Institute of Archaeology
ARCL. 3060 Ancient Societies of Amazonia, South America Course Handout
(0.5 Units, 2ND AND 3RD Year Option)
Dr. José R. Oliver (course coordinator/lecturer)
Tuesdays, 9-11 AM
IoA, Room 104 j.oliver@ucl.ac.uk
Tel. (020) 7679 1524
1. OVERVIEW
1A. Course Overview
This course is designed to introduce Amazonian archaeology to 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate
students. It is assumed that students will have had very limited or no prior knowledge of the
archaeological data available from the world’s largest tropical rainforest and at best a passing
acquaintance with South American archaeology. The principal aim of the course is thus to provide an
overview of the principal research questions and datasets that shape archaeological understandings
of pre-Columbian Amazonia.
1B. Methods of Assessment
This course is assessed by means of two, each of 2375-2625 words; each contribute 50% to
the final grade for the course.
1C. Teaching Methods
The course consists of 20 one-hour lectures supported by PowerPoints. Before attending the
lectures, students should read the recommended readings for each session (a total of approximately
80 hours of reading). The reading list is current to January 2015 but small modifications will most
likely be introduced as the course proceeds. In addition, 2 two-hour tutorials will take place. At
tutorials, essential course topics already presented in the lectures will be reviewed and/or
expanded. Thus students should also read the recommended readings assigned for tutorials (a total
of approximately 4 hours) before each meeting. The lecture series will conclude with a review
lecture in which students will be asked to discuss specific topics that round-up knowledge acquired
during the course. If the opportunity arises, a guest scholar will be asked to lecture in a regular class
meeting.
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1D. Student Workload
The total workload is about 188 hours (the equivalent of a 1/2 Unit). There will be 20 hours of
lectures and 4 hours of tutorials. Students are expected to undertake about 84 hours of reading plus
84 hours producing assessed essay work.
2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
2A. Course Aims and Objectives
The principal aim of the course is to provide an overview of the principal research questions and
datasets that shape archaeological understandings of pre-Columbian Amazonia. The course focuses
on assessing the merits of contrasting theoretical perspectives against actual evidence. While the
evidence examined is primarily archaeological, it will become evident that it is tightly linked to
theories and hypotheses as well as data that emerge from anthropology (ethnology), ethnohistory,
human/cultural ecology, ecology and geography. Almost all key issues revolve around three major
questions: (1) Who were the ancestors of present-day indigenous peoples of Amazonia? (2) When
and what kinds of adaptation were developed by ancient Amazonians, and to what extent these
modified/shaped the landscape of the region? (3) When, how and why societies became (or not)
sedentary and dependent on agriculture?
The principal aims are:
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To introduce students to the key arguments regarding the historical development of ancient
societies in Amazonia.
To familiarize students with the strengths/weaknesses of historical, evolutionary and
historical ecological models for Amazonia that can be of value when compared to ancient
societies of other moist tropical regions of the world. To sensitize students on major issues
of rainforest sustainability, conservation, management and protection of native life-ways.
To teach students to criticize and evaluate interpretations of archaeological data.
To provide students with experience in critical assessment of the archaeological evidence.
To provide students with experience in using essential principles of interpretation that can
be applied in their own research (e.g. BA dissertations).
2B. Learning Outcomes
Students will become familiar with the key literature and source materials for each topic of
discussion. At the end of this course, the successful student should be able to recognize and
understand what are the principal questions and problems that archaeologists have wrestled with in
Amazonian archaeology and, via essay writing, critically evaluate how effectively archaeologists have
addressed and dealt with the issues at hand. Students should also be able to evaluate and discuss
whether the explanations provided by archaeologists fit the data or not, and recognize the character
and nature of the evidence (e.g., material culture: artefacts, ecofacts, pottery styles,
palaeoecological observations, anthropogenic landscape transformations).
2C. Course Work Assessment
Work will be assessed by means of two essays on topics covered during the Term (each one 50%
of grade). The first essay is due on 28 February 2015 and the second on 23 April 2015. The length of
each essay should range between 2,375 and 2,625 words or an average of 2500 words (bibliography
excluded). Penalties will only be imposed if you exceed 2,625 words. (There is no penalty for using
fewer words than 2,375: the lower figure is simply for your guidance to indicate the sort of length
that is expected.) The following are not included in the word-count: title page, contents pages, lists
of figure and tables, abstract, preface, acknowledgements, bibliography, lists of references, captions
and contents of tables and figures, appendices. Students are not allowed to re-write or re-submit
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essays in order to improve their marks. Students are encouraged to submit well ahead of the
deadline an outline (but not a draft) of each essay for comments/suggestions. Students are strongly
encouraged to consult and/or inform the course coordinator of their selection of each essay
question before engaging in literature research and writing.
2D. Course Work Submission (Turnitin)
Coursework should be submitted by the midnight of the appropriate deadline, as follows: An
electronic copy of the course work needs to be submitted via TurnitIn (the time of this submission
will constitute the effective date-stamp of coursework submission). The necessary details are:
Turnitin ID: 783241; Password: IoA1415
A hard copy of the course work, typed in a word processor, needs to be placed in the Red Essay Box
at Reception. This copy must be stapled to a completed coversheet (available from the web, from
outside Room 411A or from the library).
3. SCHEDULE AND SYLLABUS
Lectures will be held 9:00-11:00 AM on Tuesdays, in Room B-13. The time, date and place of the
Tutorial sessions will be established after agreement is reached between students and the coursecoordinator.
The Course Outline and the Detailed Syllabus of the course start on page 1 below.
4. READING MATERIALS, LIBRARIES AND ON LINE RESOURCES.
Some of the books (Teaching Collection) are located at the Issue Desk of the Institute's Library.
Another UCL Library which contains the required/recommended readings listed in the course
syllabus is the DMS 'Watson' Science Library, primarily in the 'Anthropology', 'History', and
'Geography' sections. A Dropbox with many of the readings downloaded from UCL-EXPLORE (i.e., via
SFX button), as well as additional manuscripts, will be set up. You may copy the
articles/papers/books for personal/private use, but for copyright reasons you may NOT distribute
them in any format. If in doubt follow the same rules as you would when downloading/photocopying
photographs and materials. For the most part, the reading materials are very accessible and do not
require photocopies to be placed at the Issue Desk. If you encounter any difficulties in obtaining the
reading materials, PLEASE feel free to contact the course coordinator. An extended bibliography is
found from page 25 onward (detailed syllabus).
5. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
5A. Information for intercollegiate and interdepartmental students
Students enrolled in Departments outside the Institute should obtain the Institute’s coursework
guidelines from Judy Medrington, which will also be available on the IoA website. Please note that
according to the digital licence, the on-line readings are only available to the UCL’s students and
staff. Intercollegiate students taking courses with online readings lists and electronic materials
should contact Judy Medrington (j.medrington@ucl.ac.uk) to be registered for a college IS username
and password. This should be done when students register for the course.
5B. Information for all Students
Students should be thoroughly familiar with their relevant Yrs. 2 or 3 General Undergraduate
Handbooks available from the Institute’s Intranet (you need to have a registered username +
password) at: https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/archadmin/For+Undergraduate+Students
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5C. IoA -COURSE HANDBOOK- PRÉCIS (2014-15)
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 2014-15 (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)
This section provides a short précis of policies and procedures relating to courses. It is not a
substitute for the full documentation, with which all students should become familiar. For full
information on Institute policies and procedures, see the following website:
http://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/archadmin
For UCL policies and procedures, see the Academic Regulations and the UCL Academic Manual:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/srs/academic-regulations ; http://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/
GENERAL MATTERS
ATTENDANCE: A minimum attendance of 70% is required, except in case of illness or other adverse
circumstances which are supported by medical certificates or other documentation. A register will be taken at
each class. If you are unable to attend a class, please notify the lecturer by email.
DYSLEXIA: If you have dyslexia or any other disability, please discuss with your lecturers whether there is any
way in which they can help you. Students with dyslexia should indicate it on each coursework cover sheet.
*NOTE: Please be aware that Dr. José R. Oliver (Course coordinator) is hard of hearing and uses hearing aids.
COURSEWORK
SUBMISSION PROCEDURES: You must submit a hardcopy of coursework to the Coordinator's pigeon-hole via
the Red Essay Box at Reception (or, in the case of first year undergraduate work, to room 411a) by stated
deadlines. Coursework must be stapled to a completed coversheet (available from IoA website; the rack
outside Room 411A; or the Library). You should put your Candidate Number (a 5 digit alphanumeric code,
found on Portico. Please note that this number changes each year) and Course Code on all coursework. It is
also essential that you put your Candidate Number at the start of the title line on Turnitin,
followed by the short title of the coursework (example: YBPR6 Funerary practices).
