Amazon (Other Keyword)
1-12 (12 Records)
Research conducted in the Amazon point to the importance of anthropic fire in the history of people and the forest itself, being a common element in traditional agriculture and responsible for changes in ecosystems and soil productivity. Despite its importance, fire is not subject to systematic study in Amazonian archaeology. Few efforts are made in actively searching for evidences of its use in archaeological contexts, being such evidences documented opportunistically when casually observed...
Borderlands in the Amazon forest: can we draw boundaries? (2015)
Amazonian occupations from 2500 BP to contact have been characterized into expansive traditions based on ceramic vessels. Meanwhile, ethnographic records point to diverse ethnic groups residing across the basin. Seeking variables that may be associated with pre-columbian cultural diversity we explore a possible intersection between groups, an area located at the headwaters of five tributaries to the Negro and Amazon Rivers. Archaeological data deriving from analyses of settlement structure,...
Extinct Mid-Holocene Maize from the Monte Castelo Shell Mound, Rondônia, Brazil. (2017)
In the Brazilian Amazon, mid-Holocene maize (Zea mays) grains have been found in archaeological deposits of the Monte Castelo shell mound. The morphological differences are pronounced between these and grains from both modern maize races of the Amazon and those found beginning around 1,500 years ago at other sites in the region. Our research explores the history, from 3900 BP, and use of this extinct maize. The presence of cultivars rich in carbohydrates in the Amazon has traditionally been...
Forest islands and raised fields in the 2nd millennium BCE Amazon (2015)
Pre-Columbian earthworks in the Llanos de Mojos show discrete spatial patterns, at different scales. For example, large mounds and causeways are found in the southeast, causeways and raised fields in the south, and large raised fields in the center and to the north. Recent excavations in forest islands associated with raised fields in Central Mojos identify occupations dating to the second millennium BCE. This raises the question of how to integrate different elements into histories of...
Guaporé River: Shell mounds, earthworks and the explanation of the archaeological record (2015)
Localized in the Amazon Southwest, the Guaporé River defines the border between Brazil and Bolívia, being a significant route of movement of goods, values and ideas since ancient times. This is attested by the occurrence of diferent archaeological sites (shell monds, geogliphs, ceramics associated to terra preta, rock art) that occurs since 8,000 BP to colonial times, historical evidence from colonial documents, linguistic and ethnological information, and hypotheses raised by anthropology. In...
Historical Ecology: Archaeology for a Sustainable Future (2016)
Historical Ecology is a research program that seeks to integrate diverse perspectives from human and natural sciences to improve our understanding on the relations between societies and their changing landscapes. Investigations in historical ecology draw from different corpus of data, including the participation of the public, not only to solve scientific problems, but also to provide answers to social and political situations. Archaeology has a major role in the production of knowledge on the...
Living Things: fishermen, archaeologists and fish-traps in Amazon, Brazil. (2016)
This presentation deals with the use of ancient fish-traps by fishermen of Vila de Joanes, Ilha do Marajó, Amazon, concerning the status of these sites as a living thing and their role in the constitution of memorial narratives about fishing. Based on research conducted with a group of fishermen I suggest that: a) the contemporary use of the fish-traps is not an act of destruction, but a memorial engagement with the past; b) the continuous process of decay and reconstruction of the fish-traps by...
Mapping a Large Scale Amazonian Landscape using GIS (2016)
Among the many challenges for landscape archaeologists is the “palimpsest” nature of the landscapes that they try to study. Archaeologists around the world have long been at work using GIS to study a wide range of questions across scales from meters to thousands of kilometers, and from single occupations to thousands of years. Thinking of archaeological landscapes as a palimpsest uses the recognition that connecting individual landscape features exclusively to a single moment or period of time...
A multiproxy approach to study past human impact on the Lower Amazon, Santarem (2016)
This presentation summarises the preliminary results of the interdisciplinary research carried out in the context of the ‘Pre-Columbian Amazon-Scale Transformation’ project that investigate the nature and scale of past human impact across the Amazon integrating archaeology, archaeobotany, palaeoecology, soil science, botany and remote sensing. We present initial results from the unique region around Santarém city at the confluence of the Tapajós and the Amazon rivers, home to the Tapajós...
News from unknown parts of the Amazon, interfluvial sites come to light (2016)
The expansion of archaeological research in the Amazon Basin, from the margins of major tributaries to small rivers and headwaters is populating empty portions of our maps. In the region of Presidente Figueiredo, Amazonas State, Brazil, occupation of the interfluvial zone was neither ephemeral nor short lived with sites every two kilometers, on average. One extensively excavated site, Claudio Cutião, was occupied for over 1000 years beginning around 1600 BP. The formation of anthropic dark earth...
Spatial patterns of raised fields and linguistic diversity in Mojos, Beni, Bolivia (2015)
Throughout Amazonia, agricultural earthworks are found in diverse geographical settings, including Venezuela, Bolivia, and the Guianas. These earthworks can be seen throughout areas of diverse linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. This suggests that dynamic, multiethnic networks can be found in Amazonia, influencing the methods of landscape modification used by different groups. Being able to observe influences of diverse cultural interactions in the archaeological record could contribute to the...
Traces of Carib Ancestors: The Incised and Punctate Horizon Style in Eastern Amazonia (2016)
The Incised and Punctate Horizon style is a widespread late prehistoric ceramic series known throughout Eastern Amazonia. A variety of subseries are known from coastal and highland Columbia, coastal Venezuela, the Orinoco, the Antilles, the Guianas, the Southern Amazon, and the Lower Amazon, including Santarém. The Incised and Punctate horizon style may represent a second wave of Carib-speaking chiefdoms spreading throughout the tropical lowlands between A.D. 1000-1500. This paper presents...