RECONSIDERING THE

TROPICS

EDUARDO G.

NEVES

WAC 7, JORDAN, JANUARY 18TH 2013

Laboratório de Arqueologia dos Trópicos Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia

Universidade de São Paulo

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE AMAZON

* 6,200,000 km2 of drainage covered by different

kinds of forests,

* Discharge of around 18% of the total flow of

fresh water to the world oceans,

* Average water discharge of more than 200,000

m3s-1,

* Sedimentary load oscillating between 1 and 2

billions of tons per year to 614 Mt year-1 at

Óbidos, close to the mouth (Meade, 1994;

Filizola and Guyot, 2009).

Brazilian shield

Guiana shield

Amazon trough

Andes

Sub-andean

foreland

Precambrian

Precambrian

Terciary & Quaternary

Miocene

The geological setting of the Amazon Basin (earth observtory.nasa.gov)

LOWER RIO NEGRO,

CENTRAL AMAZON

THE LOWER AMAZON AT URUCURITUBA

HIGH BETA DIVERSITY

LARGE NUMBER OF SPECIES BY

AREA,

LOW NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS BY

SPECIES BY AREA,

LARGE BIODIVERSITY.

HIGH BETA DIVERSITY

CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICA DIVERSITY IN

THE AMAZON BASIN

• ca. 8.500.000 sq. km (larger than the continental US),

• Includes 9 different countries,

• Area of high biodiversity but also of large cultural diversity among indigenous populations,

• Cultural diversity in the present inferred by the large numbers of languages and language families,

• Language diversity emerged in the Holocene without any major physical barriers.

Native language families spoken in western

Amazonia (Eriksen 2011)

Native language families spoken in south-central

Amazonia (Eriksen 2011)

SOUTH AMERICA AS A “LABORATORY”

EXCEPT POLYNESIA AND ANTARCTICA, THE LAST

CONTINET OCCUPIED BY H. SAPIENS,

INITIAL OCCUPATION IN THE LATE PLEISTOCENE BY

LIKELY BIOLOGICALLY RELATED AND SMALL FOUNDING

GROUPS,

RAPID SPREAD AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

DIFFERENT LIFE STYLES.

THE “STANDARD MODEL”

SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE ON AMAZIAN INDIANS DEVELOPPED IN THE EARY 1800s THANKS TO THE INFLUENCE OF VON HUMBOLDT AND OTHER, MOSTLY GERMAN, SCIENTISTS OF THE TIME,

CONTRAST BETWEEN THE LARGE LANGUAGE DIVERSITY AND “BARBARIAN” LIFE STYLES,

F. A. VARNHAGEN (GENERAL HISTORY OF BRAZIL, 1854): “FOR THESE PEOPLE, THERE IS NO HISTORY, ONLY ETHNOGRAPHY”.

E. DA CUNHA’S TRIP TO THE PURUS RIVER

(1908)

“Nature is magnificent but incomplete. It is an

stupenduous construction lacking interior

decoration. One understands well the reason

why: the Amazon is maybe the youngest part

of the earth ... It has everything and it lacks

everything, because it misses such chain of

phenomena developped under a rigorous

rythm from which result, clearly, the truths of

art and science.”

Double moated square geogliph – Purus basin, SW

Amazon (photo M. Paiva)

Deforestation wave in Acre state, SW Amazon (photo M. Paiva)

LOCATION OF GEOGLYPH SITES IN THE

PURUS BASIN (SCHAAN 2010)

The “standard model” for the cultural history of

ancient South America (Rouse 1992)

Caral, monumental architecture at ca. 3,500 BC in

the Central Peruvian Coast (photo E. Neves).

“The Counterfeit Paradise”

TROPICAL FOREST PATTERN: ITINERANT, SLASH-AND-BURN MANIOC FARMING

Archaeological site covered by mature forest,

Aripuanã river, southern Amazon (photos Claide Moraes)

CURRENT LOCATION OF INDIGENOUS

LANDS IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON (INSITUTO SOCIOAMBIENTAL 2009)

Ceramic sherds on the surface of archaeological

sites adjacent to the Amazon floodplain

(photos M. Castro and E. Neves).

