Current Anthropology Volume 48, Number 4, August 2007

2007 by The Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights
reserved.
0011-3204/2007/4804-0005$10.00
DOI: 10.1086/519914
Reports

Ethnogeography and Resource Use

among the Yanomami
Toward a Model of Reticular Space
Bruce Albert and
Franois Michel Le Tourneau
Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement, Paris, France (bruce.albert@ird.fr)/Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France (fmlt@fmlt.net). 7 III 07
Study of the spatial patterns of land use and forest resource exploitation by a Yanomami
community in northern Amazonia (Brazil) combining high resolution satellite imagery
and global positioning system survey data with ethnogeographic fieldwork shows that
its natural resource use is configured in terms of reticular space rather than a set of
discrete concentric exploitation zones. This model of reticular space has general
relevance for the Yanomami and other Amazonian indigenous groups. The research
reported demonstrates the value of a multidisciplinary methodology for gathering data
on ethnogeographic practices and knowledge that are essential for the appropriate
demarcation of indigenous protected areas and the long term sustainable management
of their environment in the Amazon and other tropical forest environments.
The Yanomami occupy a vast area of tropical forest stretching from the Upper Orinoco
River in Venezuela to the Upper Negro and Branco River basins in Brazil. They are the
largest indigenous group in the Amazon to maintain a traditional system of production
based on hunting, fishing, gathering, and swidden horticulture, and their use of natural
resources in the tropical forest has been one of the most studied cases in the region over
the past three decades. Despite a few narrow applications to Yanomami settlement
patterns since the early '90s (Chagnon 1991,1995; McGwire, Chagnon, and Brewer
Carias 1996; Craig 1999; Craig and Chagnon 2000), researchers have not yet fully
mobilized the potential of remote sensing tools and geographical information systems
for determining the precise spatial configurations of the land use models underpinning
indigenous systems of production. This article presents a new approach to the
Yanomami system of forest use by taking advantage of current geographic tools such as
high resolution satellite imagery (Landsat TM, EYM+, and SPOT HRV) and Global
Positioning System (GPS) survey equipment. We used these tools to map paths and
places and other relevant ethnographic data with a group of Yanomami research
collaborators. [A detailed description of our methodology may be found in the
electronic edition of this issue on the journal's website.] Our study was conducted
between October 2003 and April 2005 among the Watorik therip,1 members of a
Yanomami community in the state of Amazonas in Brazil with whom the first author

has conducted ethnographic fieldwork since the mid 1970s. All ethnogeographic
information was elicited and discussed in the soyutheastern Yanomami language spoken
by members of this community, Yanomae th (see Albert and Gomez 1997). (See CA+
sidebar A.)
Sidebar A
Methodology: Images and Fieldwork
Remote Sensing
The research team had access to a fairly complete set of remote sensing images of the
Yanomami region under study: 2 Landsat 5 TM images (March 4, 1987, and March
26, 1995), with a spatial resolution of 30 m for the spectral bands used, 2 Landsat 7
ETM+ images (November 13, 2001, and July 27, 2002), with a spatial resolution of 30
m for the spectral bands used, and 1 SPOT 5 HRV multispectral image (January 1,
2003), with a resolution of 10 m for the spectral bands used. The SPOT image
(SPOT 5 HRV image [c] CNES 2003, distributed by Spotimage S.A. and obtained
through the ISIS program) was georeferenced by using GPS coordinates, taken in the
field, of notable objects that could be identified in the image (e.g., airstrip ends, health
post) as well as other more remote points (e.g., the intersection of the Ananali River
with the path of the abandoned Northern Perimetral Highway). The Landsat images
were georeferenced using the SPOT image as a reference, identifying notable points on
both the SPOT reference and the Landsat images and extracting coordinates from the
former. The entire database was set up using universal transverse mercator coordinates
with the WGS84 datum. In addition to these data, we downloaded the appropriate part
of the shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org), which gave
us a digital elevation model of our region of study with a spatial resolution of 90 m.
Interpretation of Landsat Images
The Landsat images were used for understanding the geographical context of the
village. In contrast to the SPOT image, they displayed the entirety of the territory
controlled by the village, allowing us to locate precisely many geographical features,
such as mountains, remnants of the highway, and the hydrographical network. They
were interpreted visually on the basis of a 5,4,3 bands combination. Since these images
made it possible to visualize the evolution of the region over a period of 12 years, they
were used to corroborate historical information provided by our Yanomami
collaborators, notably the location of former gardens and dwellings. We also used a
sub sampled version of the 2002 ETM+ image for a three dimensional projection of
the SRTM data (figs. A and B).
Interpretation of SPOT Image
We conducted our detailed study of present day gardens by using a supervised
classification of a chosen portion of the original SPOT HRV image, using an algorithm
of maximum likelihood. The classification was conducted on only a small sector of
16,920 pixels of the image, which corresponds to the immediate surroundings of the
village, because the region around Watorik is strewn with rocky hills, creating
numerous clearings that could be confused with Yanomami gardens in the classification

process. This approach was nonetheless valid, since the selected sector, as we were able
to check in the field, encompassed all the current gardens cultivated by the community,
while no neighboring community had active gardens in the space currently exploited by
the Watorik population.
The supervised classification was done with ten classes defined on the basis of data
collected in the field to characterize the agricultural zone cultivated by the community,
as well as through a trial and error process with the classification software to assess
which classes were more easily identified. The final list of classes was made up of
following: bare ground (and village), clearing/garden, recently planted garden, mature
garden, recently abandoned garden, secondary regeneration 1, secondary regeneration 2,
primary forest 1, primary forest 2, and pond/lake (fig. C). These classes were then
combined into five items of interest (table A). It should be stressed that the SPOT image
was taken in January 2003 and our fieldwork for this project began in October 2003,
meaning that our field data were very close to the situation depicted by the image.
GPS Recordings
Fieldwork was conducted during two main periods (October 2003, March 2004), when
the term completed systematic GPS surveys of gardens cleared during the dry seasons
of 20023 and 20034, as well as surveys of all trails used for daily gathering, hunting,
and fishing and collective long term hunting and gathering expeditions. For reasons of
fieldwork duration and the priority given to covering the full extent of the
long distance trail network, the only paths not surveyed for the whole of their length
were the daily hunting paths. Missing sections of the latter were mapped afterwards on
the basis of descriptions provided by Yanomami hunters and recorded geographic
features. Agricultural data were updated during a brief follow up field trip in April
2005.
Fieldwork data were produced according two research strategies. The first was to follow
hunting and gathering trails with active hunters, tracking the entire route with a GPS
receiver to record geographical coordinates while also noting every piece of
geographical and ecological information provided by our Yanomami collaborators. The
second strategy, used mainly within the village, was to plan and discuss trekking
expeditions with our companion hunters and, later, check the information gathered with
older people on the routes we had followed, using plasticized prints of our satellite
imagery (at a scale of 1:150,000) (fig. D).
GPS Survey Readings
The team used a Silva Multinavigator GPS to locate geographical objects and record the
layout of paths in the forest. Although this apparatus consists of a large public receiver
with no possibility of reprocessing the data of recorded coordinates, the projection of
the results on remote sensing data showed that the positionings obtained were
consistent and that their precision (theoretically up to 10 m, often better in practice) was
generally compatible with the scale of other data we used. The Multinavigator was
chosen over more powerful GPS instruments because of its low consumption of
electricity (given the weak solar energy supply at the Demini Post and the reduced
utility of photovoltaic panels in dense tropical forests), the long distances that had to be