LATE SUBMISSION: Late submission is penalized in accordance with UCL regulations, unless prior permission
for late submission has been granted and an Extension Request Form (ERF) completed. The penalties are as
follows: i) A penalty of 5 percentage marks should be applied to coursework submitted the calendar day after
the deadline (calendar day 1); ii) A penalty of 15 percentage marks should be applied to coursework submitted
on calendar day 2 after the deadline through to calendar day 7; iii) A mark of zero should be recorded for
coursework submitted on calendar day 8 after the deadline through to the end of the second week of third
term. Nevertheless, the assessment will be considered to be complete provided the coursework contains
material than can be assessed; iv) Coursework submitted after the end of the second week of third term will
not be marked and the assessment will be incomplete.
TURNITIN: Date-stamping is via Turnitin, so in addition to submitting hard copy, you must also submit your
work to Turnitin by midnight on the deadline day. If you have questions or problems with Turnitin, contact
ioa-turnitin@ucl.ac.uk.
RETURN OF COURSEWORK AND RESUBMISSION: You should receive your marked coursework within four
calendar weeks of the submission deadline. If you do not receive your work within this period, or a written
explanation, notify the Academic Administrator. When your marked essay is returned to you, return it to the
Course Co-ordinator within two weeks. You must retain a copy of all coursework submitted.
WORD LENGTH: Essay word-lengths are normally expressed in terms of a recommended range. Not included in
the word count are the bibliography, appendices, tables, graphs, captions to figures, tables, graphs. You must
indicate word length (minus exclusions) on the cover sheet. Exceeding the maximum word-length expressed
for the essay will be penalized in accordance with UCL penalties for over-length work.
CITING OF SOURCES and AVOIDING PLAGIARISM: Coursework must be expressed in your own words, citing
the exact source (author, date and page number; website address if applicable) of any ideas, information,
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diagrams, etc., that are taken from the work of others. This applies to all media (books, articles, websites,
images, figures, etc.). Any direct quotations from the work of others must be indicated as such by being
placed between quotation marks. Plagiarism is a very serious irregularity, which can carry heavy penalties. It is
your responsibility to abide by requirements for presentation, referencing and avoidance of plagiarism. Make
sure you understand definitions of plagiarism and the procedures and penalties as detailed in UCL regulations:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/current-students/guidelines/plagiarism
RESOURCES
MOODLE: Please ensure you are signed up to the course on Moodle. For help with Moodle, please contact
Nicola Cockerton, Room 411a (nicola.cockerton@ucl.ac.uk).
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ARCL.3059 Ancient Societies of Amazonia, South America –
Week I.
Session 1.
Session 2.
Synopsis of Course Content 2015
13 January
Introduction to the course
The Landscape of Amazonia Part 1
Week II.
Session 3.
Session 4.
20 January
The Landscape of Amazonia Part 2
Indigenous human geography of Amazonia in historical perspective
Week III.
Session 5.
Session 6.
27 January
History of Amazonian Archaeology I: Counterfeit Paradise or Throbbing Heart?
History of Amazonian Archaeology II: the Landscape Twist
Week IV.
Session 7.
Session 8.
03 February
Reconstructing the paleo-landscape of Amazonia
Colonizing Amazonia: foragers, ceramists, and farmers
Week V.
Session 9.
Session 10.
10 February
The Formative in Amazonia
From villages to complex polities in Amazonia
STUDY WEEK: 16-20 February
Week VI.
Session 11.
Session 12.
24 February [guest lecturer- Dr. Manuel Arroyo]
Shaping subsistence landscapes in pre-Columbian Amazonia (Part-1)
Shaping subsistence landscapes in pre-Columbian Amazonia (Part-2)
Week VII.
Session 13.
Session 14.
03 March
Regions in Focus 1: Marajó and the Guyanas
Regions in Focus 2: The Tapajós, Central Amazon and northwest Amazonia
Week VIII.
Session 15.
Session 16.
10 March
Regions in Focus 3: The Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon
Regions in Focus 4: Western Brazil (Acre) and the Llanos of Bolivia (Mojos-Baurés)
Week IX.
Session 17.
Session 18.
17 March
Regions in Focus 5: The Madeira and Xingu Basins
Life and death in Amazonia
Week X.
Session 19
Sessions 20.
24 March
Revisiting Language and Archaeology in Amazonia
Revisiting Social Complexity in Amazonia & Course Overview
ESSAY NO. 1 DUE 28 FEBRUARY 2015
ESSAY NO. 2 DUE 23 APRIL 2015
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ARCL.3060
Ancient Societies of Amazonia,
South America
Term 2, 2015
Dr. José R. Oliver
Office: Room 104
Email: j.oliver@ucl.ac.uk
Tel. (020) 7679 1524
Office Hours: As posted on office door
GENERAL REFERENCE SOURCES
Silverman, H. & W. H. Isbell, editors (2008). Handbook of South American Archaeology. New York:
Springer.
This is the most recent comprehensive textbook of South American Archaeology to date. It includes an
extensive coverage of the lowlands, including Amazonia. The book is organized by topics rather than by
chronology or culture areas.
Heckenberger, M. J. & E. G. Neves (2009). Amazonian Archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology,
38, 251-266.
McEwan, C. Barreto & E. G. Neves, editors (2001). Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st
ed., pp. 232-251). London: The British Museum Press.
This is an excellent reference with both syntheses and topical chapters on Amazonian archaeology.
Steward, Julian H., general editor, (1948-1951). Handbook of South American Indians.
Bulletin No. 143 Vols. I - VII, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution.
Washington D.C.
This reference is still the essential "indexed" source where you can obtain the basic details for the diversity
of natives of South America, including ethnohistory, archaeology, and linguistics. The archaeology, however,
is of interest only from the perspective of the history of this discipline, as it is obviously outdated.
Reading Assignments
Most journal articles can be downloaded from internet via UCL EXPLORE (SFX). Ask librarian or course
coordinator if you have never used this service. A Dropbox with hard-to-find references will be shared
with students. These are NOT for distribution and only for persona/private use for copyright reason. If in
doubt, follow the same rules for downloading from UCL electronic journals (e.g., JSTOR) or ask me.
Required reading materials are preceded by two symbols, as follows:
Required Reading
• Recommended/Additional Reading (e.g., for essay research and further study)
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Week I.
Session 1.
13 January
Introduction to the course
During this session the general aims and objectives of the course will be discussed and a
skeleton outline of how the course is structured will be presented. Coursework requirements – including
tutorials, essay deadlines, and modes of assessment – will be explained. Time will be devoted to answer
potential questions about the overall scope of the course, to organize the tutorials, and to answer
questions from students.
Session 2.
The Landscape of Amazonia -Part 1
The Amazonian biome extends over a vast region that comprises different contexts for human
inhabitation. Appraising the evidence for past human inhabitation in Amazonia and assessing some of
the claims advanced by specific theoretical models, demands understanding the many particularities of
this variegated landscape. The session will focus on the characteristics of the 'natural' environment of
Amazonia. In order to explore the major habitats of the humid tropical lowlands, we will examine
aspects of the geology and geomorphology of the Amazon basin, with special attention to the formation
of its river systems and the characteristics of the soils of the region. We will also examine the variability
observed in the basin’s potential vegetation, which among others types includes rainforest and
savannah formations. Lastly, we will conduct a broad overview of the plants, fauna, and other resources
that constitute sources of subsistence, raw materials, medicine, etc. in the tropical lowlands. The
contents of this lecture provide an essential backdrop to discussions of past social formations and
historical ecology. They are also key to make sense of the evidence presented in subsequent lectures on
landscape history, inhabitation, and transformation.
Required Readings
Piperno, D. R., & Pearsall, D. (1998). The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics. San Diego:
Academic Press. (pp. 39-72).
Pärssinen, M. H., Salo, J. S., & Räsänen, M. E. (1996). River floodplain relocations and the
abandonment of Aborigine settlements in the Upper Amazon Basin: A historical case study of San
Miguel de Cunibos at the Middle Ucayali River. Geoarchaeology, 11(4), 345-359.
Recommended Readings
• Moran, E. F. (1993). Through Amazonian Eyes: the Human Ecology of Amazonian Populations. Iowa
city: University of Iowa Press.
• Daly, D. C., & Mitchell, J. (2000). Lowland vegetation of tropical South America: an overview. In: D. L.
Lentz (Ed.), Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian Americas (pp. 391–
454). New York: Columbia University Press.
• Whitmore, T. M. (1998). An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests (p. 296). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Week II.
Session 3.
20 January
The Landscape of Amazonia -Part 2
Conclusion of lecture Session 2.
Required Readings
Porro, A. (1994). Social organization and political power in the Amazon Floodplain : the
ethnohistorical sources. In A. C. Roosevelt (Ed.), Amazonian Indians: From Prehistory to the Present.
