Sacred geographies of ancient Amazonia: historical ecology of social complexity

234 Pages·2016·13.854 MB·English

by  Schaan, Denise Pahl

Sacred GeoGraphieS of
ancient amazonia
new frontierS in hiStorical ecoloGy
dynamic new research in the genuinely interdisciplinary field of histori-
cal ecology is flourishing in restoration and landscape ecology, geog-
raphy, forestry and range management, park design, biology, cultural
anthropology, and anthropological archaeology. historical ecology cor-
rects the flaws of previous ecosystems and disequilibrium paradigms by
constructing transdisciplinary histories of landscapes and regions that
recognize the significance of human activity and the power of all forms
of knowledge. the preferred theoretical approach of younger scholars
in many social and natural science disciplines, historical ecology is also
being put into practice around the world by such organizations as the
UneSco. the series fosters the next generation of scholars offering
a sophisticated grasp of human-environmental interrelationships. the
series editors invite proposals for cutting edge books that break new
ground in theory or in the practical application of the historical ecology
paradigm to contemporary problems.
General Editors
william Balée, Tulane University
carole l. crumley, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Editorial Advisory Board
wendy ashmore, University of California, Riverside
peter Brosius, University of Georgia
lyle campbell, University of Utah
philippe descola, Collège de France
dave egan, Northern Arizona University
rebecca hardin, University of Michigan
edvard hviding, University of Bergen
william marquardt, University of Florida
Kenneth r. olwig, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Gustavo politis, Universidad de la Plata
nathan Sayre, University of California, Berkeley
Stephan Schwartzman, Environmental Defense Fund
Series Titles
Vol. 1: Social and Ecological History of the Pyrenees: State, Market, and
Landscape, ismael Vaccaro and oriol Beltran, eds.
Vol. 2: The Ten-Thousand Year Fever: Rethinking Human and Wild
Primate Malarias, loretta a. cormier
Vol. 3: Sacred Geographies of Ancient Amazonia: Historical Ecology of
Social Complexity, denise p. Schaan
Sacred GeoGraphieS of
ancient amazonia
historical ecology of Social
complexity
denise p. Schaan
walnut creek, california
Left Coast Press, InC.
1630 north Main street, #400
Walnut Creek, Ca 94596
http://www.LCoastPress.com
Copyright © 2012 by Left Coast Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced,
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the prior permission of the publisher.
IsBn 978-1-59874-505-4 hardcover
eIsBn 978-1-61132-799-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
schaan, Denise Pahl, 1962-
sacred geographies of ancient amazonia : historical ecology of social
complexity / Denise P. schaan.
p. cm. — (new frontiers in historical ecology; vol. 3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
IsBn 978-1-59874-505-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) —
IsBn 978-1-61132-799-1 (ebook)
1. Indians of south america—amazon river region—antiquities.
2. Indigenous peoples—ecology—amazon river region. 3. Human
geography—amazon river region. 4. social archaeology—amazon river
region. 5. Indian pottery—amazon river region. 6. Petrolgyphs—
amazon river region. 7. rock paintings—amazon river region.
8. amazon river region—antiquities. I. title.
f2519.1.a6s243 2011
981'.1—dc23
2011021600
Printed in the United states of america
the paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
american national standard for Information sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansI/nIso Z39.48–1992.
Cover design by Jane Burton
C
ontents
list of figures and table 7
1. introduction: historical ecology and archaeological
landscapes in amazonia 9
2. moving earth, managing water 29
3. land of the ancestors 79
4. ponds, lakes, and feasts: the cultural Geography of
anthropogenic Soils 105
5. marks on the earth: territoriality and memory 141
6. conclusion 177
references 195
index 221
about the author 233

