Traces of Carib Ancestors: The Incised and Punctate Horizon Style in Eastern Amazonia

Summary

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 evidence from the Southern Amazon, where Incised and Punctate ceramics are present at several late prehistoric sites along southern portions of the Xingu River, known locally as the Upper Xingu. Various styles are found among Upper Xingu ceramics similar in decoration to those from areas as close as Santarém and as far as Lake Valencia. Similar technological attributes associated with the spread of the Incised and Punctate horizon are also present in Upper Xingu ceramics including the use of sponge-spicule temper. Finally, the presence of Carib-speakers in the Upper Xingu, possibly associated with specific late prehistoric settlements and Incised and Punctate ceramics, provides some evidence for late Carib movement into the region and their possible association with the Incised and Punctate Horizon style.

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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