Anthropological Perspectives (pp. 79–94). Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
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Barreto, C., & Machado, J. (2001). Exploring the Amazon, explaining the unknown: views from the
past. In C. McEwan, C. Barreto & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient
Brazil (1st ed., pp. 232-251). London: The British Museum Press.
Session 4.
Indigenous human geography of Amazonia in historical perspective
Questions stemming from the comparison of archaeological evidence, ethnographic
observations, ethnohistorical and linguistic records are common in Americanist archaeology.
Ethnographic evidence provides examples of lifeways that are specific to particular regions and which
putatively show some historical continuity with pre-Columbian practices. Ethnohistorical records
provide archaeological questions about indigenous societies in the first centuries of European
colonization. Historical linguistic data raise archaeological questions about the geographic and demic
spread and interactions among different speech groups and material cultures. Archaeology can
critically scrutinize ethnohistorical records and also help to provide a historical dimension to
ethnographic observations. These considerations are particularly important in the Amazon basin, which
is home to an impressive array of diverse indigenous cultures. Amidst this great diversity, however,
there exists striking similarities among groups from far-apart region. The geographical distribution of
cultural traits has long puzzled Amazonian scholars to the point that some of the most important
models of pre-Columbian Amazonia are based on specific readings of this evidence. In this session, we
will examine in broad strokes ethnographic and linguistic knowledge about indigenous peoples of
Amazonia, highlighting continuities and discontinuities with the ethnohistorical record. The contrast
between ethnographic and ethnohistorical sources makes questions about pre- Columbian social
complexity into a cherished subject in Amazonian studies. However, to what extent do we understand
social complexity of present-day indigenous societies of Amazonia? In this lecture we will examine some
of the key ethnographic studies that highlight social organization among present-day Amazonian
societies. The overview will also provide an opportunity to highlight ethnographically-recorded
settlement styles and subsistence practices.
Required Reading
Steward, J. (1948). Culture areas of the tropical rainforest. In J Steward (Ed.), Handbook of South
American Indians: the Tropical Forest tribes (Vol. 3, pp. 883–903). Washington DC: Bureau of
American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution.
Epps, P. (2009). Language Classification, Language Contact, and Amazonian Prehistory, 2, 581– 606.
Lathrap, D. W. (1970). The Upper Amazon. Southampton: Thames & Hudson. Chapter 4.
Oberg, K. (1955). Types of Social Structure among the Lowland Tribes of South and Central America.
American Anthropologist, 57(3), 472-487.
Recommended Reading:
• Dixon, R. M. W., & Aikhenvald, A. (Eds.). (1999). The Amazonian languages. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
• Lathrap, D. W. (1968). The "hunting" economies of the tropical forest zone of South America: an
attempt at historical perspective. In R. Lee & I. DeVore (Eds.), Man the Hunter (pp. 23- 29). Chicago:
Aldine Publishing Company.
• Lévi-Strauss, C. (1993). The notion of Archaism in Anthropology. In C. Lévi-Strauss (Ed.), Structural
Anthropology (Vol. 1, pp. 346-380). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
• Hill, J. D. (1996). Ethnogenesis in the northwest Amazon: an emerging regional picture. In J. D. Hill
(Ed.), History, power, and identity. Ethnogenesis in the Americas, 1492-1992 (pp. 142- 160). Iowa
City: University of Iowa Press.
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Lowie, R. H. (1948). The tropical forests: an introduction. In J. H. Steward (Ed.), Handbook of
South American Indians: the Tropical Forest Tribes (Vol. 3, pp. 1–56). Washington DC: Bureau
of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution.
Moran, E. F. (1991). Human adaptive strategies in Amazonian blackwater ecosystems. American
Anthropologist, 13(2), 361–382.
Nimuendajú, C. (1987). Mapa etno-histórico de Curt Nimuendajú. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE.
(http://biblio.wdfiles.com/local--files/nimuendaju-1981mapa/nimuendaju_1981_mapa.jpg)
Oberg, K. (1955). Types of Social Structure among the Lowland Tribes of South and Central America.
American Anthropologist, 57(3), 472-487.
Walker, R. and L. Ribeiro (2010). Bayesian phylogeography of the Arawak expansion in lowland
South America. Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2579
Whitehead, N. L. (1994). The ancient Amerindian polities of the Amazon, the Orinoco and the
Atlantic Coast: a preliminary analysis of their passage from antiquity to extinction. In A. C. Roosevelt
(Ed.), Amazonian Indians, from Prehistory to the Present. Anthropological perspectives (pp. 3353).Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.
Week III.
Session 5.
27 January
History of Amazonian Archaeology: Counterfeit Paradise or Pumping Heart?
Many questions in Amazonian archaeology originate from the history of research in the
region. Starting in the 1950s, two contrasting positions emerged to account for the then-known
archaeological evidence. On the one hand is the so-called Standard Model, which finds its roots in
inferences set out by Julian Steward in the Handbook of South American Indians. Pioneers of modern
archaeological methods in the region, Betty Meggers and Clifford Evans, originally set out to test a
number of Steward’s hypotheses through archaeological fieldwork in different regions of the tropical
lowlands, and subsequently built on these results, as well as other evidence, to develop an account of
the pre-Columbian history of Amazonia. At the core of this model is a dismissal of early
ethnohistorical accounts and an understanding of the environment as a limiting factor for population
growth and the development of social complexity. An alternative and almost diametrically-opposed
account was provided by another pioneer of modern Amazonian archaeology, Donald Lathrap. Lathrap,
many of his PhD students, as well as anthropologist Robert Carneiro and geographer William Denevan
credited early ethnohistorical accounts, held a deep belief in the opportunities of the Amazonian
environment for population growth, and felt that more complex societies had existed in the past. It
can be claimed that the opposing views were superseded by new evidence in the 1980s; however,
not without reason scholars continue to revisit the fundamental questions debated between Meggers
and Lathrap to this day.
Required Reading:
Meggers, B. J. (1971). Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise. Washington:
Smithsonian Institution Press.
Denevan, W. M. (1970). The aboriginal population of western Amazonia in relation to habitat and
subsistence. Revista Geográfica, 72, 61-86.
Lathrap, D. W. (1970). The Upper Amazon. Southampton: Thames & Hudson. Chapter 3
Carneiro, R. L. (1970). A theory of the origin of the state. Science, 169(3947), 733–738.
Stahl, P. W. (2002). Paradigms in paradise: revising standard Amazonian prehistory. The Review of
Archaeology, 23(2), 39–51.
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Recommended Reading
• Meggers, B. J. (1954). Environmental limitation on the development of culture. American
Anthropologist, 56(5), 801–824.
• Lathrap, D. W. (1973). Review of Betty J. Meggers’ “Amazonia: Man in a Counterfeit Paradise.”
• American Anthropologist, 75(4), 988.
• Roosevelt, Anna C. (1980) Parmana. Prehistoric Maize and Manioc Subsistence along the Amazon
and Orinoco. Academic Press. Pp. 1-56
Session 6.
History of Amazonian Archaeology II: the Landscape Twist
New archaeological evidence plays and has played a fundamental role in debunking some of the
long-held assumptions entrenched by the polarising accounts of Amazonian pre-Columbian history
championed by Betty Meggers and Donald Lathrap. However, far more radically, it is the work of
anthropologists, ecologists and geographers that have cast serious doubts on the understandings of the
environment that underpin these positions. Much of this research has shaped what is now known as the
approach of Historical Ecology, a perspective that has argued that Amazonian environments are not in
any sense ‘pristine’ but instead have histories that are deeply intertwined with past social trajectories. In
this session we will examine some of the key understandings advanced by this research and highlight
how they cast doubt or confirm the assumptions and/or insights of pioneer Amazonian archaeologists.
Required Reading:
Balée, W. (1989). The culture of Amazonian forests. (D. Posey & W. Balée, Eds.) Resource
Management in Amazonia: Indigenous and Folk Strategies. Bronx, NY: New York Botanical
Garden.
Denevan, W. M. (1992). The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 82(3), 369–385.
Smith, N. K. H. (1980). Anthrosols and human carrying capacity in Amazonia. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 70(4), 553–566.
Stahl, P. W. (1996). Holocene Biodiversity: An Archaeological Perspective from the Americas.
Annual Review of Anthropology, 25(1), 105-126.
Recommended Reading
• Clement, C. R. (1999). 1492 and the loss of Amazonian crop genetic resources. I The relation
between domestication and human population decline. Economic Botany, 53(2), 188-202.
• Erickson, C. L., & Balée, W. (2006). The Historical Ecology of a complex landscape in Bolivia. In W.
Balée & C. Erickson (Eds.), Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology (pp. 187–233). New York:
Columbia University Press.
• Hecht, S. B., & Posey, D. (1989). Preliminary results on soil management techniques of the Kayapó
indians. (D. Posey & W. Balée, Eds.) Resource Management in Amazonia: Indigenous and Folk
Strategies. Bronx, NY: New York Botanical Garden.
