"The aboriginal settlement of the Llanos de Mojos: a seasonally inundated savanna in northeastern Bolivia." (Parsons)
b. 16 October 1931, San Diego, California. m., Patricia Sue; ch., Curtis, Victoria.
B.A. University of California, Berkeley (Geography) 1953; M.A. University of California, Berkeley (Geography) 1958.
University of Wisconsin, Madison (since 1963) Professor of Geography; Director, Ibero-American Studies, 1975-77; Chairman, Department of Geography 1980-83.
Distinciones Honoríficas, Sociedad Geográfica de Lima (Peru), 1972; John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellow, 1977-78.
Books and Monographs:
The Upland Pine Forests of Nicaragua: A Study in Cultural Plant Geography. Univ. Calif. Publ. in Geography, 12(4):251-320, 1961.
The Aboriginal Cultural Geography of the Llanos de Mojos of Bolivia. Univ. Calif. Publ., Ibero-Americana 48. 195 pp., 1966. (Spanish edition: La Geografla Cultural Aborigen de Los Llanos de Mojos. [Joseph M. Barnadas, transl., Editorial Juventud. (La Paz) 275 pp., 1980]
The Biogeography of a Savanna Landscape: The Gran Pajonal of Eastern Peru. (with Marshall S. Chrostowski) McGill Univ. Savanna Research Series, No. 16 (Montreal). 69 pp., 1970.
La Montaña Central Peruana. (Co-editor with Stefano Varese) Actas y Memorias, 39th International Congress of Americanists, 4:109-221, 1972.
The Native Population of the Americas in 1492 (Editor). Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 354 pp., 1976. Second Printing, 1978.
The Role of Geographical Research in Latin America (editor). Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Publication No. 7, Part I. (Muncie) 213 pp., 1978.
Adaptive Strategies in Karinya Subsistence, Venezuelan Llanos. (with Karl H. Schwerin) Antropológica No. 50. 91 pp., 1978.
Campos Elevados e História Cultural Prehispánica en Los Llanos Occidentales de Venezuela. (with Alberta Zucchi) Universidad Cató1ica, Caracas. 178 pp., 1979. (Also in Montalban, 9:565-736 (Caracas), 1979.)
La Agricultura Intensiva Prehispánica. (editor) América Indígena, 40(4): 613-815, 1980. (Also published in Proceedings of the 43rd International Congress of Americanists, Vancouver, 1980.)
"Causes of Deforestation and Forest and Woodland Degradation in Tropical Latin America." Report to Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress, Project to Assess Technologies to Sustain Tropical Forest and Woodland Resources, 55 pp., 1982.
Articles:
"Informe prliminar sobre la geografía de los Llanos de Mojos, noreste de Bolivia." Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica e Histórica Sucre (Sucre, Bolivia), 47(446):91-113, 1962.
"The physical geography of the Planalto Central." In Survey of the Agricultural Potential of the Central Plateau of Brazil. American International Association (Rio de Janeiro), 40 pp., 1963.
"Cattle ranching in the Mojos Savannas of northeastern Bolivia." Yearbook, Assoc. Pac. Coast Geogr., 25:37-44, 1963. (Reprinted, Peruvian Times (Lima), September 17, 1965, pp. 5-8.)
"Additional comments on the earthworks of Mojos in northeastern Bolivia." American Antiquity, 28(4):540-545, 1963.
"Pre-Spanish earthworks in the Llanos de Mojos of northeastern Bolivia." Revista Geográfica (Rio de Janeiro), 34(60):17-25, 1964. (Reprinted Peruvian Times (Lima), June 17, 1966, pp. 4-8.)
"Ryg øg Hojagerbrug i Amerikas Tropiske Savanner." Kulturgeografia (Aarhus, Denmark), 16(88):37-42, 1964.
"The Campo Cerrado vegetation of central Brazil." Geogr. Review, 55(1):112-115, 1965.
"The Carretera marginal de la Selva and the central Huallaga Region of Peru." Geogr. Review, 56(3):440-443, 1966.
