Eduardo Góes Neves

The domestication of Amazonia before European conquest.

During the twentieth century, Amazonia was widely regarded as relatively pristine nature, little impacted by human history. This view remains popular despite mounting evidence of substantial human influence over millennial scales across the region. Here, we review the evidence of an anthropogenic Amazonia in response to claims of sparse populations across broad portions of the region. Amazonia was a major centre of crop domestication, with at least 83 native species containing populations domesticated to some degree. Plant domestication occurs in domesticated landscapes, including highly modified Amazonian dark earths (ADEs) associated with large settled populations and that may cover greater than 0.1% of the region. Populations and food production expanded rapidly within land management systems in the mid-Holocene, and complex societies expanded in resource-rich areas creating domesticated landscapes with profound impacts on local and regional ecology. ADE food production projections support estimates of at least eight million people in 1492. By this time, highly diverse regional systems had developed across Amazonia where subsistence resources were created with plant and landscape domestication, including earthworks. This review argues that the Amazonian anthrome was no less socio-culturally diverse or populous than other tropical forested areas of the world prior to European conquest.

The Timing of Terra Preta Formation in the Central Amazon: Archaeological Data from Three Sites

We present here chronological data on the timing and rate of terra preta formation at three archaeological sites located near the confluence of the Negro and Solimoes Rivers, in the central Amazon of Brazil. We have been studying pre-Columbian indigenous archaeology in this area since 1995 within the framework of the Central Amazon Project (CAP) (e.g., Heckenberger et al. 1999; Neves 2000; Petersen et al. 2001). This research has identified more than 40 archaeological sites thus far, of which four (Acutuba, Osvaldo, Lago Grande, and Hatahara) have been tested and mapped in some detail (Fig. 9.1).

Ecology, Ceramic Chronology and Distribution, Long-term History, and Political Change in the Amazonian Floodplain

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries AD, when the first Europeans ventured into the Amazon, they described the presence of settlements placed along the rivers, sometimes so large that one would have to travel several miles to pass by their full extent. On those settlements, according to the sources, one would find paramount chiefs who commanded vast areas, including other settlements, and were able to mobilize large numbers of warriors. In some places settlements were surrounded by palisades, further evidence that warfare was fairly common at the time. Other chroniclers also speak of the beauty of the pottery, which they compare favorably to the pottery of Malaga (Papavero, Teixeira, Overal and Pujol-Luz 2002; Porro 1993, 1994). Five hundred years later, much of what we know about the ways of living of the settled societies along the floodplains of the Amazon and its major tributaries still comes from early colonial reports. Thus, much of their pre-colonial history is still marred in speculations: were these powerful chiefdoms that descended from groups that occupied those settings continuously for thousands of years (Carneiro 1995; Lathrap 1970; Roosevelt 1991a)? Or were these reports merely ideological propaganda aimed at securing funds in Europe for other forays in this vast area (Meggers 1993–95)? It will be a while before a coherent picture of the archaeology of the Amazonian floodplain emerges despite a noticeable increase in first-hand archaeological research in the archaeology of the area starting in the early 1990s (Erickson 2000, 2005a, 2005b; Gomes 2002, 2005; Guapindaia

De onde surgem os modelos? As origens e expansões Tupi na Amazônia Central

Este artigo apresenta subsidios arqueologicos para o debate - revisitado por Franciso Noelli, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro e Greg Urban nas paginas da Revista de Antropologia - sobre a suposta origem das linguas do tronco Tupi na Amazonia central. Apresentamos aqui os resultados preliminares de nossas pesquisas arqueologicas na area de confluencia dos rios Negro e Solimoes que levantam restricoes as premissas arqueologicas desse modelo, primeiramente apresentadas por Donald Lathrap em 1970.

Phytolith assemblages along a gradient of ancient human disturbance in western Amazonia

The ecological status of prehistoric Amazonian forests remains widely debated. The concept of ancient Amazonia as a pristine wilderness is largely discredited, but the alternative hypothesis of extensive anthropogenic landscape remains untested in many regions. We assessed the degree of ancient human impacts across western Amazonia based on archaeological and paleoecological data using methodologies that would allow inter-regional comparisons. We also aimed to establish baselines for estimating the legacies of ancient disturbances on modern vegetation. We analyzed charcoal and phytolith assemblages from soil samples from an archaeological site, sites in close proximity to archaeological sites, sites from riverine and interfluvial forests, and a biological research station believed to contain some of the least disturbed forests within Amazonia. We then quantitatively compared phytolith assemblages within and between the surveyed regions. Palm enrichment was evident at the archaeological site, and the biological station survey contained little to no evidence of ancient human activity. The other sites exhibited a gradient of ancient disturbance across the landscape. The phytolith assemblages showed statistically significant between-region variations that indicated our metrics were sufficiently sensitive to detecting ancient disturbance. Our data highlight the spatial heterogeneity of ancient human disturbances in Amazonian forests. The quantification of these disturbances provides empirical data and a more concrete link between the composition of the modern forest and ancient disturbance regimes. Accounting for ancient disturbances will allow a deeper understanding of the landscape heterogeneity observed in the modern forests.

