William Balée — 2019 Guggenheim Fellow

Tulane University anthropology professor William Balée has been named a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to document the historical ecology of the lower Amazon basin. Learn about his work uncovering how seemingly pristine tropical rainforests have been shaped by people and cultures over centuries.

Balée has documented how ancient societies managed orchards of Brazil nut trees and other crops that proliferated in rainforests only to be rediscovered by more recent inhabitants. “They are actually using the resources that were bequeathed to them, in a sense, unconsciously by these prehistoric, indigenous societies,” Balée said.