covered on foot (making equipment weight a crucial factor), and previous experience
with this receiver.
The team used GPS data for mapping paths (automatically plotting one point for every
20 m covered) and pinpointing significant objects in the space used by members of the
community (former villages and gardens, forest campsites, fishing or gathering sites,
path branching, watercourse crossings, etc.) (fig. E). In cleared areas, points were
automatically plotted every 10 m, which made it possible, for example, to map the
shape of gardens, since their clearings permit signal reception that allows the recording
of positions with a precision superior to the theoretical limits of the receiver (see fig. F).
In areas of dense forest, the quality of the GPS signal was much lower, but few
significant errors were detected in the surveys when these were compared with
well defined points (watercourse crossings, rocky ridges, flooded lowlands, the
highway) that were captured by the satellite images. Most of the points fell exactly on
the pixel containing the object or on an adjacent pixel. Only about ten readings (out of
more than 5,000) had a visible error of more than two pixels, and only one case, because
of poor signal quality, gave a reading that was more than 200 m from its estimated true
position. Plotting points at frequent intervals allowed us to minimize this kind of
problem: since the recorded errors were not systematic, the faulty readings were easily
spotted because they broke the uniformity of the lines being mapped. The estimated
precision of the readings taken in the forest is 2030 m, thus permitting a precise
reconstruction of the itineraries followed and the distances covered.
Places and Place names
In addition to the automatic plotting of paths, 296 notable sites, representing 314
geographic features (certain sites indicating several items of information), were
recorded. Figure G presents a view of all our recordings, totalized on cells of 200 m
200 m. The web structure we have identified appears clearly in this figure, which also
confirms the multicentered configuration of this network. Although geographical
features tend to be concentrated near the village, various other points of concentration,
linked with old garden sites or with present day collective hunting sites, also appear,
organized in a reticular form.
The Yanomami of Watorik have a rich variety of place names that underlines their
fine grained knowledge of the areas crossed by their trail network. In table B, we
present a list of examples of Yanomami place names along with their approximate
English translations. The list is classified into nine categories: path, rest stop, hunting
campsite, old house, old garden, watercourse, waterfall, pond or lake, and mountain or
hill. An example of our GPS recordings of the hunting trails and gathering places is
shown in table C. The coordinates are given in the UTM system, zone 20 north, datum
WGS 84, and the list has two categories, path and gathering spot.
Figure A. (53 KB)

Figure A. Three dimensional projection of the Watorik region.

Figure B. (78 KB)

Figure B. Close up of the three dimensional projection of the Watorik village area.

Figure C. (89 KB)

Figure C. Classification results for the Watorik village area.

Table A Land Use in Agricultural Areas of Watorik Village,

January 2003
Class
Forest
Old gardens
Productive gardens
Lakes and flooded areas
Village and bare ground (rock outcroppings)
Total

Area (ha)
89.94
40.23
31.22
6.65
1.16
169.20

Table A. Land Use in Agricultural Areas of Watorik Village, January 2003

Figure D. (181 KB)

Figure D. One of our Yanomami research collaborators with plasticized satellite image
map (on the Maxahipi u trail).

Figure E. (98 KB)

Go Back | High-Resolution Image: 5 (1964KB)

Figure E. Surveyed paths and places plotted on Landsat image.

Figure F. (117 KB)

Figure F. GPS tracks of gardens plotted on SPOT image.

Figure G. (56 KB)

Figure G. Total number of ethnogeographical features per 200 m square cell.

Table B
Category
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Rest stop
Rest stop
Hunting
campsite
Hunting
campsite

Sample of Recorded Toponyms

Yanomami Name

English Translation
Path of the Standing Micropholis melinoniana
Apiahi upraop yo
Tree
Path of the Bertholletia excelsa (Brazil Nut)
Hawarihip me
Trees
Hoari yauop yo
Path of the Hanging Tayras (Eira barbara)
Iromasihip yo
Path of the Ocotea sp. Trees
h
Kuth t ep yauop yo Path of the Hanging Lonchocarpus utilis Vine
M u hrarai u me
Path of the Orange colored Stream
Maxita wakei yo
Path of the Red Earth
Path of the Couma macrocarpa (Cow Tree)
Operemaxip me
Fruits
h
Operema axihi mat a
Path of the Stuck Couma macrocarpa
xatiop yo
(Cow Tree) Trunk
Path Where Black Curassows (Crax alector)
Paarip kuop yo
Are Found
Poriyo hiti yo
Path of the Muddy Trail
Path of the Jaguar Guadua sp. (Bamboo)
Rahaka t h k k yo
Arrow Points
Path of the Bactris gasipaes (Peach Palm)
Raxa k k me
Fruits
Path of the Fallen Ceiba petandra (Kapok)
Warimahi praop yo
Tree
Arokohip rotipa
Rest Stop at the Hymenaea parvifolia Tree
Hawarihi upraop
Rest Stop at the Standing Bertholletia excelsa
rotipa
(Brazil Nut) Tree
Place of the Red Brocket Deer (Mazama
Haya wano th
americana) Feeding Signs
Hapakarahi upraop th Place of the Standing Bagassa guianensis Tree

