As one of the foremost practitioners of archaeological research in the forested neotropical lowlands, Donald Lathrap was preoccupied with preservation biases in the buried record. He inspired us to judge the effects of differential preservation on the archaeological record, view negative evidence with healthy skepticism (for example, Lathrap 1968a: 77), and avoid conferring undue emphasis on enhanced preservation in arid contexts (for example, Lathrap 1973a: 92; 1974: 115). Lathrap's intense interest in the origin and dispersal of early agricultural systems led him to champion the use of indirect evidence (for example, Lathrap 1970: 48; 1973a: 91; 1973b: 174–176; 1974: 115, 130; 1977: 740), and encourage us to make the most of rare lowland contexts in which preservation was favorable (for example, Lathrap 1973a: 91).

A basic axiom in tropical archaeology is that organic residues perish quickly in lowland environments. Archaeologists traditionally dismissed the possibility that organic remains might be recovered in significant quantities. Even where preservation is excellent and recovery intensive, archaeofaunal samples are still often small. The few surviving bones are substantially fragmented, thereby compromising identification of larger animals.