An overview of Caribbean and Latin-American cultural heritage studies

Abstract

This review analyzes, through three recently published books that talk about cultural heritage in Latin America, how the Cultural Heritage Studies have allowed us to understand the current situation in the region characterized by the growing tendency to promote declarations of heritage as part of a plan for the use of culture as a resource for sustainable development. Likewise, those books analyze how responses from local communities are generated to hegemonic definitions of heritage, which indicates that cultural heritage in Latin America is not something given but something in constant construction and dispute.     

Anthropogenic Causes, Mechanisms and Effects of Upper Pliocene and Quaternary Extinctinctions of Large Vertebrates

Successive waves of extinction of large vertebrates have swept the globe since the Pliocene. In contrast to such episodes in earlier geological epochs, many of the species of large herbivores and carnivores, flightless birds, and giant tortoises which became extinct during this period were not replaced in these niches by other species. Relying on data from the fossil and archaeological records as well as on ethological and palaeo-ecological arguments, the authors explain why hominids are to be held responsible for this ecological genocide. Possible ecological and climatic consequences of the extinctions are discussed. These considerations cast doubt upon the notion of early hominids as scavengers.