Hunting
campsite
Hunting
campsite
Hunting
campsite
Old house
Old house
Old house
Old house
Old house
Old house
Old house
Old house
Old garden
Old garden
Old garden
Old garden
Old garden
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse

Paxohipi u th

Place of the Martiodendron sp. Trees River

Place Where a Supernatural Whirlpool Being
Tprsik p r op th Lives
Place Where a Collared Anteater (Tamandua
Xoko kep th
tetradactyla) Fell
House of the Red Rumped Cacique (Cacicus
Ixaropi yano
haemorrhous) Birds
Maama yrop yano
The House by the Rock Lying Down
Mohe poa yano
The Sloping Roof House
Torokoi yano
The Twisted House
Wthei yano
The Overhanging House
Yano praukuya
The Huge House
Yano watupa
The Vulture House
Manihi yano
The House of the Protium fimbriatum Tree
The Old Garden of the i Bees' (Trigona sp.)
i yauop hutu pata
Hanging Nest
The Old Garden of the Fallen Micropholis
Apiahi praop hutu pata melinoniana Tree
Opik therip hutu pata The Old Garden of the Opik Mountain People
The Old Garden of the Huge Phractocephalus
Haranari u hutu pata
sp. Fish River
h
Hkomo t oxi praop
The Old Garden of the Trailing Ipomoea
hutu pata
batatas (Sweet Potato) Vine
Amahipi u
The Elizabetha leiogyne Trees River
Amotha hariap u
The Cooked Paca (Agouti paca) River
The Fallen Micropholis melinoniana Tree
Apiahi praop u
River
Hapakaxi u
The Clay River
Haranari u
The Huge Phractocephalus sp. Fish River
The Bertholettia excelsa (Brazil Nut) Trees
Hawarihipi u
River
Hawari kosik u
The Brazil Nut Husk River
Itahipi u
The Hoplosternum sp. Fish River
Iwa rak u
The Alligator Bridge River
Karinahi praop u
The Fallen Brosimum lactescens Tree River
Koraha koana u
The Banana Juice Drinking River
The Mauritiella armata (Carana Palm) Tree
Kuaisipi u
River
Maxahipi u
The Traira Fish (Hoplias sp.) River
M amo u
The Middle River
Moka kp u
The Floating Frogs River
h
Operama axihi mat a
The Stuck Couma macrocarpa (Cow Tree)
xatiop u
Trunk River
Pata u
The Big River
Patara axipi u
The Mandi (Pimedolus spp.) Fish River

Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Watercourse
Rapids, pond, or
lake
Rapids, pond, or
lake
Rapids, pond, or
lake
Rapids, pond, or
lake
Rapids, pond, or
lake
Rapids, pond, or
lake
Mountain or hill

Rahakamapi u
The Aspidosperma sp. Tree River
Pooxik tire hehuop u The River Where the High Metal Piece Closes
The River of the Mauritia flexuosa (Buriti
Riokosi kat op u
Palm) Tree Trunk Crossing
The River of the Sagotia racemosa Tree Trunk
Sinahi kat op u
Crossing
T h ak u
The Mouriri nervosa Fruits River
The River of the Peeled Clarisia racemosa
Huyuhi hoana u
Tree
The Standing Ceiba petandra (Kapok) Tree
Warimahi upraop u
River
The Burnt Manilkara huberi (Balata) Tree
Xaraka ahi ixi u
River
Yamara akapi u
The Stingrays (Potamotrygon sp.) River
Yano torokoi u
The Twisted House River
Pata u pora

The Big River Rapids

Patara axipi u pora

The Mandi Fish (Pimedolus spp.) River Rapids

Maxahipi u pora

The Traira Fish (Hoplias sp.) River Rapids

Hapakaxi u pora

The Clay River Rapids

The Capybaras (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris)
Lake
The Yellow spotted River Turtle (Podocnemis
unifilis) Lake
The Big Puma (Puma concolor) Mountain
The Mandi Fish (Pimedolus spp.) River
Mountain
The Mottled Owl (Ciccaba virgata) Mountain
The Agouti (Dasyprocta agouti) Head River
Hill
The Guadua sp. (Bamboo) Arrow Point River
Hill
The Ghost Mountain

Kip yokoto
Pisap yokoto
H mak

Mountain or hill Patara axipi u mak

Mountain or hill Maama Krukuma
Mountain or hill Thom he u hehu
Mountain or hill Rahakapi u hehu
Mountain or hill Pore mak

Table B. Sample of Recorded Toponyms

Table C

Geographic Locations of Main Points in the Trail Network

Description
Entrance to path toward south
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to M u hrarai u me path toward north

Category
Path
Path
Path

Coordinate Coordinate
X
Y
516057
167416
512814
167065
508378
165251

Entrance to collective hunting path toward south

Entrance to collective hunting path toward south
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to Iromasihip yo path toward south
Entrance to Apiahi praop me path toward north
Entrance to Hoari yauop yo path toward south
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to path
Entrance to path toward south
Entrance to collective hunting path toward south
Poriyo hiti yo path
Entrance to path toward north
Entrance to hunting path
Entrance to Hawarihip me path
Entrance to path
Entrance to path toward east
Entrance to hunting path toward south
Entrance to hunting path
Entrance to Yano praukuya path toward north
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Entrance to hunting path
Entrance to hunting path toward west
Entrance to collective hunting path toward south
Branching of paths
Entrance to collective hunting path toward east
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Branching of northern paths toward gardens
Entrance to hunting path toward south
Entrance to southern path toward gardens
Entrance to Hoari yauop yo hunting path
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Entrance to hunting path toward south
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Former path
Entrance to hunting path toward east
Path leading to gardens
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Entrance to Poriyo hiti yo hunting path
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Entrance to hunting path toward south
Connecting path

Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path

506300
508027
512778
516264
516761
517006
515986
514950
514474
514357
517514
517634
528600
521822
527460
528564
521650
520520
520761
517196
517640
514083
520391
520003
520475
520475
520027
519775
516790
517861
517050
517948
514404
516014
514987
512545
512290
518987
518621
521670
522227
521012
521223
517973

161911
162236
167116
167384
167382
167298
167379
167272
167444
167465
167480
167505
164810
167370
165477
165024
167437
163744
165714
166698
167509
165284
166781
167168
166668
166668
167170
167209
167404
167666
167328
167705
167467
167408
167253
168757
168948
167868
167910
167545
167275
167515
167521
167792