• Politis, G. (1996). Moving to produce: Nukak mobility and settlement patterns in Amazonia.
• World Archaeology, 27(3), 492–511.
• Posey, D. (1985). Indigenous management of tropical forest ecosystems: the case of the Kayapó
indians of the Brazilian Amazon. Agroforestry Systems, 3, 139–158.
• Junqueira, A., Shepard, G., & Clement, C. (2011). Secondary Forests on Anthropogenic Soils of the
Middle Madeira River: Valuation, Local Knowledge, and Landscape Domestication in Brazilian
Amazonia. Economic Botany, 65, 85-99.
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Viveiros de Castro, E. (1996). Images of nature and society in Amazonian ethnology. Annual Review
of Anthropology, 25(1), 179–200.
Week IV.
Session 7.
03 February
Reconstructing the paleo-landscape of Amazonia
Historical Ecology argues that the Amazonian biome is strongly imprinted by the effects of
human inhabitation. To fully assess this claim, however, it is necessary to understand how Amazonia has
changed over time, i.e. to consider the landscape history of Amazonia. Are specific phenomena claimed
as anthropic by Historical Ecology really the result of climate change? Or of landscape evolution? In this
session we will examine how the dynamic landscape of Amazonia has changed over a time scale that is
pertinent to examine human inhabitation of the region. In parallel to archaeology, the history of
palaeoecological interpretations has also been marked by contrasting positions. On the one hand, some
researchers have argued that the Amazon rainforest contracted significantly during the last ice age and
beyond, producing large tracts of open vegetation that only more recently become recolonized with
rainforest vegetation. On the other hand, some researchers argue that, despite climate change, no clear
evidence exists that the Amazon rainforest ever contracted markedly. Global climate change also
affected the region in other ways: because the landscape is extremely low with respect to sea-level,
global sea-level should have had an important effect on the physiognomy of much of the region. In this
session, we will discuss the main arguments and review some of the key evidence used to reconstruct
the changing physiognomy of the Amazon basin in the past, with a specific focus on the characteristics of
the region over the last 12,000 years, i.e. the crucial time frame for human colonisation.
Required Reading
Haffer, J. (1982). General aspects of the refuge theory. In G. T. Prance (Ed.), Biological
Differentiation in the Tropics (pp. 6-24). New York: Columbia University Press.
Prance, G. T. (1985). The Changing Forests. In G. T. Prance & T. E. Lovejoy (Eds.), Amazonia (pp.
146-185). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Colinvaux, P. A., Irion, G., Räsänen, M. E., Bush, M. B., & De Mello, J. (2001). A paradigm to be
discarded: Geological and paleoecological data falsify the HAFFER & PRANCE refuge hypothesis of
Amazonian speciation (vol 16, pg 609, 2001). Amazoniana-Limnologia et Oecologia Regionalis
Systemae Fluminis Amazonas, 16(3-4), 606–607.
Irion, G., Junk, W. J., & de Mello, J. A. S. N. (1997). The large central Amazonian river floodplains
near Manaus: geological, climatological, hydrological, and geomorphological aspects . In W. J. Junk
(Ed.), The Central Amazon Floodplain. Ecology of a Pulsing Sysem (Vol. 126, pp. 23– 46). Berlin:
Springer.
Anhuf, D., Ledru, M.-P., Behling, H., Cruz Jr, F. W. da, Cordeiro, R. C. C., van der Hammen, T.,
Karmann, I., et al. (2006). Paleo-environmental change in Amazonian and African rainforests during
the LGM. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 239(3-4), 510–527.
Mayle, F. E., & Power, M. J. (2008). Impact of a drier Early-Mid-Holocene climate upon
Amazonian forests. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B,
Biological sciences, 363(1498), 1829–38.
Recommended Reading
• Latrubesse, E. M., & Franzinelli, E. (2002). The Holocene alluvial plain of the middle Amazon river,
Brazil. Geomorphology, 44(3-4), 241-257.
• Bush, M. B., & Silman, M. R. (2007). Amazonian exploitation revisited: ecological asymmetry and the
policy pendulum. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 5(9), 457–465.
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Latrubesse, E. M., & Franzinelli, E. (2005). The late Quaternary evolution of the Negro river, Amazon,
Brazil: implications for island and floodplain formation in large anabranching tropical systems.
Geomorphology, 70, 372-397.
Tricart, J. (1985). Evidence of upper Pleistocene dry climates in northern South America. In I. Douglas
& T. Spencer (Eds.), Environmental change and tropical geomorphology (pp. 197- 217). London:
Geoge Allen & Unwin.
Session 8.
Colonizing Amazonia: foragers, ceramists, and farmers
Models advocated by Betty Meggers and Donald Lathrap were developed as a way to account
for the distribution and characteristics of ceramic remains. Whilst these models never explicitly denied
the possibility that Amazonia had been peopled by hunter-gatherers before the appearance of ceramists
(a possibility already implied in Julian Steward’s account of the history of the region), archaeological
evidence was lacking to understand the antiquity of human colonization of the region. This did not
prevent informed speculation, indeed theorization, of what the peopling and early phases of settlement
in the region ought to have looked like. Singular among these contributions was Donald Lathrap’s (1977)
essay, in which he argued the tropical lowlands had been the hearth of a veritable Neolithic revolution in
the Americas. Actual archaeological evidence would be forthcoming in the 1980s and, as it was
produced, it offered many intriguing surprises. It became evident that Amazonia had been colonized
surprisingly early, towards the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. It also became evident that
domesticated plants were already in use by the 8th millennium BP, a matter which raised questions about
both local domestications and the crop biogeography of the Americas. Lastly it became clear that
Amazonia could boast to the oldest findings of archaeological pottery in the Americas, and pottery – it
can be argued – is often made by people with sedentary lifeways. Was Lathrap ultimately right?
Required Reading
Lathrap, D. W. (1977). Our father the caiman, our mother the gourd: Spinden revisited or a unitary
model for the emergence of agriculture in the New World. In C. E. Reed (Ed.), Origins of Agriculture
(pp. 713–751). The Hague: Mouton.
Oliver, J. R. (2008). The Archaeology of Agriculture in Ancient Amazonia. In H. Silverman & B. Isbell
(Eds.), Handbook of South American archaeology (pp. 185–216). New York: Springer.
Roosevelt, A. C., Douglas, J., & Brown, L. (2002). The migrations and adaptations of the first
Americans: Clovis and Pre-Clovis viewed from South America. In N. G. Jablonski (Ed.), The First
Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World (Vol. 27, pp. 159-223). San Francisco:
California Academy of Sciences.
Hoopes, J. W. (1994). Ford Revisited - A Critical-Review Of Chronology And Relationships Of The
Earliest Ceramic Complexes In The New-World, 6000-1500-Bc. Journal of World Prehistory, 8(1), 1–
49.
Oyuela-Caycedo, A. (1996). The study of collector variability in the transition to sedentary food
producers In northern Colombia. Journal of World Prehistory, 10(1), 49-93.
Piperno, D. R. (2011). The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics.
Current Anthropology, 52(S4), S453–S470.
Piperno, D. R., & Pearsall, D. (1998). The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics. San Diego:
Academic Press.
Recommended Reading
• Lathrap, D. W. (1984). Review of David Rindos' "The Origins of Agriculture: an Evolutionary
Perspective". Economic Geography, 60(4), 339-344.
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Simões, M. F. (1981). Coletores-pescadores ceramistas do litoral do Salgado (Pará). Boletim do
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, NS(78), 1-26.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1995). Early pottery in the Amazon: twenty years of scholarly obscurity. In W. K.
Barnett & J. W. Hoopes (Eds.), The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient
Societies (pp. 115–131). Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
Gnecco, C., & Mora, S. (1997). Late Pleistocene-early Holocene tropical forest occupations at San
Isidro and Peña Roja, Colombia. Antiquity, 71(273), 683–690.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1997). The demise of the Alaka initial ceramic phase has been greatly exaggerated:
response to Williams. American Antiquity, 62(2), 353–364.
Williams, D. (1997). Early pottery in the Amazon: a correction. American Antiquity, 62(6), 343- 352.
Meggers, B. J. (1997). La cerámica temprana en América del Sur: ¿invención independiente o
difusión? Revista de Arqueología Americana, 13(7-40).
Week V.
Session 9.
