Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-30T20:44:49.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New evidence for late first-millennium AD stilt-house settlements in Eastern Amazonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2018

Alexandre Guida Navarro
Alexandre Guida Navarro*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Archeology, Federal University of Maranhão (LARQ/UFMA), São Luís Maranhão, Brazil (Email: altardesacrificios@yahoo.com.br)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Archaeological evidence for stilt-house settlements, or pile dwellings, has been recorded in diverse wet environments around the world. The first-millennium AD stilt-house villages in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, however, are poorly known. Difficulties in conducting archaeological investigations in seasonally flooded areas have restricted our ability to understand the societies that lived in these unique settlements. The results of recent fieldwork using non-invasive techniques to map, date and characterise these sites point towards a number of similarities and differences in their spatial organisation, material culture and social structure.

Keywords

AmazoniaMaranhãoBrazilfirst millennium ADstilt-house settlement
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 366 , December 2018 , pp. 1586 - 1603
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ab'Sáber, A.N. 2006. Brasil: paisagens de exceção: o litoral e o pantanal matogrossense: patrimônios básicos. São Paulo: Ateliê Editorial.Google Scholar
Andrus, C.F.T., Sandweiss, D.H. & Reitz, E.J.. 2008. Climate change and archaeology: the Holocene history of El Niño on the coast of Peru, in Reitz, E.J., Scarry, C.M. & Scudder, S.J. (ed.) Case studies in environmental archaeology: 143–57. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Arnold, D.E. 1985. Ceramic theory and cultural process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bahamón, A. & Álvarez, A.M.. 2009. Palafita: da Arquitectura Vernácula à Contemporânea. Lisbon: Argumentum.Google Scholar
Baldus, H. 1970. Tapirapé, tribo tupi no Brasil Central. São Paulo: Ed. Nacional.Google Scholar
Balée, W. 1994. Footprints of the forest: Ka´apor ethnobotany—the historical ecology of plant domestication by an Amazonian people. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Boomert, A. 1987. Gifts of the Amazon: green stones pendants and beads as item of ceremonial exchange in Amazonia and the Caribbean. Antropológica 67: 33–54.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865Google Scholar
Carneiro, R.L. 1970. A theory of the origin of state. Science 169: 733–38. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.169.3947.733Google Scholar
Colbacchini, A. & Albisetti, C.. 1942. Os borôros orientais. Orarimogodóque do planalto oriental do Mato Grosso. São Paulo: Ed. Nacional.Google Scholar
Corrêa, C.G., Machado, A.L. & Lopes, D.F.. 1991. As estearias do lago Cajari-MA. Anais do I Simpósio de Pré-História do Nordeste Brasileiro. Clio Série Arqueológica n. 4: 101–103. Recife: UFPE.Google Scholar
Correia Lima, O. & Aroso, O.C.L.. 1989. Pré-história maranhense. São Luís: Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Maranhão.Google Scholar
Daniel, J. 2004 [1722–1776]. Tesouro descoberto no Máximo Rio Amazonas: 1722–1776 (volume 1). Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto.Google Scholar
Deboer, W.R. & Lathrap, D.W.. 1979. The making and breaking of Shipibo-Conibo ceramics, in Kramer, C. (ed.) Ethnoarchaeology: the implications of ethnology for archaeology: 102–38. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Denevan, W. 1963. Additional comments on the earthworks of Mojos in northeastern Bolivia. American Antiquity 28: 540–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/278563Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1990. Style and iconography as legitimation in complex chiefdoms, in Conkey, M. & Hastorf, C. (ed.) The uses of style in archaeology: 73–81. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1991. Chiefdoms: power, economy, and ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ebersbach, R. 2013. Lake-dwelling in the Alpine region, in Menotti, F. & O'Sullivan, A. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of wetland archaeology: 283–301. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fénelon Costa, M.H. & Malhano, H.B.. 1986. Habitação indígena brasileira, in Ribeiro, D. (ed.) Suma etnológica Brasileira (volume 2): 27–94. Rio de Janeiro: Vozes, FINEP.Google Scholar