Connecting path
Path toward former gardens
Path toward gardens
Branching of paths
Path toward gardens
Entrance to Poriyo hiti yo hunting path
Path toward gardens
Path toward gardens
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Entrance to hunting path toward north
Path toward gardens
Path toward gardens
Path toward gardens
Path toward gardens
Branching of hunting paths
Entrance to hunting path toward south
Path toward gardens
Entrance to two hunting paths toward south
Entrance to hunting path toward east
Entrance to Maxita wakei yo hunting path
Entrance to Paarip kuop yo hunting path
Entrance to Poriyo hiti yo hunting path
Entrance to Maxita wakei yo hunting path toward
east
Site for gathering Inga sp. fruits (pahip)
Site for gathering Clathrotropis macrocarpa fruits
Site for gathering Couma macrocarpa (cow tree)
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Caryocar villosum (piquia) fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) and
Oenocarpus bacaba (bacaba) palm fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Spondias mombin (hog plum)
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) and
Inga sp. fruits and harvesting nearby peach palm
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) and
Oenocarpus bacaba (bacaba) palm fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Oenocarpus bacaba (bacaba)
palm fruits

Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path
Path

517800
519158
518608
519685
518554
518788
518053
518156
518011
518015
518016
518053
517975
518064
521002
517861
518121
518132
518963
518892
518783
518786

167730
167381
167522
167419
167559
167369
167820
167744
167927
167868
167730
167743
167785
167817
167515
167000
167811
167135
166819
166906
167158
167369

Path
Gathering
Gathering

518892
517666
512523

166906
167512
168735

Gathering

516052

166180

Gathering
Gathering

519753
516429

167232
167401

Gathering

516142

167419

Gathering

516288

167410

Gathering

516805

167404

Gathering

517663

167517

Gathering

517050

167328

Gathering

517466

167461

Gathering

514404

167467

Site for gathering Couma macrocarpa (cow tree)

fruits
Site for gathering Heteropsis flexuosa (titica) vines
(for basketry)
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Mauritia flexuosa (buriti) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Caryocar villosum (piquia) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Anacardium giganteum (giant
cashew) fruits
Site for gathering Oenocarpus bacaba (bacaba)
palm fruits
Site for chopping firewood
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) and
Mauritiella armata (carana) palm fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai),
Oenocarpus pataua (pataua), and Mauritia flexuosa
(buriti) palm fruits
Site for gathering Mauritia flexuosa (buriti) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Mauritia flexuosa (buriti) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Mauritia flexuosa (buriti) and
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai),
Oenocarpus pataua (pataua), Mauritia flexuosa
(buriti) palm fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) and
Anacardium giganteum (giant cashew) fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) and
Oenocarpus pataua (pataua) palm fruits
Site for gathering Mauritia flexuosa (buriti) palm
fruits
Site for gathering Euterpe precatoria (assai) palm
fruits
Koparimamohi katr op u (tributary of the Pata u
River)

Gathering

514810

167364

Gathering

518987

167868

Gathering

521638

167551

Gathering

521703

167538

Gathering

518350

167651

Gathering

519321

167396

Gathering

519228

167389

Gathering
Gathering

518472
517876

167584
167836

Gathering

518702

167474

Gathering

518915

167368

Gathering

517980

167053

Gathering

518069

167100

Gathering
Gathering

517928
518090

167029
167107

Gathering

518051

167085

Gathering

519117

166538

Gathering

518963

166819

Gathering

518892

166906

Gathering

518783

167158

Gathering

518799

167255

Gathering

518892

166906

Watercourse

511810

166627

Table C. Geographic Locations of Main Points in the Trail Network

1Literally, the inhabitants (therip) of Windy Mountain (Watorik ).

Yanomami Forest Use: Concentric Zones

or Interwoven Networks?
The spatial patterns of the Yanomami's use of forest natural resources have traditionally
been described or represented by anthropologists as concentric zones of exploitation
(gardening, hunting, and gathering) outlined by approximate contours. Numerous
examples of this description can be found in the literature of the 1980s (e.g., Fuentes
1980, 30; Sponsel 1981, 22629; Colchester 1982, 267; Lizot 1986, 39; Good 1989,
88), an interesting exception being a diagram offered by Lizot(1996 [1987], 754). Three
types of concentric zones are usually distinguished: one close to the collective house,
which includes the gardens, one for daily hunting, gathering, and harvesting, and,
finally, one for long distance collective hunting expeditions (hwenimu) and wild fruit
gathering (waimi huu, yanomo ). This anthropological zonal model, which lacks any
indigenous cultural recognition, projects onto Yanomami productive activities an
ethnocentric conception of successive rings of decreasing degrees of resource
exploitation similar to the classic agricultural model proposed by J. H. von Thnen
(Huriot 1994).2
The methodology we adopted, allowing a fine grained record of the Yanomami's
exploitation of natural resources, enabled us to produce a very different spatial model,
this time structured by the collective knowledge and use of a web of identified forest
paths (principal and secondary) tying together notable sites labeled by toponyms
(hunting and gathering camps, former habitation and garden sites, groves of fruit trees,
geographic features, and so on). In Yanomami cultural cartography, this complex
network of paths and places is, moreover, closely interwoven with the intricate
branching of the hydrographic network (made up of named rivers and streams), which
constitutes another primary spatial reference.
From this new perspective, the Yanomami ethnogeographic organization of space
appears to be reticularstructured by a crisscrossing network of sites (points) and
routes (lines) rather than zonal.3 By taking into account this emic structuring of space
based on networks, as opposed to the conventional etic perspective in anthropology and
geography, we aim to contribute toward a spatial model of tropical forest resource use
through data that are both quantitatively more precise and qualitatively more compatible
with Yanomami social practices and cultural concepts.

2This ring model of resource use seems to have been an implicit convention in
Amazonian studies since Carneiro's (1960) pioneering work on Kuikuru
agriculture.
3On the concept of reticular or reticulated space, see Bonnemaison (2005, 16
20, 9697; 2005, 811, 8485). See also Haesbaert (2004, 290) for an opposition
between reticular and zonal basic logics of territoriality and Berque (1982,
119) on a similar contrast between linear space and areolar space.