Anori, Solimões river, courtesy Márjorie Lima

Paricatuba, confluence of the Negro and Solimões, photo Maurício de Paiva

Polychrome antropomorph urn,

S. Sebastião do Uatumã (courtesy W. C. Oliveira)

GUARITA URNS FROM

THE CENTRAL AMAZON

HISTORICAL ECOLOGY

REVALUATION OF EARLY CHRONICLER’S REPORTING,

IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES AD,

LARGE POPULATION AGREGATES ALONG THE

AMAZON,

PRESENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN AREAS

CURRENT COVERED BY MATURE OR “PRISTINE”

FORESTS,

AMAZON FOREST WITH A CULTURAL HISTORY AS

WELL AS WITH A NATURAL HISTORY.

HOW VISIBLE IS THE FOOTPRINT OF

ANCIENT AMAZONIANS?

BRIEF REVIEW OF CASE STUDIES:

1) DATA FOR EARLY OCCUPATION,

2) DATA FOR EARLY CERAMIC PRODUCTION,

3) FORMATION OF ANTHROPIC SOILS,

4) EXAMPLES FROM THE UPPER AMAZON,

CENTRAL AMAZON, SOUTHERN AMAZON,

MOUTH OF THE AMAZON AND FRENCH

GUIANA.

LATE PLEISTOCENE/EARLY HOLOCENE SITES IN SOUTH AMERICA (DILLEHAY 2008)

PEDRA PINTADA CAVE, LOWER AMAZON, ROCK ART

DATING BACK TO CA. CAL 9,000 BCE (photo E. Neves)

Pedra Pintada Cave, lower Amazon

ca. 9,200 BCE (Photo E. Neves)

Excavations at Dona Stella Site – CAL 6,500

BCE

EARLY POTTERY FROM MONTE CASTELO

SHELLMOUND, SOUTHWESTERN AMAZON,

PHOTOS BY EURICO T. MILLER

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IDENTIFIED BY THE CENTRAL

AMAZON PROJECT (1995-2010)

General map of Açutuba site (ca. 900 ha.) (Neves 08)

Hatahara site –

early terra preta contexts at 6th century AD (photo Val Moraes)

ANTHROPIC DARK SOILS OR “TERRAS PRETAS”

ARTIFICIAL MOUNDS OF THE CENTRAL AMAZON

DIGITAL TOPOGRAPHY OF LAGUINHO SITE

SHOWING ARTIFICIAL MOUNDS

CURRENT LAND USES AT LAGUINHO SITE

GUARITA PHASE VESSEL, CENTRAL AMAZON,

EARLY SECOND MILLENIUM AD (McEWAN ET AL. 2001)

PRIVATE COLLECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL

ARTEFACTS, CENTRAL AMAZON (PHOTO M. PAIVA)

POLYCROME ANTHROPOMORPHIC URN, CENTRAL AMAZON,

EARLY SECOND MILLENIUM AD (PHOTO M. PAIVA)

Llanos de Mojos, Bolivian Amazon,

maps and pictures by Heiko Prümmers (2007) and Carla Jaimes (2008)

Topographic Map of Loma Salvatierra, Bolivian

Amazon (Prümmers 2007)

Excavation at Loma Salvatierra, (Prümmers 2007)

Loma Salvatierra, Bolivian Amazon,

stratigraphic profile of mound (Jaimes 2008)

Distrubution of ancient settlements connected by roads

in the Upper Xingu, southern Amazon (Heckenberger et al. 2008)

RECONSTITUTION OF “GARDEN CITY” IN THE UPPER XINGÚ (HECKENBERGER 2010)

Areas with archaeological sites and mounds in Marajó

island, mouth of the Amazon (source IPEN)

Artificial mound at Marajó island (Rostain 2010)

STRATIGRAPHIC CUT OF PECAQUARA MOUND,

MARAJÓ ISLAND (PHOTO MY M. HECKENBERGER)

Distribution of

mounds in the

Camutins area,

Marajó island (Schaan 2008)

Hypothetical reconstitution of mound occupation at

Marajó island (from National Geographic Brasil)

MARAJÓ ISLAND STATUETTE

(NORDENSKIOLD 1930)

EXHIBITION OF MARAJÓ ISLAND URNS

(photo E. Neves)

Archaeological sites at the mouth of the Amazon (Cabral & Saldanha 2012)

SAMPLE OF URNS FROM THE NORTH SHORE OF THE

MOUTH OF THE AMAZON (Rostain 2010)

Por Stephen Rostain

MEGALITHIC STRUCTURES – NORTH SHORE OF THE

MOUTH OF THE AMAZON (CABRAL & SALDANHA 2010)

30 metros

Raised fields in the French Guiana Coast (Rostain 2010)