L f t
ist of igures and abLe
figures
figure 1.1 map of amazonia 12
figure 1.2 painted rock walls in monte alegre 13
figure 1.3 State of amapá archaeological findings 23
figure 1.4 probable distribution of arawak and other
language groups 25
figure 2.1 marajó island environments 31
figure 2.2 marajó island cultural sequence 34
figure 2.3 eastern marajó island archaeological sites 35
figure 2.4 Upper Goiapi river sites 41
figure 2.5 excavation of an anthropomorphic burial vessel
at the casa Velha 2 site 43
figure 2.6 distribution of mounds along the camutins river 46
figure 2.7 distribution of mounds 54
figure 2.8 east-west cross-section of m-1 56
figure 2.9 clay floor in m-1 excavation 2 58
figure 2.10 features at m-1 58
figure 2.11 m-17 plan topographic map 61
figure 2.12 m-17 features 62
figure 3.1 Burials at m-17 mound 85
figure 3.2 realistic representations on marajoara pottery 87
figure 3.3 pottery decorated with geometric designs 88
figure 3.4 representations of snakes and/or snakeskin
patterns in marajoara art 89
figure 3.5 Joanes painted funerary vessels 93
figure 3.6 pacoval incised funerary urns 95
figure 3.7 tanga iconography 99
figure 3.8 figurines: Styles and patterns of breakage 103
figure 4.1 archaeological sites containing incised and
punctate tradition ceramic styles 114
figure 4.2 incised and punctate tradition ceramics 116
figure 4.3 (a) excavation of a bolsão at the port site,
Santarém; (B) terra preta do Jacú site, Belterra
plateau; (c) Serra do capiranga site; (d) pond
excavation at the zinha site 118
figure 4.4 Stone muiraquitãs from the museu do 127
forte collection
figure 4.5 Stone idols, Óbidos 129
figure 4.6 tapajó pottery 133
figure 5.1 face vessel 143
figure 5.2 Seu chiquinho and colorada ranch 144
figure 5.3 location of the ditched enclosures (geoglyphs)
in the upper purus basin 146
figure 5.4 examples of different site layouts 148
figure 5.5 Spatial distribution of site shapes 151
figure 5.6 fazenda iquiri site: mounds and ditched enclosure 153
figure 5.7 regional distribution of sites 154
figure 5.8 fazenda colorada plan 156
figure 5.9 fazenda atlântica vessel 158
figure 5.10 Beni raised fields, Bolivian amazonia 164
figure 5.11 map of the western amazonia showing the
locations of indigenous groups 174
table
table 5.1 radiocarbon dates 152
Chapter 1
I : H E
ntroductIon IstorIcal cology and
a l a
rcHaEologIcal andscapEs In mazonIa
ArcHaEology, as HIstory, offers a long-term perspective on society
and culture. However, archaeology is the only discipline capable of
recording the history of the societies that populated the pre-Columbian
Americas during the several millennia that preceded the European
conquest of the continent; with the exception of the Mayan Chilam
Balam books, the original Americans did not leave any other written
accounts.
This book is about the indigenous history of Amazonia—a history
that has been written by archaeologists, geographers, ethnobotanists,
soil scientists, ethnologists, and geologists—so it draws from diverse
fields of inquiry and multiple lines of evidence. As I narrate this history
I will define clearly both the information sources I used and the paths I
followed to build up this complex, beautiful, and yet incomplete mosaic
of life in the Amazonian tropical lowlands.
Human life in the moist South American tropics has been depicted
frequently as a model of adaptation. The image of savage tribes of
unclothed women, men, and children on the edge of starvation, sur-
viving in the mysterious and dangerous jungle that covers a significant
portion of most northern South American countries, is still part of the
western imagination. This picture has been formed by more than 400
years of confrontations between indigenous societies and intruders into
their lands. This image, however, is flawed, as it does not take into con-
sideration the history of the resistance and the struggle of native peoples
to maintain their cultures and defend their territories (Hemming 1978).
It does not portray a way of life that is a culmination of a profound
knowledge of plant and animal dynamics, crop domestication, hydraulic
management, soil mulching, earth moving, the invention of ceramics,
and other achievements that I will describe throughout the following
chapters. A new approach is in order, one that rescues the natives’ point
of view.
The historical ecology perspective allows for a portrait of indigenous
history that is both fair and in line with the available scientific evidence
(Balée 1998, 2006; Crumley 1994). Historical ecology takes into account
9