Watorik Village and Its Gardens

The Yanomami village of Watorik , built in 1993, is located between the basins of the
Upper Catrimani and Demini Rivers (the former a tributary of the Branco, the latter of
the Negro) at the beginning of the lowlands that lie along the southern edge of the
Parima mountain range, which defines the border between Brazil and Venezuela
(fig. 1). (See CA+ sidebar B.)
Figure 1. (29 KB)

Figure 1. Location of the research site and the Yanomami territory in Brazil.
Sidebar B
Having lived at Xioma and Mrakapi on the Upper Mucaja River in the 1930s and early
'40s, the group that gave rise to the present day Watorik community progressively
migrated south, moving through the Upper Catrimani River basin in the late 1940s and
'50s, until they occupied the Upper Lbo d'Almada River (a tributary of the Catrimani)
at Yr pora and Hapakarahi in the late '60s. The headman of Watorik says that his
elders were contaminated by the first epidemics (xawara) at Xioma and Mrakapi
through contacts with a northern Amerindian group (the Watatasip) from which they
acquired their first used steel tools (see Albert and Kopenawa 2003, 3536). In 1970
some of the group's members, at the invitation of villagers on the Toototobi River who
were influenced by local evangelical missionaries of the New Tribes Mission, agreed to
move farther south, to the Werihisipiu u (a small tributary of the Mapula River),
essentially in the hope of gaining direct access to a new source of manufactured goods,
the Toototobi Mission. Previously the group was able to obtain these items only through
the mediation of a string of four other villages lying between them and a Catholic
mission on the Catrimani.
In 1973, a violent epidemic of an unidentified contagious disease eliminated most of the
Werihisipiu u group. The survivors took refuge with a staff member of the National
Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the Brazilian government Indian bureau, now subordinated
to the Ministry of Justice, which had entered the region when the Northern Perimetral
Highway (a northern parallel to the well known Transamazonian Highway) was

opened, by settling close to its contact post on the Mapula in 1974. As a consequence
of a new epidemic (measles) that spread from the Catrimani Mission to the Upper Lbo
d'Almada in late 1976, the part of the group still living rejoined the survivors of
Werihisipiu u near the FUNAI post. When they were abandoned by FUNAI in 1977, the
Yanomami set fire to the post.
Once again deprived of access to the resources of the napp (foreigners, enemies,
non Indians)mainly steel tools and medicinesthe group migrated southeast toward
another recently established FUNAI station, the Demini Post, settling near the Haranari
u River (otherwise known as the Ananali, a tributary on the east side of the Demini
River) not far from the spot where work on the Northern Perimetral Highway was halted
in 1976. In 1978 it moved closer to the Demini Post, and during the 1980s it occupied at
least four main sites in this area before settling in its present location (fig. H).
Watorik enjoys particular fame as the home of Davi Kopenawa, a leader distinguished
by various international prizes, among them the United Nations Global 500 Award in
1991, for his defense of Yanomami lands (see Albert and Kopenawa 2003). Since the
late 1980s, the village has become an assertively traditionalist bastion (having no fewer
than 13 shamans) and a laboratory for selectively appropriating new forms of imported
knowledge and techniques. It was the village chosen for introducing the first health and
education programs adapted to Yanomami culture and language. As the site of the first
bilingual learning program, created in 1996, its school now has very well trained
Yanomami teachers who are also skilled in computer use. These programs were
initiated by the Pro Yanomami Commission, the nongovernmental organization
responsible, since 1978, for the national and international campaign for land rights that
eventually led to the legal ratification of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory (96,650
km2) in 1992 (http://www.proyanomami.org.br).
Situated at an altitude of approximately 200 m, the village is flanked by a series of steep
hills towering more than 700 m high. The soils are of the ferraltic type common in
tropical forests (Projeto RADAMBRASIL 1975) but finer and sandier in places where
large stones or hills crop out from the surface. The region is covered with dense tropical
forest, composed mainly of medium sized trees overshadowed by a few protruding
species (such as Manikara huberi, Cedrelinga catenaeformis, Ceiba pentandra, and
Hymenaea parvifolia). The undergrowth is thin, except in ground depressions, where
many species of low trees and clusters of palms are found. In the hills the vegetation is
sparser and lower because of the steep incline, which, along some peaks and ridges, is
so extreme that the ground has become completely denuded.

Figure H. (88 KB)

Figure H. Migrations of the Watorik community, 193093 (SPOT 5 HRV image [c]
CNES 2003, distributed by Spotimage S.A. and obtained through the ISIS program).
The settlement is situated near an abandoned section of the Northern Perimetral
Highway, now largely reclaimed by the forest, which was constructed in the
southeastern portion of the Yanomami territory in 197376. A section of the road about
2.5 km from Watorik was later turned into a landing strip, which offers the only
outside access to the area, via small single engine aircraft, from Boa Vista, capital of
the state of Roraima, some 280 km away. Next to the airstrip lies the Demini Post, today
a FUNAI control post as well as a health post of the Brazilian National Health
Foundation (FUNASA). (See fig. I.) The Yanomami of Watorik , who numbered 133 in
October 2003 (Urihi 2003), live in a huge collective house, a doughnut shaped
structure about 70 m in diameter that encircles a central plaza (Milliken and Albert
1999, 5872). (See figs. J and K.)

Figure I. (126 KB)

Figure I. Watorik mountain, airstrip, and Demini health post.

Figure J. (112 KB)

Figure J. Rock outcrops seen from inside the doughnut shaped collective house.
Figure K. (185 KB)

Figure K. Aerial view of the Watorik collective house and surrounding gardens.
In January 2003 Watorik 's gardens (those that were productive, recently cleared, or
planted) occupied a total area of 31.22 ha. This figure corresponds to 0.27 ha per
inhabitant, which is higher than most published estimates: Smole (1976, 37) calculates
0.120.23 ha/inhabitant among the highland Yanomami, Lizot (1980, 30) suggests
0.0523 ha/inhabitant among the western Yanomami, and Colchester (1982, 248)
estimates 0.0848 ha/inhabitant among the northern Yanomami. This indicates that, to
the degree that Watorik has become sedentarized since 1993, agricultural activities
have been the focus of increasing efforts and attention.
If we take into account that each plot is cultivated for an average of three to four years,
the annual increase in the amount of cultivated land in all the community's gardens
should be between 7.8 and 10.1 ha. Our data show that after ten years of occupation
(19932003) Watorik had 31.22 ha of active gardens (hutu kana) and 40.23 ha of old
garden plots (hutu pata), an expansion of an average of 7.14 ha per year. This figure is
corroborated by our GPS survey of gardens begun during the 20023 dry season, which
indicated a total of 7.57 ha. (See fig. L.) For the 20034 dry season, after 11 years of
resource exploitation at the site, our data showed a much lower level of renewal (1.74
ha). The 20045 dry season confirmed this trend, since only 1.97 ha were opened, of
which 0.75 ha were burned too late to be put in production.4 Thus, only about a third of
the total agricultural space was renewed over the last three years. In a context of
increasing sedentarization, this signals a cumulative effect whereby gardens opened four
to six years ago continue to produce, leading to an abundance of food5 and encouraging
conservative use of surrounding lands suitable for agriculture (this point being the topic
of recurrent statements by our Yanomami research collaborators).