Franco, J.R.C. 2012. Segredos do rio Maracu. Aa hidrogeografia dos lagos de reentrâncias da Baixada Maranhense, sítio Ramsar, Brasil. Sao Luís: EDUFMA.Google Scholar
Frikel, P. 1973. Os Tiriyó. Seu sistema adaptativo. Hannover: Kommissionsverlag Münstermann—Druk, KG.Google Scholar
Gomes, D.M.C. 2017. Politics and ritual in large villages in Santarém, Lower Amazon, Brazil. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 27: 275–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774316000627Google Scholar
Granberry, J. 2013. Indigenous languages of the Caribbean, in Keegan, W., Hofman, C. & Ramos, R. Rodríguez (ed.) The Oxford handbook of Caribbean archaeology: 61–69. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hartman, C.V. 1907. Archaeological researches on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, in Holland, W.J. (ed.) Memoirs of Carnegie Museum (volume III): 188. Pittsburgh (PA): Carnegie Institute.Google Scholar
Heckenberger, M. 2005. The ecology of power: culture, place, and personhood in the southern Amazon, A.D. 1000–2000. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Heinen, H.D. 1988. OKO Warao: marshland people of the Orinoco Delta. Münster: Lit.Google Scholar
Helms, M.W. 1979. Ancient Panama. Chiefs in search of power. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Hogg, A., Huan, Q., Blackwell, P.G., Niu, M., Buck, C.E., Guilderson, T.P., Heaton, T.J., Palmer, J.G., Reimer, P.J., Reimer, R.W., Turney, C.S.M. & Zimmerman, S.R.H.M. 2013. SHCAL13 southern hemisphere calibration, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1889–1903. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16783Google Scholar
Hornborg, A. 2005. Ethnogenesis, regional integration, and ecology in prehistoric Amazonia: toward a system perspective. Current Anthropology 46: 589–620. https://doi.org/10.1086/431530Google Scholar
Isbell, W.H. 2008. Wari and Tiwanaku: international identities in the Central Andean Middle Horizon, in Silverman, H. & Isbell, W.H. (ed.) The handbook of South American archaeology: 731–60. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74907-5_37Google Scholar
Keegan, W.F. & Hofman, C.L.. 2017. The Caribbean before Columbus. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190605247.001.0001Google Scholar
Laraia, R. de B. 1972. Organização social dos Tupi contemporâneos. Brasília: Tese de doutorado, USP.Google Scholar
Lathrap, D.W. 1970. The Upper Amazon. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Leite Filho, D. 2010. Ocupações pré-coloniais no litoral e nas bacias lacustres do Maranhão, in Pereira, E. & Guapindaia, V. (ed.) Arqueologia amazônica (volume 2): 743–73. Belém: Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi/IPHAN/SECULT.Google Scholar
Lopes, R. 1916. O Torrão Maranhense. Rio de Janeiro: Typographia do Jornal do Commercio.Google Scholar
Lopes, R. 1924. A civilização lacustre do Brasil. Boletim do Museu Nacional 1: 87–109.Google Scholar
Lopes, R. 1970. Uma região tropical. Rio de Janeiro: Fon-Fon e Seleta.Google Scholar
Meggers, B.J. 1971. Amazonia: man and nature on a counterfeit paradise. Chicago (IL): Aldine.Google Scholar
Moraes, C. de P. & Neves, E.G.. 2012. O Ano 1000: Adensamento Populacional, Interação e Conflito na Amazônia Central. Amazônica: Revista de Antropologia 4: 122–48.Google Scholar
Navarro, A.G. 2013. O povo das águas: carta arqueológica das estearias da porção centro-norte da baixada maranhense. Cadernos de Pesquisa 20: 57–65.Google Scholar
Navarro, A.G. 2016. O complexo cerâmico das estearias, Maranhão, in Barreto, C., Lima, H.L. & Betancourt, C.J. (ed.) Cerâmicas arqueológicas da Amazônia: rumo a uma nova síntese: 158–69. Belém: Museu Emilio Goeldi e IPHAN 1.Google Scholar