"A cultural-ecological view of former aboriginal settlement in the Amazon Basin." The Professional Geographer, 18(6):346-351, 1966.
"Pre-Columbian ridged fields." (with James J. Parsons) Scientific American, 217(1):92-100, 1967. (Reprinted in The Indian Historian, 1(1):27-32, 1967; New World Archaeology: Theoretical and Cultural Transformations, E.B. Zubrow, et al., (eds.), San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, pp. 240-248, 1974; Pre-ColumbianArchaeology, G.R.Willey and J.A. Sabloff (eds.), San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, pp. 197-205, 1980.)
"Livestock numbers in nineteenth century New Mexico and the problem of gullying in the southwest." Annals, Assoc. Amer. Geogr., 57(4):691-703, 1967.
Contributions to The Ecology of the Forest/Savanna Boundary: Proceedings of the IGU Humid Tropics Commission Symposium, Venezuela, 1964. Theo L. Hills and R.E. Randall (eds.), McGill University Savanna Research Series No. 13, pp. 6, 9-11, 45-49, 66-67, 75-77, 105, 1968.
"Ancient ridged fields in the region of Lake Titicaca." (with C.T. Smith and P. Hamilton) The Geographical Journal (London), 134, Part 3:353367. (Reprinted in Spanish La Tecnología en el Mundo Andino. H. Lechtman and A.M. Soldi (eds.), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City. 1:25-50, 1981.)
"Observations on savanna/forest boundaries in Tropical America." El Correo Geográfico (Colombia), 1(2):43-58, 1970.
"Aboriginal drained-field cultivation in the Americas." Science, 169 (3946):647-654, 1970.
"The aboriginal population of tropical America: problems and methods of estimation." Population and Economics: Proceedings of Section V of the Fourth Congress of the International Economic History Association, 1968. P. Deprez (ed.), Winnipeg: Univ. of Manitoba Press. pp. 251-269, 1970.
"The aboriginal population of western Amazonia in relation to habitat and subsistence." Revista Geográfica (Rio de Janeiro), 72:61-86, 1970.
"A bibliography of Latin American historical geography." Pan American Institute of Geography and History, Special Publication, 6, 32 pp., 1971.
"Campa subsistence in the Gran Pajonal, eastern Peru." Geogr. Review, 61(4):496-518, 1971. (Earlier versions in Actas y Memorias, XXXIX Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Lima, 4:16l-179, 1972. Reprinted in Native South Americans, P.J. Lyon (ed.), Boston: Little Borwn and Co., pp. 92-110, 1974; also in Etnicidad y Ecología, Alberto Chirif (ed.), CIPA, Lima, pp. 85-109, 1979.)
"Prehistoric cultural change and ecology in Latin America." Geographic Research on Latin America: Benchmark 1970. B. Lentnek, et al. (eds.), Conference on Latin Americanist Geographers, Publication No. 1, Ball State University Press, Muncie, pp. 138-151, 1971.
"Cultural adaptation in Amazonia." Geogr. Review, 63(1):112-114, 1973.
"Development and the imminent demise of the Amazon rain forest." Prof. Geogr., 25(2):130-135, 1973. (Shorter version in Latin American Development Issues. A. David Hill (ed.), Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Publication No. 3, East Lansing,1973, pp. 80-85. Reprinted in World Regional Geography: A Problem Approach. F.E. Dohrs and L.M. Sommers (eds.), St. Paul: West Publ Co., pp. 596-602, 1976. In Spanish in Temas Sobre el Desarrollo Latino Americano. E. Griffin (ed.), Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Publication No. 3S, East Lansing, pp. 73-79, 1974.)
"Forms, functions, and associations of raised fields in the Old World Tropics." (with B.L. Turner) The Journal of Tropical Geography, 39: 24-33, 1974.
"Campos agrícolas prehispanicos en los Llanos de Barinas, Venezuela." (with Alberta Zucchi) Indiana (Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Berlin), 2:209-225, 1974.