Figure L. (196 KB)

Figure L. A new garden at Watorik

4We observed the same phenomenon in the dry season of 20034: 0.51 ha of a
garden was established but not burned in time, and only 0.14 ha of it was planted
in 2004. On the fluctuation of Yanomami agricultural production, see Lizot
(1996[1986], 75556).
5In January 2005, the community held a reahu (intervillage funerary and
alliance feast), during which its gardens supplied food for 300 people for seven
days.

Paths and Places: The Use of Forest

Space
According to the ethnographic literature, Yanomami land use is spatially organized
around a collective residential structure and adjacent gardens producing subsistence
crops (mainly plantain and manioc [see Milliken and Albert 1999, 1525]), which are
complemented by the products of hunting, fishing, and gathering. As noted above, the
Yanomami use of the forest has been conventionally described in terms of the regular or
sporadic exploitation of a set of natural resource zones, schematized as a series of
progressively wider concentric domains surrounding the collective house. In this model,
the complex web of Yanomami trails in the forest along which hunting, fishing, and
gathering activities are conducted, if mentioned at all, is confined to a secondary level.

In contrast to this standard ring model, the spatial system currently in effect at Watorik
is organized as a reticular structure of crisscrossing webs of named paths and places
spreading out from the collective house and its garden area (included in an approximate
rectangle of 1.5 1 km). The forest space encompassed by this system, defined as kami
yamak urihip, our forest, is structured by a series of three main networks, which,
produced by individual and collective movements over time and subjected to landscape
variables and the uneven distribution of natural resources, are quite irregular in shape.
(See fig. M.)
Figure M. (85 KB)

Figure M. Trail network as represented by a young Yanomami hunter.

Network of Nearby Sites for Gathering, Fishing, and Occasional Hunting
Departing from the house and adjacent gardens, the first network of notable spots refers
to daily subsistence activities (gathering, fishing, and occasional hunting) (fig. 2). It is
structured by three main routes, from which smaller paths branch off and lead to various
sites where wild fruits are collected (in particular, those from palm trees such as Euterpe
precatoria, Jessenia pataua, Oenocarpus bacaba, Mauritia flexuosa, and Mauritiella
armata and those from other appreciated fruit trees such as Caryocar villosum,
Anacardium giganteum, Inga spp., Couma macrocarpa, and Spondias mombin). Other
sites are used for gathering crabs in small brooks, fishing, usually with fish poisoning

plants, in nearby streams and marshy areas (Milliken and Albert 1999, 5154),
occasional hunting in ponds (Caiman crocodilus) and riverine areas (Hydrochaeris
hydrochaeris, Agouti paca), or collecting basketry materials in the forest (Heteropsis
flexuosa).
Figure 2. (46 KB)

Figure 2. Network of nearby sites for gathering, fishing, and occasional hunting.
The first main route leads to a river known as Apiahi upraop u, situated about 2 km
from the village. The second one, about 3.4 km in length, follows the path that connects
the village with the Demini Post, going as far as the end of its airstrip, where the
intersection of the former Northern Perimetral Highway with the Hawarihipi u River has
created an especially good fishing site. The third route, only 1.1 km long, heads south
and joins another part of the former highway, where graveled sections have turned into
marshy areas. Independent of these three main routes, a dense network of paths (periyo
yo or me) in the immediate vicinity of the collective house provides access to water
sites (mu uka yo), new and old gardens (hutu yo or wamotima thki me), and the like.
(See fig. N.)

Figure N. (193 KB)

Figure N. Women resting on a garden trail.

Network of Daily Hunting Trips
Going farther yet from the village, a second network fans out, partially overlapping the
first one but extending far beyond it (fig. 3). It consists of a set of hunting paths (rama
yo) from which hunters go off into the forest in pursuit of game they sight or locate by
animal tracks or calls and to which they always return. When conducting these hunts,
usually individually or in pairs, men can cover long distances (up to 10 km from the
village in linear distance), traveling, for example, as far as the rapids (pora) of the
Maxahipi u River (where they can always find fish to avoid coming home
empty handed) or the area around the Pooxik tire hehuop u River.

Figure 3. (47 KB)

Figure 3. Network of daily hunting trips.

Close to the village, the network of hunting paths consists of two main routes,
superimposed on those leading to nearby gathering and fishing sites (fig. 2). The first
hunting route branches off from the first one accessing nearby sites, going off on one
side toward the south and meeting up with the Pata u River and on the other side toward
the west in the direction of the Maxahipi u River. The second hunting route, called
Warimahi praop yo, is separate from any others, following the vestiges of the Northern
Perimetral Highway for several kilometers and then heading off southeast. Some daily
hunting paths branch off from these main routes, heading north to plunge into the
mountainous formation of Watorik , considered to be rich in game (particularly spider
and howler monkeys), and tracing a wide loop about 10 km long around the northern
side of village. (See figs. O, P, and Q.)

Figure O. (199 KB)

Figure O. A hunter on a remnant of the Northern Perimetral Highway.

Figure P. (197 KB)

Figure P. A man resting by a hunting trail.

Figure Q. (175 KB)

Figure Q. Trail formed by remnants of the Northern Perimetral Highway.