10 Febuary
The Formative in Amazonia
In the archaeology of the Americas, the period known as the Formative is synonymous with an historical
process in which groups specialized in hunting, fishing and gathering began to increasingly depend on
foodstuffs which were available or were storable during a substantial portion of the annual cycle. As the
conventional account goes, this dependence was accompanied by a progressive decrease in residential
mobility, which, over time, led to the adoption of more sedentary lifestyles. Amazonia sits
uncomfortably within this American account of the Neolithic Revolution: on the one hand plant
cultivation evidence is much older than late Holocene ceramic sites; on the other, debate is on-going
about the extent to which the latter indicate permanent occupations. One way to examine the matter is
to examine the Amazonian Formative in broader perspective, i.e. ascertaining the presence of early
interaction spheres reaching beyond the Amazon basin and problematizing the extent to which they
provide evidence of population expansion and/or exchange. In this session we will review some of the
key aspects of the Amazonian Formative, examining geographical origins, the most important ceramic
traditions, and evidence for anthropogenic landscape transformations.
Required Reading
Arroyo-Kalin, M. (2010). The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils.
Diversity, 473–504.
Lathrap, D. W. (1977). Our father the caiman, our mother the gourd: Spinden revisited or a
unitary model for the emergence of agriculture in the New World. In C. E. Reed (Ed.), Origins of
Agriculture (pp. 713–751). The Hague: Mouton.
Marcos, J. G. (2003). A reassessment of the Ecuadorian Formative. In J. S. Raymond & R. L. Burger
(Eds.), Archaeology of Formative Ecuador (pp. 7-32). Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research
Library and Collection.
Meggers, B. J., & Evans, C. (1983). Lowland South America and the Antilles. In J. D. Jennings (Ed.),
Ancient South Americans (pp. 287–335). San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company.
Recommended Reading
• Lathrap, D. W. (1963). Possible affiliations of the Machalilla Complex of Coastal Ecuador. American
Antiquity, 29(2), 239–241.
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Lathrap, D. W. (1971). The tropical forest and the cultural context of Chavín. In E. P. Benson (Ed.),
Proceedings of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference on Chavin (pp. 73–100). Washington, DC: Trustees
for Harvard University.
Lathrap, D. W. (1973). The antiquity and importance of long-distance trade relationships in the moist
tropics of pre-Columbian South America. World Archaeology, 5(2), 170–186.
Lathrap, D. W., & Oliver, J. R. (1987). Agüerito: el complejo polícromo más antiguo de América en la
confluencia del Apure y el Orinoco (Venezuela). Interciencia, 12(6), 274–289.
Meggers, B. J., & Danon, J. (1988). Identification and implications of a hiatus in the archaeological
sequence on Marajó Island, Brazil. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 78(3), 245–253.
Meggers, B. J., & Evans, C. (1964). An experimental formulation of horizon styles in the tropical forest
area of South America. In S. K. Lothrop (Ed.), Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology (pp. 372–
388). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Meggers, B. J. (1997). La cerámica temprana en América del Sur: ¿invención independiente o
difusión? Revista de Arqueología Americana, 13(7-40).
Evans, C., & Meggers, B. J. (1968). Archaeological Investigations on the Rio Napo, Eastern Ecuador
(Vol. 6). Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Myers, T. P. (1981). Aboriginal trade networks in Amazonia. In P. D. Francis, F. J. Kense, & P. G. Duke
(Eds.), Networks of the past: regional interaction in archaeology (pp. 19–30). Calgary: The
University of Calgary Archaeological Association.
Noelli, F. S. (1998). The Tupi: explaining origin and expansions in terms of archaeology and of
historical linguistics. Antiquity, 72, 648-663.
Roe, P. G. (1976). Archaism, form and decoration : An ethnographic and archaeological case study
from the Peruvian Montaña. Ñawpa Pacha, 14, 73–104.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1999). The maritime, highland, forest dynamic and origins of complex culture. In
F. Salomon & S. B. Schwartz (Eds.), The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas:
South America (Vol. 2, pp. 264–349). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Valdez, F., Guffroy, J., de Saulieu, G., Hurtado, J., & Yepes, A. (2005). Découvert d'un site cérémoniel
formatif sur le versant oriental des Andes. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 4, 369- 374.
• Valdez, F. (2007). Mayo Chinchipe: the half-open door. In D. Klein & I. Cruz (Eds.), Ecuador: The
Secret Art of Precolumbian Ecuador (pp. 321-349). Milan: 5Continents
• Valdez, F. (2013) Mayo Chinchipe: Hacia un replanteamiento del origen de las sociedades
complejas en la civilización andina. In: Arqueología Amazónica- las civilizaciones ocultas del
bosque tropical, edited by F. Valdez , pp.99-146. Quito, Ecuador: Abya-Yala.
Session 10.
From villages to polities in Amazonia
Evidence for persistent settlement and population growth in Amazonia becomes much more ubiquitous
during the final millennia of the Holocene. It goes in hand with a remarkable array of modifications of
the landscape itself, for instance the building of mounds, the digging of ditches, the formation of
anthropogenic soils, and the development of networks of paths and roads. When examined in broad
comparative perspective and at different geographic scales, important variability is evident in the
placement and internal layout of settlements in the region. The study of this material evidence is
essential to answer some of the stubborn but important questions that Betty Meggers has legated to
Amazonian archaeology. In addition, an appraisal of the actual magnitude of former areas of
inhabitation is a self-evident requirement to evaluate whether polities actually existed in the Amazon
basin before European colonization. In this session we will review the variability and characteristics of
archaeological evidence of permanent settlement in Amazonia.
15
Required Reading
Myers, T. P. (1973). Towards the reconstruction of prehistoric community patterns in the Amazon
basin. In D. w. Lathrap & J. Douglas (Eds.), Variation in Anthropology: Essays in Honor of John C.
McGregor (pp. 233–259). Urbana: Illinois Archaeological Survey.
Denevan, W. M. (1996). A bluff model of riverine settlement in prehistoric Amazonia. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 86(4), 654–681.
Petersen, J. B., Neves, E. G., & Heckenberger, M. J. (2001). Gift from the past: terra preta and
prehistoric occupation in Amazonia. In C. McEwan, C. Barreto & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown
Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp. 86-107). London: The British Museum Press.
Meggers, B. J. (2001). The continuing quest for El Dorado: part two. Latin American Antiquity, 12(3),
304-325.
Erickson, C. L. (2003). Historical Ecology and Future Explorations. In J. Lehmann, D. Kern, B. Glaser,
& W. Woods (Eds.), Amazonian Dark Earths: Origin, Properties, Management (pp. 455–500).
Recommended Reading
• Arroyo-Kalin, M., Neves, E. G., & Woods, W. I. (n.d.). Anthropogenic dark earths of the Central
Amazon region: remarks on their evolution and polygenetic composition. In W. I. Woods (Ed.), Terra
Preta Nova – a tribute to Wim Sombroek. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
• DeBoer, W. R. (1981). Buffer zones in the cultural ecology of Aboriginal Amazonia: an ethnohistorical
approach. American Antiquity, 46(2), 346-377.
• Meggers, B. J. (1991). Cultural evolution in Amazonia. In A. T. Rambo & K. Gillogly (Eds.), Profiles in
Cultural Evolution. (Vol. 85, pp. 157–182). Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, University of
Michigan.
• Myers, T. P. (1976). Defended Territories and No-Man’s-Lands. American Anthropologist, 78(2), 354–
355.
• Roe, P. G. (1987). Village Spatial Organization in the South American Lowlands (pp. 1-100): Paper
presented in the symposium "Site Structure and Spatial Organization of Sedentary Communities" 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Toronto, Canada.
• Sombroek, W. G., Kern, D., Rodrigues, T., Cravo, M. d. S., Cunha, T. J., Woods, W., et al. (2002). Terra
Preta and Terra Mulata: pre-Columbian Amazon kitchen middens and agricultural fields, their
sustainability and their replication. Paper presented at the 17th World Congress of Soil Science.
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STUDY WEEK 16-20 February
Essay 1 is DUE on 28 February 2015
Week VI.
24 February [GUEST LECTURE]
Sessions 11-12. Shaping subsistence landscapes in pre-Columbian Amazonia (Parts 1-2)
Discussion about modes of subsistence in Amazonia has played a central role in arguments about preColumbian societies. In this session we will examine the variability of subsistence practices in Amazonia
as evidenced by deliberate landscape modification and palaeoecological and archaeobotanical evidence.
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Required Reading
Denevan, W. M. (1992). Stone versus metal axes: the ambiguity of shifting cultivation in prehistoric
Amazonia. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society, 20(1-2), 153–165.
Herrera, L. F., Cavelier, I., Rodríguez, C., & Mora, S. (1992). The technical transformation of an
agricultural system in the Colombian Amazon. World Archaeology, 24(1), 98-113.
Erickson, C. L. (2000). An artificial landscape-scale fishery in the Bolivian Amazon. Nature , 408,
190–193.
Politis, G. (2001). Foragers of the Amazon: the last survivors or the first to succeed? In C. McEwan,
C. Barreto, & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp.
26–49). London: The British Museum Press.
Rostain, S. (2008). Agricultural earthworks on the French Guiana coast. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell
(Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 217-233). New York: Springer.