"Karinya Indian swamp cultivation in the Venezuelan Llanos." (with Roland w. Bergman) Yearbook, Assoc. Pac. Coast Geogr., 37:23-37, 1975.
"Estimating the aboriginal population of Latin America in 1492: methodological synthesis." In Latin America: Search for Geographic Explanations. R.J. Tata (ed.), Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Publ. No. 5, East Lansing, pp. 125-132, 1976.
"The aboriginal population of Amazonia." (revision of 1970 Revista Geográfica article.) In The Native Population of the Americas in 1492. W. M. Denevan (ed.), Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press. pp. 205-234, 1976. (Reprinted in Spanish in Amazonia Peruana (Lima), 3(5):3-41, 1980.)
"Ridged-field excavations in the central Orinoco Llanos, Venezuela." (with Alberta Zucchi) In Advances in Andean Archaeology, D.L. Browman (ed.). Mouton: The Hauge, pp. 235-245, 1978.
"The causes and consequences of shifting cultivation in relation to tropical forest survival." In The Role of Geographical Research in Latin America. W.M. Denevan (ed.), Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Publication No. 7, Muncie, pp. 67-81. (Reprinted in UNESCO, Tropical Forest Ecosystems: A State-of-Knowledge Report Paris, pp. 471-476, 481, 1978. Reprinted in The Brazilians, 3 (81): 8-9, 1980.)
"Field work as exploration: the Rio Heath savannas of southeastern Peru." In Historical Geography of Latin America: Papers in Honor of Robert C. West, William V. Davidson and James J. Parsons (eds.), Geoscience and Man. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 21:157-163, 1980.
"Latin America." In Gary A. Klee (ed.), World Systems of Traditional Resource Management. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 217-244, 1980.
"Investigaciones recientes sobre agricultura precolombina de campos elevados en America Latina." Biótica (Mexico), 5(2):63-67, 1980.
"Tipología de configuraciones agrícolas prehispánica." América Indígena, 40(4):619-652, 1980.
"Editorial: La agricultura intensiva prehispanica." América Indígena, 40(4):613-618, 1980. (Reprinted in Agroecosistemas: Boletín Informativo (Chapingo, Mexico), 29:1, 5-7, 1982.)
"Recent research on traditional food production in Latin America." In T.L. Martinson and G.S. Elbow (eds.), Geographic Research on Latin America: Benchmark 1980. Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Publication No. 8, Muncie, pp. 176-187, 1981.
"Swiddens and cattle versus forest: the imminent demise of the Amazon rainforest reexamined." Studies in Third World Societies, 13:25-44, 1981.
"Hydraulic agriculture in the American tropics: forms, measures, and recent research." In Kent V. Flannery (ed.), Maya Subsistence. New York: Academic Press, pp. 181-203, 1982.
"Adaptation, variation and cultural geography." Professional Geogr., 35(4):399-406, 1983.
"Preliminary results of the Samborondon raised-field project, Guayas Basin, Ecuador." (with Kent Mathewson) Drained Fields in the Americas, J.P. Darch (ed.). British Archaeological Reports, Oxford University, 1983. (In Press)
"Indigenous agroforestry in the Peruvian Amazon: the example of Bora Indian utilization of swidden fallows." (Senior of six coauthors) John Hemming (ed.), Change in the Amazon. Manchester: Univ. of Manchester Press, 1983. (In Press)
"Ecological heterogeneity and horizontal zonation in agriculture in the Amazon floodplain." M. Schmink and C.H.Wood (eds.), Frontier Expansion in Amazonia. Gainesville: Univ. Presses of Florida, 1984. (In Press)
"Prehistoric manipulation of wetlands in the Americas: a raised-field perspective." (with B.L. Turner, II) Ian Farrington (ed.), Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Tropics. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford University. (In Press)
"The use of wetlands in the prehistoric economy of the northern Ecuadorian Highlands." (with Gregory Knapp) In Ian Farrington (ed.) Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Tropics. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford University. (In Press)