Koriabo ceramics of the Lower Xingu area: a north-south stylistic flow?

Summary

Cross-regional and persistent ceramic attributes/styles may express networks of past indigenous societies. In this paper we present a characterization and the general context of a previously unknown ceramic complex at the mouth of the Xingu River area, Gurupá/Pará/Brazil. We discuss similarities and distinctions of these materials compared to other ceramic complexes. In a regional perspective, these ceramics show unprecedented and important data for late pre-colonial history in the lower Amazon: they share clear characteristic with the Koriabo ceramics from the Guianas and also present in Amapá state, Brazil. The chronology for the Koriabo Complex positions it in the late pre-colonial times, and some archaeologists suggest a connection with Cariban-speaking peoples. Its presence in the Xingu river raises an interesting question, suggesting a stylistic flow in north-south direction (Guianas-Amapá-Xingu). Still speculating, this southern presence of Koriabo-like ceramics could help to explain the movements of Cariban peoples in the lower Amazon. It can also help us understand the geographic and chronological frontiers that separate the Santarém and the Marajoara cultures. Although the archaeology of this region is still nascent, the confluence of Xingu/Amazon river area is very promising.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Ceramics, Identity and Regional Interaction in the Lower Amazon

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