Investigating Plant Management in the Tucumã (Pará-Brazil) and Monte Castelo (Rondônia- Brazil) Shell Midden using Phytoliths Analysis

Summary

This paper will address and evaluate the micro botanical remains of the Monte Castelo (9343 calB.P) shell mound in southwestern lowland Amazonia (state of Rondonia) and the sambaqui do Tucumã (7.000 -4.000 B.P) located on the southeast lower Amazon River (state of Para). The focus in identifying and evaluating the floral dietary peculiarities of these specific pre-Colombian settlements from the principle that the south and southeast Brazilian shell mound occupants are known to have had a broad-spectrum diet based on the exploration of their environment. The mound inhabitants are referred to within modern dietary studies as fisher-hunter, mollusc and plant gatherer societies. However the presence of plant processing tools collected in the previously mentioned sites (Monte Castelo and Tucumã) leads to the main question that guides this research: is it possible to comprehend the mound inhabitants of Monte Castelo and Tucumã as part of an agricultural sustainable society?

Cite this Record

Investigating Plant Management in the Tucumã (Pará-Brazil) and Monte Castelo (Rondônia- Brazil) Shell Midden using Phytoliths Analysis. Lautaro Maximilian Hilbert, José Iriarte, Eduardo Góes Neves, Francisco Pugliese. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida. 2016 ( tDAR id: 403961)

Keywords

Geographic Keywords
South America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;