Recommended Reading
• Arroyo-Kalin, M. (2012). Slash-burn-and-churn: Landscape history and crop cultivation in preColumbian Amazonia. Quaternary International, 249(4), 18.
• Arroyo-Kalin, M. (2010). The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils.
Diversity, 473–504.
• Denevan, W. M. (2001). Cultivated Landscapes of Native Amazonia and the Andes. (G. Clark, A.
Goudie, & C. Peach, Eds.). Oxford Geographical and Environmental Studies (p. 400). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
• Erickson, C. L. (2006). The domesticated landscapes of the Bolivian Amazon. In W. Balée & C.
Erickson (Eds.), Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology (pp. 235–278). New York: Columbia
University Press.Lombardo, Umberto, Canal-Beeby, E., Fehr, S., & Veit, H. (2011). Raised fields in the
Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk mitigation strategy? Journal of
Archaeological Science, 38(3), 502–512. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.022
• McKey, D., Rostain, S., Iriarte, J., Glaser, B., Birk, J. J., Holst, I., & Renard, D. (2010). Pre-Columbian
agricultural landscapes, ecosystem engineers, and self-organized patchiness in Amazonia.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(17), 7823–8.
• Myers, T. P., Denevan, W., Winlerprins, A., & Porro, A. (2003). Historical Perspectives on Amazonian
Dark Earths. In J. Lehmann, D. Kern, W. I. Woods, & B. Glaser (Eds.), Amazonian Dark Earths: Origins,
Properties & Management (pp. 15–289). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Oliver, J. R. (2001). The archaeology of forest foraging and agricultural production in Amazonia. In C.
McEwan, C. Barreto, & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st
ed., pp. 50–85). London: The British Museum Press.
• Schaan, D. P. (2008). The Non-Agricultural Chiefdoms of Marajo Island. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell
(Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (Springer., pp. 338–357). New York.
• Schmidt, M. J. (2010). Historical landscape in the Neotropics: a model for prehistoric anthrosol (terra
preta) formation in the upper Xingu. In E. Pereira & V. Guapindaia (Eds.), Arqueologia Amazônia (pp.
853-878). Belém: MPEG / IPHAN / Secetaria de Estado de Cultura do Pará.
• Walker, J. H. (2011). Social Implications from Agricultural Taskscapes in the Southwestern Amazon.
Latin American Antiquity, 22(3), 275–296.
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REGIONS IN FOCUS
The next four sessions will be devoted to examining the specific characteristics of the
archaeological record in different regions of the Amazon basin. It is knowledge of
this archaeological evidence that provides the ability to evaluate the arguments
presented in many of the theoretical models that have been reviewed up to this point
in this course.
Students will become aware that data often do not fit the models as nicely as model
proponents would have us believe. Understanding this evidence is fundamental to
avoid uncritical repetition of theoretical formulations and to appraise what we still
need to learn in order to advance the field of Amazonian archaeology.
Week VII.
Session 13.
03 March
Regions in Focus 1: Marajó and the Guyanas
Marajó
Schaan, D. P. (2011). Sacred Geographies of Ancient Amazonia (p. 224). Walnut Creek: Left Coast
Press.
Schaan, D. P. (2000). Into the Labyrinths of Marajoara Pottery. In Unknown Amazon, edited by C.
McEwan, C. Barreto & E. Neves, Chapter 4. London: British Museum Press.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1999). The development of prehistoric complex societies: Amazonia, a tropical
forest. In Complex Polities in the Ancient Tropical World
• Barse, W. P. (1993). Review of Moundbuilders of the Amazon : Geophysical Archaeology on Marajo
Island, Brazil by Anna Curtenius Roosevelt. American Antiquity, 58(2), 373–374.
• Meggers, B. J. (1992). Review of Moundbuilders of the Amazon - Geophysical Archaeology On
Marajo Island, Brazil - Roosevelt, A. C. Journal of Field Archaeology, 19(3), 399–404.
• Meggers, B. J., & Evans, C. (1957). Archeological Investigations at the Mouth of the Amazon.
Smithsonian Institution Bulletin. Bureau of American Ethnology (Vol. 167). Washington: Smithsonian
Institution Press.
• Roosevelt, A. C. (1991). Moundbuilders of the Amazon. Geophysical Archaeology on Marajo Island,
Brazil. New York: Academic Press.
• Simões, M. F. (1969). The Castanheira site: new evidence on the antiquity and history of the
Ananatuba phase (Marajó Island, Brazil). American Antiquity, 34(4), 402–410.
Guianas
Rostain, S. (2008). The Archaeology of the Guianas: An Overview. In H. Silverman & W. H. Isbell
(Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 279–301). New York: Springer.
Guapindaia, V. (2008). Prehistoric Funeral Practices in the Brazilian Amazon: the Maracá Urns. In H.
Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 1005–1026). New York:
Springer.
• Nimuendajú, C. (2004). In Pursuit of a Past Amazon. (P. Stenborg, Ed.) (p. 382). Götenborg:
Världskulturmuseet i Göteborg.
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Evans, C., & Meggers, B. J. (1960). Archeological investigations in British Guiana. Smithsonian
Institution Bulletin No 177. Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press.
Evans, C., & Meggers, B. J. (1964). British Guiana archaeology: a return to the original
interpretations . American Antiquity, 30(1), 83–84.
Lathrap, D. W. (1964). An alternative seriation of the Mabaruma phase, northwestern British
Guiana. American Antiquity, 29(3), 353–359.
Williams, D. (1997). Early pottery in the Amazon: a correction. American Antiquity, 62(6), 343– 352.
Williams, D. (2003). Prehistoric Guiana. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.
Rostain, S. (2008). Agricultural earthworks on the French Guiana coast. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell
(Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 217–233). New York: Springer.
Versteeg, A. H. (2008). Barrancoid and Arauquinoid Mound Builders in Coastal Suriname. In H.
Silverman & W. H. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 303–318). New York:
Springer.
Boomert, A. (2004). Koriabo and the Polychrome tradition: the late-prehistoric era between the
Orinoco and Amazon mouths. In A. Delpuech & C. L. Hofman (Eds.), Late Ceramic Age Societies in
the Eastern Caribbean (pp. 251–266). Oxford: Archaeopress. BAR International series 1273 / Paris
Monographs in Archaeology 14.
Rostain, S., & Versteeg, A. H. (2004). The Arauquinoid tradition in the Guianas. In A. Delpuech &
C. L. Hofman (Eds.), Late Ceramic Age Societies in the Eastern Caribbean (pp. 233–250). Oxford:
Archaeopress. BAR International series 1273 / Paris Monographs in Archaeology 14.
Whitehead, N. L., Heckenberger, M. J., & Simon, G. (2010). Materializing the Past among the Lokono
( Arawak ) of the Berbice River , Guyana. Antropológica, 54(114), 87–127.Week VII. 20 November
2012
Session 14.
Regions in Focus 2: Tapajós, Central Amazon and NW Amazonia
Tapajós
Schaan, D. P. (2011). Sacred Geographies of Ancient Amazonia, Chapter 4. Walnut Creek: Left Coast
Press.
Gomes, D. ( 1). Santarém : symbolism and power in the tropical forest. n C. McEwan, C. Barreto & E.
G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp. 134-155).
London: The British Museum Press.
• Nimuendajú, C. (2004). The Tapajó. In P. Stenborg (Ed.), In Pursuit of a Past Amazon. Archaeological
Researches in the Brazilian Guyana and in the Amazon region (Vol. 45, pp. 118–126). Gothenburg:
Värlskulturmuseet i Göteborg.
• Palmatary, H. C. (1939). Tapajo Pottery. Etnologiska Studier, 8, 1–138.
• Palmatary, H. C. (1960). The archaeology of the lower Tapajós valley, Brazil. Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society, 6, 1–221.
• Meggers, B. J. (1960). Review of The Archaeology of the Lower Tapajós Valley, Brazil by Helen
Constance Palmatary. American Anthropologist N.S., 62(6), 1104–1105.
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Gomes, D. M. C. (2008). O uso social da cerâmica de Parauá, Santarém, baixo Amazonas: uma
análise funcional. Arqueología Sul-americana, 4(4-33).
Central/Middle Amazon
Heckenberger, M. J., Petersen, J. B., & Neves, E. G. (1999). Village size and permanence in
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Amazonia: two archaeological examples from Brazil. Latin American Antiquity, 10(4), 353- 376.
Neves, E. G. (2008). Ecology, ceramic chronology and distribution, long-term history, and political
change in the Amazonian floodplain. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American
Archaeology (pp. 359–379). New York: Springer.
Neves, E. G., & Petersen, J. (2006). The political economy of pre-Columbian Amerindians: landscape
transformations in central Amazonia. In W. Balée & C. L. Erickson (Eds.), Time and Complexity in
Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands (pp. 279–310). New York: Columbia
University Press.