Aerial view of artificial mounds at the French Guiana

coast (Rostain 2010)

Raised fields and Mounds in the Kourou section,

French Guiana Coast (Rostain 2010)

SUMMING UP:

THERE WERE INDEED MANY PEOPLE IN THE AMAZON

BEFORE EUROPEAN COLONIZATION,

ANCIENT AMAZONIANS HAD DIFFERENT LIFE

STYLES(CULTURAL DIVERSITY), AND CREATED CULTURAL

LANDSCAPES,

DESPITE “MONUMENTAL EVIDENCE, THERE WERE NO

STATE-LIKE FORMATIONS,

AMAZONIAN ARCHAEOLOGY CAN MAKE AN IMPORTANT

THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCIPLINE.

How have archaeologists conceptualized

agriculture in pre-colonial Amazonia?

Ethnographic projection of the “tropical

forest pattern” into the past,

Projection of a “mississipian-inspired” model of intensification and corn-cultivation

in floodplains.

Slash and burn manioc farming, upland highly

mobile model (tropical forest pattern)

SO FAR, HOWEVER, THERE IS SURPRISINGLY VERY FEW PALEOBOTHANIC EVIDENCE FOR WIDESPREAD CULTIVATION OF MANIOC IN THE AMAZON, ALTHOUGH IT WAS ALREADY MANAGED IN THE RIO PORCE AREA OF COLOMBIA BY CA. 6.000 BC.

IN THE SAME WAY, AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS WERE PROBABLY LESS MOBILE IN THE PAST, AT LEAST BECAUSE OF THE USE OF STONE AXES.

THEREFORE PRE-COLONIAL AGRO-FORESTRY SYSTEMS WERE MORE INTENSE, OPPORTUNISTIC AND MAYBE STABLE.

PALMS AS PROXIES FOR MANAGEMENT.

THE ONLY FULLY DOMESTICATED PALM

IN THE AMAZON IS THE PEACH PALM

(Bactris gasipaes),

SEVERALL OTHER PALMS ARE

ECONOMICALLY AND CULTURALLY

IMPORTANT BUT NOT DOMESTICATED.

Eutherpe oleracea grove at the back of house, Central

Amazon (photo E. Neves)

Eutherpe oleracea stand, mouth of the Amazon (photo M. Paiva)

Mauritia fleuxosa stand, upper Amazon,

Peru (photo by Nigel Smith)

I

IT IS IMPORTANT TO ESTABLISH A

DISTINCTION BETWEEN

DOMESTICATION AND AGRICULTURE,

DOMESTICATION IS VERY OLD IN THE

AMAZON BUT IT IS A PROCESS THAT

DOES NOT NECESSARILY LEADS TO

AGRICULTURE.

BECAUSE DOMESTICATION IS A CO-

EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS (RINDOS 84),

MAYBE THERE WERE FEW SELECTIVE

PRESSURES FOR AGRICULTURE TO EMERGE,

TIME TO ABANDON THE WORD “INCIPIENT”,

RESOURCES WERE ABUNDANT AND WIDELY

DISTRIBUTED.

WIDESPREAD, “TRADITIONAL” MANIOC TROPICAL FOREST PATTERN MAY RESULT FROM EUROPEAN COLONIZATION

Soybean expansion frontier in Southern Amazon

SUMMING UP:

WHAT LOOK LIKE “TRADITIONAL

PATTERNS” CAN BE QUITE RECENT,

FARMING IS AN IDEOLOGICAL

IMPOSITION,

THE VALUE OF BEING “LAZY”.

“TROPICAL” IS NOT A NATURAL CONCEPT

HISTORICALLY IDENTIFIABLE AS WITH THE

CASE OF TROPICAL DISEASES:

MALARIA,

YELLOW FEVER,

DENGUE,

MAYBE AIDS IN THE FUTURE.

PRESSURES ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE

(INSTITUTO SOCIOAMBIENTAL 2009)

SANTO ANTONIO RAPIDS, 2008 (PHOTO E. NEVES)

PLACE WHERE SANTO ANTONIO RAPIDS USED TO

BE, MADEIRA RIVER, SW AMAZON (PHOTO SANTO ANTONIO ENERGIA)

GOLD MINING POTENTIAL IN THE UPPER TAPAJÓS BASIN

WHERE 7 HIDROELECTRIC DAMS ARE PLANNED http://lab.org.uk/day-of-terror

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