Network of Long Distance Collective Expeditions for Hunting and Gathering

A third and final network is outlined by the routes used during collective expeditions for
hunting (hwenimona yo) and gathering (waimi yoa) (fig. 4).6 This network has two
parts: the first includes a route leading from the village to temporary forest campsites
(naa nahip) that are chosen as the expedition's final destination, and the second is
composed of paths looping around camps used by the hunters in search of game or
leading to groves of trees from which fruits are gathered. When a new network of this
kind is initiated, some of its geographic featuresthe destination campsite, the
overnight sites used along the way to it, and especially the hunting loops that fan out
from the campmay be redefined over time, but our research shows that these elements
are quickly settled after a few expeditions. The best camps7 or overnight sites are
regularly reused, and hunting loops that are productive and well known are often
revisited, at least as long as the amount of game they yield is considered satisfactory. In
several less sedentary Yanomami communities that we have studied recently, our data
showed that, after some time, one of the preferred forest camps was generally chosen as
the location for a new village.
Figure 4. (42 KB)

Figure 4. Network of long distance collective hunting and gathering expeditions.

At the time of our recent fieldwork, the community was using three long distance
hunting and gathering networks of this type: two of them, for which Moka Kp u and
Maxahipi u campsites were the destinations, were situated at the farthest points of the
area traversed on a daily basis by hunters (respectively 8.5 km and 11 km, in linear
distance, from Watorik ); the location of the third campsite, at Haranari u, was even
farther away (19 km, in linear distance) on a large river (the Ananali or Haranari u)
that is rich in big fish. In the case of hunting expeditions, the entire population of the
village spends several days traveling to the destination camp, usually taking advantage

of the same overnight sites from one expedition to the next. Once reaching the final
campsite, the hunters depart each day, following circuits about 1020 km long that
bring them back to the campsite by late afternoon. Judging from information about sites
located along these paths that are mentioned by the hunters and indicated on satellite
images, we estimate that these hunting trips fanned out to a maximum to 6 km in linear
distance.

6The inhabitants of Watorik now pursue both activities at the same sites.
Yanomami groups in the past used to spend between one third and one half of
every year in these hunting and gathering camps, far from their main residence
(Lizot 1986, 3839; Good 1989, 89; 1995, 15).
7These sites should have easy access to flowing water, allow a space to be
cleared for temporary shelters, and, preferably, be located near valued vegetal
resources.

Discussion
Path Networks and Empty Zones
Our field research showed that Yanomami ethnogeographic knowledge is organized by
a rich toponymy consisting of an ensemble of sites tied together by interconnected paths
(used for hunting, fishing, gathering, and traveling). The main routes forming the
vertebrae of these networks (hw e yo pata, father path) are also given names, and
this complex system of paths and places is intermeshed with the local network of named
rivers and streams. Furthermore, out of the way forest spaces encompassed by the
loops of crisscrossing trails or situated far outside the network of paths are labeled by
the generic term urihi komi, meaning closed forest. These spaces are essentially
defined by the absence of any permanent human trial and by the possibility of bad
encounters with n wrip, pathogenic forest spirits that hunt humans (Albert and
Gomez 1997, 47, 103, 109). As empty zones (Bonnemaison 1997, 16) of unexploited
forest left inside or outside the networks of hunting, gathering, and traveling routes, they
probably play a significant ecological role as a game refuge areas.
It thus appears that the Yanomami conceptualization of space is indeed organized by
reference to an ensemble of points and lines, corresponding to their practical use of the
forest oriented by a web of sites and routes, rather than a set of roughly bounded areas
(concentric or otherwise) characterized as zones of natural resource exploitation. That
this spatial organization includes culturally recognized empty zones of closed forest
further confirms that we are witnessing a reticular system, since such a webbed structure
of points and lines never completely fills the space through which it spreads.
This model of Yanomami ethnogeography (fig. 5) presents many similarities to those
suggested by Collignon (1996) for the Inuit and by Bonnemaison (1997, 2004) for
Vanuatu. Stimulating connections could even be made with very different domains of
cultural space studies, such as the cartographic depiction of ancient states and empires
(Smith 2005) or the analysis of postmodern forms of territoriality (Haesbaert 2004,
chap. 7).

Figure 5. (77 KB)

Figure 5. Model of reticular space in Yanomami forest use.

Peripheral Trails and Fuzzy Areas
We have suggested that prior ethnographic representations of Yanomami economic
space in terms of concentric zones have been construed, in large part, through the
imposition of the etic perspective of anthropologists and geographers rather than
through an effort to record the Yanomami's own cultural model of spatial organization.
We should acknowledge, however, that this conceptual projection of a zonal logic onto
the emic reticular space of the Yanomami is not completely groundless. Given the labile
quality of the paths branching off from the network of main routes, the cumulative
crisscrossing of these secondary trails and random hunting and gathering loops comes to
nearly saturate some forest sectors over time (especially in more sedentary Yanomami
communities like Watorik ). Thus, the gradual superimposing of less permanent and
improvised and peripheral routes could end up configuring, from our own
cultural geographic perspective, what could be considered theoretical fuzzy areas
(Costa Fonte and Lodwick 2004). In this context, such discontinuous areas, with their
indefinite perimeters and limited extent, could be seen as embedded in the vertebral
network, composed of named routes and sites, that structures Yanomami reticular space
and the unlabeled empty zones mentioned above.
Calculating Areas of Total Resource Endowment
From the point of view of either a zonal model or a reticular one, any calculation of the
total surface area of the forest environment exploited by a local Yanomami group can
only be based on approximate figures. The zonal model, based on the assumptions that a
given community controls and exploits every part of its surrounding forest space

conceived almost like a kind of polygon joining the farthest points reached by its
huntershas, by definition, a bias toward overvaluation. The reticular model, based on
a much more fine grained record of the community's active use of forest space, deals
with discontinuous, diffuse, and lacunary surfaces and is therefore bound to yield lower
but more realistic figures for the total amount of surface area in the forest exploited by a
particular group.
Smole (1976, 78) described for the Yanomami community of Jorocoba teri in
Venezuela an area of total resource endowment of 64,750 ha. Using the conventional
zonal perspective,8 he obtained his figure by drawing a line around the headwaters of
three small rivers to define the territorial base of this local group. For the Watorik
community, we instead took as a basis for estimation a 1 km area around the three path
networks actively used by community members at the time of our research plus another
space with a 6 km radius (consistent with our data on the maximum distance covered
in a one day hunt) surrounding their three main campsites. This calculation yields a
total of about 37,300 ha, less than half Smole's figure. Although this method is more
accurate than Smole's, it is less than satisfactory in that it still resorts to an approximate
but traditional planimetric logic. Unfortunately, nothing more sophisticated can be
offered at this point (but see Waters and Evans 2003 for interesting experiments on
fuzzy area mapping).
Finally, it should be noted that the distinction between zonal territories and network
territories (Haesbaert 2004, 286) also represents a contrast between a timeless
topography of closed surfaces and an open topology of changing webs (see Lvy and
Lussault 2003, 6079). This means that calculations of areas of total resource
endowment based on a reticular model estimate the extent of a village spatial pattern of
forest use at a specific time and that a more complete picture would require the
successive recording of cumulative states of this pattern over time.9 For example, if we
were to add to our estimation the recently abandoned southern Hapakaxi u hunting and
gathering trail (shown as a dotted line in fig. 4), the area of total resource endowment
of Watorik would be 48,600 ha.