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Heckenberger, M. J., Petersen, J. B., & Neves, E. G. (2001). Of lost civilizations and primitive tribes,
Amazonia: reply to Meggers. Latin American Antiquity, 12(3), 328–333.
Meggers, B. J. (2001). The continuing quest for El Dorado: part two. Latin American Antiquity, 12(3),
304–325.
Neves, E. G., Petersen, J. B., Bartone, R. N., & Heckenberger, M. J. (2004). The timing of terra preta
formation in the central Amazon: archaeological data from three sites. In B. Glaser &
W. I. Woods (Eds.), Amazonian Dark Earths: Explorations in Space and Time (pp. 125–134). Berlin ;
London: Springer.
Petersen, J. B., Neves, E. G., & Heckenberger, M. J. (2001). Gift from the past: terra preta and
prehistoric occupation in Amazonia. In C. McEwan, C. Barreto, & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown
Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp. 86–107). London: The British Museum Press.
Hilbert, P. P. (1962). New stratigraphic evidence of culture change on the middle Amazon (Solimões).
Internationales Amerikanistenkongress (pp. 471–476). Vienna.
Lathrap, D. W. (1970). Review of Peter Paul Hilbert's "Archäologische Untersuchungen am mittleren
Amazonas: Beiträge zur Vorgeschichte des südamerikanischen Tieflandes". American Antiquity, 35(4),
499-501.
Northwest Amazonia
Eden, M. J., Bray, W., Herrera, L., & McEwan, C. (1984). Terra preta soils and their archaeological
context in the Caquetá basin of southeast Colombia. American Antiquity, 49(1), 125–140.
Neves, E. G. (2001). Indigenous Historical Trajectories in the Upper Rio Negro Basin. In C. McEwan, C.
Barreto, & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp. 266–
286). London: The British Museum Press.
•
•
Mora, S. (1991). Cultivars, anthropic soils, and stability: a preliminary report of archaeological
research in Araracuara, Colombian Amazonia. University of Pittsburgh Latin American archaeology
reports No. 2 (p. 87). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.
Myers, T. P. (2004). Dark earth in the upper Amazon. In B. Glaser & W. I. Woods (Eds.), Amazonian
Dark Earths: Explorations in Space and Time (pp. 67–94). Berlin ; London: Springer.
20
Week VIII.
Session 15.
10 March
Regions in Focus 3: The Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon
Evans, C., & Meggers, B. J. (1968). Archaeological Investigations on the Rio Napo, Eastern Ecuador
(Vol. 6). Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Lathrap, D. W. (1970). The Upper Amazon. Southampton: Thames & Hudson. Pp. 84-159
Rostain, S. (2012). Between Sierra and Selva: Landscape transformations in upper Ecuadorian
Amazonia. Quaternary International, 249, 31–42.
DeBoer, W. R., Kintigh, K., & Rostoker, A. G. (1996). Ceramic seriation and site reoccupation in
lowland South America. Latin American Antiquity, 7(3), 263–278.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
DeBoer, W. R. (2003). Ceramic assemblage variability in the Formative of Ecuador and Peru. In J.
S. Raymond & R. L. Burger (Eds.), Archaeology of Formative Ecuador (pp. 289–336). Washington DC:
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
DeBoer, W. R., Kintigh, K., & Rostoker, A. G. (2001). In quest of prehistoric Amazonia. Latin American
Antiquity, 12(3), 326–327. Meggers, B. J., & Evans, C. (1958). Archaeological evidence of a prehistoric
migration from the Rio Napo to the mouth of the Amazon. In R. H. Thompson (Ed.), Migrations in
New World Cultural History (Vol. 29, pp. 9-19). Tucson.
Raymond, J. S., DeBoer, W. R., & Roe, P. G. (1975). Cumancaya: a Peruvian ceramic tradition.
Ocassional Papers (Vol. 2). Calgary: University of Calgary.
Valdez, F. (2008). Inter-zonal relationships in Ecuador. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.) Handbook of
South American Archaeology (pp. 865-888). New York: Springer.
Valdez, F., Guffroy, J., de Saulieu, G., Hurtado, J., Yepes, A., & Saulieu, G. D. (2005). Découvert d’un
site c r moniel formatif sur le versant oriental des Andes. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 4, 369–374.
doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2005.02.005
Session 16.
Regions in Focus 4: Western Brazil (Acre) and the Llanos of Bolivia (MojosBaurés)
Schaan, D. P. (2011). Sacred Geographies of Ancient Amazonia (p. 224). Walnut Creek: Left Coast
Press. (chapter 5)
Walker, J. E. (2008). The Llanos de Mojos. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South
American Archaeology (pp. 927–939). New York: Springer.
Saunaluoma, S., & Schaan, D. (2012). Monumentality in Western Amazonian formative societies:
geometric ditched enclosures in the Brazilian state of Acre. Antiqua, 2(1).
doi:10.4081/antiqua.2012.e1
•
•
•
•
•
Arnold, D. A., & Prettol, K. A. (1988). Aboriginal earthworks near the mouth of the Beni, Bolivia.
Journal of Field Archaeology, 457-465.
Pärssinen, M., Schaan, D. P., & Ranzi, A. (2009). Pre-Columbian geometric earthworks in the upper
Purús: a complex society in western Amazonia. Antiquity, 83(322), 1084–1095.
Prümers, H. ( 7). ¿« Charlatanocracia » en Mojos ? investigaciones arqueológicas en la Loma
Salvatierra ,. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP, 11, 103–116.
Prümers, H. (2000). Der Fundort Grigotá in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivien) / El sitio Grigotá en
Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) . Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, 20, 205–
259.
Prümers, H. (2002). Excavaciones arqueológica en Pailón (Depto. de Sta. Cruz, Bolivia). Beiträge zur
Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, 22, 94–213.
21
•
•
Prümers, H., Jaimes, C., & Plaza, R. (2006). Algunas tumbas prehispánicas de Bella Vista, Prov.
Itenez, Bolivia. Zeitschrift für Archäologie Auβereuropäischer Kulturen, 1, 251–284.
•
Korpisaari, A., Faldín, J., Kesseli, R., Korhonen, J., Saunaluoma, S., Siiriäinen, A., & Pärssinen, M.
(2003). Informe preliminar de las investigaciones arqueológicas de la temporada 2002 en el sitio de
la Fortaleza de Las Piedras. In A. Siiriäinen & A. Korpisaari (Eds.), Reports of the Finnish-Bolivian
Archaeological Project in the Bolivian Amazon II (pp. 7–34). Helsinki: Department of Archaeology,
University of Helsinki.
Walker, J. H. (2004). Agricultural Change in the Bolivian Amazon. Memoirs in Latin American
Archaeology, No. 13. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Latin American Archaeology
PublicationsWalker, J. H. (2011b). Ceramic assemblages and landscape in the mid-1st millennium
Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia. Journal of Field Archaeology, 36(2), 119–131.
Lombardo, U., May, J.-H., & Veit, H. (2012). Mid- to late-Holocene fluvial activity behind preColumbian social complexity in the southwestern Amazon basin. The Holocene.
doi:10.1177/0959683612437872
Lombardo, Umberto, & Prümers, H. (2010). Pre-Columbian human occupation patterns in the
eastern plains of the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazonia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(8),
1875–1885. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.02.011
•
•
•
Week IX.
Session 17.
17 March
Regions in Focus 5: The Madeira and Xingu Basins
Heckenberger, M. J., Russell, J. C., Fausto, C., Toney, J. R., Schmidt, M. J., Pereira, E., et al. (2008).
Pre-Columbian urbanism, anthropogenic landscapes, and the future of the Amazon. Science, 321,
1214-1217.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2008). Amazonian Mosaics: Identity, Interaction, and Integration in the Tropical
Forest. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 941-961).
New York: Springer.
Miller, E. T. (1992). Adaptação agrícola pré-histórica no alto rio Madeira. In B. J. Meggers (Ed.),
Prehistoria Sudamericana: Nuevas Perspectivas (pp. 219-231). Washington: Taraxacum.
•
•
•
•
•
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Miller, E. T. (1992). Archaeology in the Hydrolectric projects of Eletronorte. Brasília: Eletronorte.
Miller, E. T. (1999). A limitação ambiental como barreira à transformação do período Formativo no
Brasil. Tecnologia, produção de alimentos e formação de aldeias no sudoeste da Amazônia. In P.
Ledergerber-Crespo (Ed.), Formativo Sudamericano, una Revaluación (1st ed., pp. 331-339). Quito:
Abya-Yala.
Heckenberger, M. J. (1998). Manioc agriculture and sedentism in Amazonia: the upper Xingu
example. Antiquity, 72(277), 633-648.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2005). The Ecology of Power: Culture, Place and Personhood in the Southern
Amazon AD 1000-2000. London: Routledge.
