I just read an article about how large swaths of the Amazon are actually anxiently cultivated gardens and I'm fascinated. How would these cultures have lived? Where can I look for more information? I assume it was more than just the Mayans/Incas that we learn shockingly little about in school? There doesn't seem to be a good starting point from my (admittedly quick) Google search. Thank you!
Edit: typo
There was recently a pretty good thread about this. Otherwise, I know it's a little old (published in 2005, so some of the more recent discoveries have been left out) but I found Charles Mann's 1491 an incredibly eye-opening read about the Amazonian gardens and how colonialism and Native erasure has hidden a whole story about the pre-Columbian Americas. I think he's a journalist by trade, so it's a really engaging, fun read too.
Edit: whoops, never linked to another thread before - credit to u/KerasTasi and u/CommodoreCoCo for a great comments and u/LittleJay8 for the question!
Thanks for tagging me u/hypocrite_deer!
I'd strongly recommend the book I used as the basis for my answer in the linked thread, John Hemming's River of Trees - it's a great introduction to both the biology and the anthropology of the region. I would also recommend his more recent book, People of the Rainforest, which focuses on the Villas-Boas brothers who were responsible for creating Brazil's first indigenous reserve. Both will give an overview of the debates around indigenous civilisations in Amazonia, so if you're interested you can use them as a bibliography.