8Although he clearly recognizes the fundamental structuring role of trail

networks (1976, 76).
9It should also be noted that Smole's calculation refers to a highland Yanomami
community of the 1970s that was probably more mobile than that of today's
Watorik .

Reticular Space and Socioeconomic Changes

Yanomami communities distant from any nonindigenous establishment formerly opened
up a new agricultural site and built a new collective house within a radius of about 10
km every four or five years. Lizot (1980, 39) gives, for example, a maximum limit of
five to seven years and Good (1989, 53) a minimum of two years.10 The major
difference in the land use system of the Watorik the therip is the long term
maintenance of its main residential structure and set of gardens at the same site. The
community has occupied the same area since 1993, and, given the political choices and
material investments associated with the construction of its collective house (Milliken
and Albert 1999, 5872), it is unlikely that the site will be abandoned in the near future.
To cope with this sedentary situation, the Yanomami of Watorik have begun to avoid

using too much of the nearby forest that might be suitable for establishing new gardens
(which is scarce because of topographical irregularities and the discontinuity of fertile
soils). They are limiting the size of new clearings, using cultivated plots as long as
possible, and returning some of the secondary forest to cultivation after a brief period of
recuperation. As is shown by our data above, these new practices seem to have had a
notable effect on Watorik agriculture since 2003. After more than ten years of
sedentarity, the community's alimentary conditions are excellent, and its gardens have
not suffered from soil erosion or compaction.11
In response to socioeconomic changes, residents have made another major adaptation in
hunting and gathering, an effort to maximize the use of the community's large territory
(which they do not share with any other village, the closest being located several days'
walk away). The group simultaneously maintains three main networks of forest
campsites for protracted collective hunting and gathering expeditions (and fishing
expeditions, as in the case of Haranari u). It rotates use of these networks during the
year or from one year to the next and gradually renews them on a longer time scale,
abandoning one and shifting to another in a different part of the forest.
In view of these adaptive strategies the question arises whether the spatial pattern of
resource use recorded during our research is representative of Yanomami communities
in general. In fact we have recorded data fully congruent with Watorik 's organization
of space during comparative fieldwork in two other Yanomami regions in northern
Brazil, one on the upper Demini River (Toototobi, lowlands) and the other on the
Mucaja (Homoxi, highlands). (See fig. R.)
Figure R. (86 KB)

Figure R. Another example of a Yanomami trail network, in the community of Apiahik

(Toototobi River, Upper Demini).
Watorik , because of its unusual location in a region devoid of other Yanomami villages
since 1970, longer period of sedentarity, and rapidly expanding population,12 displays
certain distinctive features in relation to other communities, such as its wider, more
complex and crystallized network of paths and its increased density of place names.
Nevertheless, these characteristics suggest that the spatial organization in Watorik
constitutes a more strongly marked, extended version of the basic Yanomami pattern of
reticular space rather than one that is different or less zonal. Indeed, we argue that,
precisely because of its specificity, the Watorik case is an exemplary instance of a
more general Yanomami model.

10The harvest of manioc in a particular plot generally diminishes by 4550% as

early as the second year, while the decline in the productivity of plantains and
bananas begins in the fourth year (Hames 1983, 23). Hunting productivity
(kg/hunt) also diminishes rapidly over time, dropping 28% after two years
(Good 1989, 9596).
11Some cumulative productive effects of old gardens (of which the
accumulation of cultivable peach palm, Bactris gasipaes, is the best example)
and the composition of the local soils (mixed with sands derived from the
breakdown of sandstone from the rocky ridges) probably contributed to this
favorable situation.
12In 1993, the population of Watorik was 89, rising to 133 by 2003an
increase of almost 67% in ten years.

Conclusion
The data presented in this article are intended to demonstrate the potential afforded by a
new ethnogeographical approach for revitalizing a classic issue of lowland South
America anthropology, namely, indigenous land and resource use in the Amazonian
tropical forest. We believe that the multidisciplinary methodology used in this research
on the spatial pattern of Watorik resource use not only permits a revision of the
conventional zonal model of previous Yanomami studies but also promises to shed new
light on many other indigenous Amazonian systems of land use. This approach is
capable of revealing the details of indigenous practices and knowledge regarding
natural resource exploitation an understanding of which is essential for the appropriate
demarcation of protected indigenous areas and the long term sustainable management
of their environment in the Amazon and elsewhere in the tropical forest world.
The potential field for such ethnographical studies and their application is huge. Legally
protected indigenous areas cover approximately 24% of the surface area of the Brazilian
Amazon (Albert 2001); the Yanomami Indigenous Land alone, considered a priority
region for the conservation of local biodiversity (Capobianco 2001, 39899), represents
almost 1% of the surface area of the world's remaining tropical forests. Given the vital
but vulnerable nature of these regions, we recommend a serious consideration of these
tools.

Acknowledgments
We thank Davi Kopenawa, Lourival Yanomami, and the inhabitants of Watorik for
their friendly collaboration and generous hospitality. We are also grateful to the
members of the Pro Yanomami Commission in Braslia, Boa Vista, and the field for
their logistical support and kind help. We also thank French Ministry of Research, the
Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement, and the Centre Nacional de la Recherche
Scientifique, which funded this research, and the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary
Art and the ISIS program of the Centre National d'tudes Spatiales, which financed the
satellite data. We express appreciation to Catherine Howard and Marjorie Johnson for
providing the English translation of our text. Finally, we thank the anonymous
reviewers of Current Anthropology for their very useful comments on a previous
version of this paper.

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