Navarro, A.G., da Costa, M.L, da Silva, A.S.N.F., Angélica, R.S., Rodrigues, S.S. & Gouveia Neto, J.C.. 2017. O muiraquitã da estearia da Boca do Rio, Santa Helena, Maranhão: estudo arqueológico, mineralógico e simbólico. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas 12: 869–94.Google Scholar
Nimuendaju, C. 1944. A habitação dos Timbira. Revista do Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional 8: 76–101.Google Scholar
Pauketat, T. 2007. Chiefdoms and other archaeological delusions. Lanham (MD): Altamira.Google Scholar
Pereira do Lago, B. 2001 [1872]. Itinerário da província do Maranhão. São Paulo: Editora Siciliano.Google Scholar
Petersen, J., Neves, E., Bartone, R. & Silva, C.. 2003. Historical and socio-cultural origins of Amazonian Dark Earths, in Lehmann, J., Kern, D., Glaser, B. & Woods, W. (ed.) Amazonian Dark Earths: origin, properties, management: 1–45. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Pétrequin, P. 2013. Lake-dwelling in the Alpine region, in Menotti, F. & O'Sullivan, A. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of wetland archaeology: 254–67. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Politis, G. 2003. The theoretical landscape and the methodological development of archaeology in Latin America. Latin American Antiquity 14: 115–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/3557591Google Scholar
Porro, A. 1992. As crônicas do rio amazonas. Notas etno-históricas sobre as antigas populações indígenas da Amazônia. Petrópolis: Vozes.Google Scholar
Prous, A. 1992. Arqueologia brasileira. Brasília: UnB.Google Scholar
Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1971. Amazonian cosmos. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rice, P.M. 1987. Pottery analysis. A sourcebook. Chicago (IL): Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, R. 2013. Isthmo-Antillean engagements, in Keegan, W., Hofman, C. & Ramos, R. Rodríguez (ed.) The Oxford handbook of Caribbean archaeology: 155–70. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A.C. 1988. Interpreting certain female images in prehistoric art, in Miller, V.E. (ed.) The role of gender in precolumbian art and architecture: 1–34. Lanham (MD): University Press of America.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A.C. 1991. Mound-builders of the Amazon: geophysical archaeology on Marajo Island, Brazil. San Diego (CA): Academic.Google Scholar
Rudovsky, B. 2003. Architecture without architects: a short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Schaan, D. 2010. Sobre os cacicados amazônicos: sua vida breve e sua morte anunciada. Jangwa Pana 9: 45–64.Google Scholar
Schaan, D.P. 2004. The Camutins chiefdom. Rise and development of complex societies on Marajo Island, Brazilian Amazon. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Pittsburgh University.Google Scholar
Shepard, A.O. 1956. Ceramics for the archaeologist (publication 609). Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.Google Scholar
Simões, M.F. 1981. As pesquisas arqueológicas no Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (1870–1981). Acta Amazonica 11: 149–65. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-43921981111s149Google Scholar
Snarskis, M.J. 1979. El jade de Talamancas de Tibas. Vínculos. Revista de Antropología del Museo Nacional de Costa Rica 5: 89–107.Google Scholar
Staden, H. 2006. Duas Viagens ao Brasil. São Paulo: Martins Claret.Google Scholar
Vieira, S., Trumbore, S., Camargo, P.B., Selhorst, D., Chambers, J.Q., Higuchi, N. & Martinelli, L.A.. 2005. Slow growth rates of Amazonian trees: consequences for carbon cycling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 102: 18502–507. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0505966102Google Scholar
Widmer, R.J. 1988. The evolution of the Calusa: a non-agricultural chiefdom on the southwest Florida coast. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Wüst, I. & Barreto, C.. 1999. The ring villages of central Brazil: a challenge for Amazonian archaeology. Latin American Antiquity 10: 1–23. https://doi.org/10.2307/972208Google Scholar