Phytoliths and Terra Preta: The Hatahara Site Example

In this chapter analyses the results from soils sampled in the Hatahara archaeological site. The first objective of this proposal was to determine if the Hatahara had an agricultural field during the pre-Columbian times and, if validated the agricultural use of the land, to identify the plants that were cultivated in the past. The general site characteristics and location were presented in earlier chapters (see Rebellato et al. Chapter 2 in this volume; Arroyo-Kalin Chapter 3 in this volume). The samples were collected from a ca. 1.5 m column through one of the site’s mounds (M-I; see Fig. 2.2 this volume). The mound is associated with the Paredão phase occupation of the site. The mound was constructed with dark earth soil from the surrounding area that had developed during the previous Manacapuru occupation (see Machado 2005). Consequently, the archaeological materials, including the phytoliths, found within it are not in situ and are from the disturbed context developed by this earthmoving operation ca. 1,000 years ago. Even the terra preta below the mound is not in primary context. It was disturbed by a burial program that occurred during Manacapuru phase c500 years before the construction of the mound. A total of 22 skeletons was recovered from the submound context. So, there are basically two contexts represented by these samples: (1) The redeposited materials from within the mound; and (2) The turbated materials found below the mound. The latter are at least close to their original place of deposition and were sealed by the mound. Within the mound the materials are most likely in inverse stratigraphic/temporal position and come from a much wider area. In spite of the disturbed context for these samples it is felt that the study was available one in that it demonstrated the array of useful plants found in association with the occupations of the Hatahara site. As will be seen the phytolith data derived from this study (one of the very few so far in Amazonia) are in conformance with the stance of that a broadlybased subsistence strategy was operant in the Central Amazon during the preColumbian period.

Analytical electron microscopy of black carbon and microaggregated mineral matter in Amazonian dark Earth.

Black carbon (BC) is one of the most stable forms of soil organic matter. Its surface functional groups and structure have been well characterized by a range of analytical methods. However, little is known about the mechanisms of interactions between the BC particles and the surrounding mineral matter. In this paper a range of microscopy techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy, were used to investigate the possible reactions of BC particles within microaggregates (<2 mm) found in Amazonian dark Earth. Attention is given to the interactions that occur at the interfacial regions between the organic and inorganic phases. Examination of Amazonian dark Earth showed that the carbon‐rich phase detected within the BC particles has a significant calcium concentration and a high density of micropores was found at the BC–mineral interface. These observations provide evidence to support suggested mechanisms of interaction between these phases.

Preliminary Compositional Evidence of Provenance of Ceramics from Hatahara Archaeological Site, Central Amazonia

One hundred twenty four ceramic fragments and six clay samples from the Hatahara archaeological site in Amazonas state, Brazil, were analyzed using instrumental neutron activation analysis, INAA, to determine the concentration of twenty chemical elements: Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Rb, Sc, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb, and Zn. The dataset was submitted to multivariate statistical analysis. The classification was done by cluster analysis and discriminant analysis. The results demonstrated the occurrence of four different groups of ceramics, which represent three archaeological phases: Paredao, Manacapuru, and Guarita. This data is consistent with previous traditional petrographic examination of the ceramic samples. Based on probability measures, the great majority of the ceramics are considered to be local in origin.

Comparison of INAA elemental composition data between Lago Grande and Osvaldo archaeological sites in the central Amazon: a first perspective

In this work, 50 ceramic fragments from the Lago Grande and 30 from the Osvaldo archaeological site were compared to assess elemental similarities. The aim is to perform a preliminary comparison between the sites, which are located in the central Amazon, Brazil. The analytical technique employed to obtain the ceramics elemental composition was instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The data set obtained was explored by the multivariate statistical techniques of cluster, principal component and discriminant analysis. The analyzed elements were: Na, Lu, U, Yb, La, Th, Cr, Cs, Sc, Fe, Eu, Ce and Hf. The results showed the existence of at least two compositional groups for Lago Grande and Osvaldo. Each compositional group of Osvaldo archaeological site matches with one group of Lago Grande. Correlated with the archaeological background, the results suggest commercial or cultural exchange in the region, which is an indicative of socio-cultural interactions between those sites.

Study of exchange networks between two Amazon archaeological sites by INAA

This work comprises the utilization of instrumental neutron activation analysis to determine the concentration of 24 chemical elements in pottery shards from two large archaeological sites in central Amazon, Lago Grande and Osvaldo. The multidimensional data set was analyzed by cluster and principal component analysis for defining chemical groups of pottery. The results were correlated to potential exchange networks driven by three mechanisms: trade, exogamic marriage and territorial integration in the region. All of them have important consequences for archaeological research regarding the Amazonian pre-colonial occupation.