llanos de Mojos
Episode 1
Tuesday, 13 January, 2026

The latest episode of Pieces of History journeys into the Bolivian Amazon and a vast, seasonally flooded region known as the Llanos de Mojos — a landscape that is reshaping how historians and archaeologists understand the ancient Amazon.Long imagined as an untouched wilderness, the rainforest is now known to have been carefully shaped over centuries. Research has revealed enormous human-engineered environments of raised fields, forest islands, canals, and causeways, built through long-term planning and everyday labour.Joining me is Dr. John Walker, Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, whose work explores how pre-Columbian communities managed fire, water, soil, and vegetation to create sustainable agricultural and settlement systems. Drawing on his research, including his book Island, River, and Field, John explains why Mojos is best understood not as isolated “sites,” but as a lived, working landscape.We discuss what the Llanos de Mojos actually looks like, how its systems functioned, why the myth of a pristine Amazon endured, how European contact reshaped these environments, and what Mojos ultimately forces us to rethink about humanity’s relationship with the natural world.Email: piecesofhistorypod@outlook.com Facebook: Pieces of History podcast Instagram: @piecesofhistorypod