Forces of Change
Archeologist Betty Meggers holds pottery excavated from sites in the Amazon Basin.

Pottery excavated from sites in the Amazon Basin. Compare the sophisticated designs on the left piece to the simple designs on the right piece.

Ancient pottery may reveal major prehistoric El Niño events. Archeologist Betty Meggers excavates pottery from sites in the Amazon Basin. She has discovered times when the pottery styles suddenly changed from complex to very simple. She thinks that the residents of the site may have left in response to the effects of an El Niño. People returned, but they produced less sophisticated pottery.


Betty Meggers

Archeologist Betty Meggers
Burial vase

Burial vase from the Marajoara Phase, AD 500-1000. Click to view rotation.

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