Heckenberger, M. J., Fausto, C., & Franchetto, B. (2003). Revisiting Amazonia circa 1492 - Response.
Science, 302(5653), 2068-2070.
Heckenberger, M. J., Kuikuro, A., Kuikuro, U. T., Russell, J. C., Schmidt, M., Fausto, C., et al. (2003).
Amazonia 1492: pristine forest or cultural parkland? Science, 301(5640), 1710-1714.
22
•
Heckenberger, M. J., Russell, J. C., Toney, J. R., & Schmidt, M. J. (2007). The legacy of cultural
landscapes in the Brazilian Amazon: implications for biodiversity. Philosphical Transactions of The
Royal Society, Series B, Biological sciences, 362(1478), 197-208.
Session 18.
Life and death in Amazonia
Having examined the archaeological record of Amazonia in some geographical detail, in this
session we will focus on a specific dimension of it: burials and mortuary assemblages. Burial urns are,
after all, one of the most ubiquitous types of remains in Amazonia (though it is clearly not the case that
they are unearthed at every excavation). The questions that burials pose are fascinating and take us one
more step towards understanding how past Amazonian societies perceived the body, life and the
cosmos. For this session we will adopt a discussion format in which the different required readings are
critically examined.
Schaan, D. P. (2011). Sacred Geographies of Ancient Amazonia. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.
Chapter 3
Guapindaia, V. (2008). Prehistoric Funeral Practices in the Brazilian Amazon: the Maracá Urns. In
H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 1005- 1026). New
York: Springer.
Chaumeil, J.-P. (2007). Bones, Flutes, and the Dead: Memory and Funerary treatment in
Amazonia. In C. Fausto & M. J. Heckenberger (Eds.), Time and Memory in Indigenous Amazonia:
Anthropological Perspectives (pp. 243-283). Gainsville: University Press of Florida.
• Guapindaia, V. (2008). Prehistoric Funeral Practices in the Brazilian Amazon: the Maracá Urns. In
McEwan, C. Barreto, & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st
ed., pp. 156-173). London: The British Museum Press
Week X.
Session 19
24 March
Revisiting Language and Archaeology in Amazonia
It can be argued that Donald Lathrap privileged history as a way to understand the distribution
of Amazonian languages and the astounding mosaic of cultures that the region embodies. With the
benefit of a more detailed understanding of the archaeological record, what are the relations that can
be posited between material evidence and Amazonia language. In this session we will adopt a
discussion format (based on the required readings) to critically examine the state of matter.
Neves, E. G. (2011). Archaeological Cultures and Past identities in the pre-Colonial Central
Amazon. In A. Hornborg & J. D. Hill (Eds.), Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia (pp. 31-56). Boulder:
University Press of Colorado.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2002). Rethinking the Arawakan diaspora: hierarchy, regionality and the
Amazonian Formative. In J. D. Hill & F. Santos-Granero (Eds.), Comparative Arawakan Histories:
Rethinking Language Family and Culture Area in Amazonia (pp. 99-122). Chicago: University of
Illinois Press.
Hornborg, A. (2005). Ethnogenesis, regional integration, and ecology in prehistoric Amazonia:
toward a system perspective. Current Anthropology, 46(4), 589-620.
•
•
•
Heckenberger, M. J. (2011). Deep History, Cultural Identities, and Ethnogenesis in the Southern
Amazon. In A. Hornborg & J. D. Hill (Eds.), Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia (pp. 57-74).
Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
Shepard, G. H., & Ramirez, H. ( 11). “Made in Brazil”: Human Dispersal of the Brazil Nut
(Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) in Ancient Amazonia. Economic Botany, 65(1), 44- 65.
23
Session 20.
Revisiting Social Complexity in Amazonia
A weak point in Meggers’ Counterfeit Paradise model is the assumption that all Amazonian societies
can be described a small-scale forager horticulturists with only semi-sedentary lifestyles. As we have
reviewed in the earlier part of the course, ethnohistorical evidence strongly suggests that at least
some societies were sedentary, populous and organised through hierarchical authority. Some
archaeological evidence supports this reconstruction but it would seem much more evidence is
required to draw a final conclusion. Maybe. Maybe not. We conclude the course. By way of a
discussion (based on the required readings) format to critically examine the state of matter.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1993). The rise and fall of the Amazon chiefdoms. L’Homme, 33(2-4), 255–283.
Carneiro, R. L. (1995). The history of ecological interpretations of Amazonia: does Roosevelt have it
right? In L. E. Sponsel (Ed.), Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia: an Ecological
Anthropology of an Endangered World (pp. 45–69). Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1999). The development of prehistoric complex societies: Amazonia, a tropical
forest. In Bacus and Lucero (Eds.) Archeological papers of the American Anthropological Association, No. 9.
Arlington: American Anthropological Association.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Heckenberger, M. J. (2005). The Ecology of Power: Culture, Place and Personhood in the Southern
Amazon AD 1000-2000. London: Routledge.
Neves, E. G., & Petersen, J. (2006). The political economy of pre-Columbian Amerindians: landscape
transformations in central Amazonia. In W. Balée & C. L. Erickson (Eds.), Time and Complexity in
Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands (pp. 279–310). New York: Columbia
University Press.
Neves, E. G. (2008). Ecology, ceramic chronology and distribution, long-term history, and political
change in the Amazonian floodplain. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American
Archaeology (pp. 359–379). New York: Springer.
Heckenberger, M. J., Russell, J. C., Fausto, C., Toney, J. R., Schmidt, M. J., Pereira, E., Franchetto, B.,
et al. (2008). Pre-Columbian urbanism, anthropogenic landscapes, and the future of the Amazon.
Science, 321, 1214–1217.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2008). Amazonian Mosaics: Identity, Interaction, and Integration in the Tropical
Forest. In H. Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 941-961).
New York: Springer.
Renard-Casevitz, F.-M. (2002). Social forms and regressive history: from the Campa cluster to the
Mojos and from the Mojos to the landscaping terrace-builders of the Bolivian savanna. In
J. D. Hill & F. Santos Granero (Eds.), Comparative Arawakan Histories: Rethinking Language Family
and Cultural Area in Amazonia (pp. 123-146). Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Essay 2 is DUE on 23 April 2015
24
READING LIST
ARCL.3060 Ancient Societies of Amazonia,South America
In alphabetical order
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(2006). Paleo-environmental change in Amazonian and African rainforests during the LGM.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 239(3-4), 510–527.
Arhem, K. (1996). The Cosmic Food-web: Human Nature and Relatedness in the Northwest Amazon. In P. Descola
& G. Pálson (Eds.), Nature and Society (pp. 185-204 ). London: Routledge.
Arnold, D. A., & Prettol, K. A. (1988). Aboriginal earthworks near the mouth of the Beni, Bolivia. Journal of Field
Archaeology, 457-465.
Arroyo-Kalin, M. (2010). The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils. Diversity, 473–
504.
Arroyo-Kalin, M. (2012). Slash-burn-and-churn: Landscape history and crop cultivation in pre-Columbian Amazonia.
Quaternary International, 249(4), 18. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.08.004
Arroyo-Kalin, M., Neves, E. G., & Woods, W. I. (n.d.). Anthropogenic dark earths of the Central Amazon region:
remarks on their evolution and polygenetic composition. In W. I. Woods (Ed.), Terra Preta Nova – a tribute
to Wim Sombroek. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Bacus, A. & L. J. Lucero (Eds.) (1999) Complex Polities in the Ancient Tropical World. Archeological papers of the
American Anthropological Association , No. 9. Arlington: American Anthropological Association.
Balée, W. (1989). The culture of Amazonian forests. (D. Posey & W. Balée, Eds.) Resource Management in
Amazonia: Indigenous and Folk Strategies. Bronx, NY: New York Botanical Garden.
Barreto, C., & Machado, J. (2001). Exploring the Amazon, explaining the unknown: views from the past. In
C. McEwan, C. Barreto & E. G. Neves (Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp. 232251). London: The British Museum Press.
Barse, W. P. (1993). Review of Moundbuilders of the Amazon : Geophysical Archaeology on Marajo sland, Brazil by
Anna Curtenius Roosevelt. American Antiquity, 58(2), 373–374.
Boomert, A. (2004). Koriabo and the Polychrome tradition: the late-prehistoric era between the Orinoco and
Amazon mouths. In A. Delpuech & C. L. Hofman (Eds.), Late Ceramic Age Societies in the Eastern
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Bush, M. B., & Silman, M. R. (2007). Amazonian exploitation revisited: ecological asymmetry and the policy
pendulum. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 5(9), 457–465.
Carneiro, R. L. (1970). A theory of the origin of the state. Science, 169(3947), 733–738.
Carneiro, R. L. (1995). The history of ecological interpretations of Amazonia: does Roosevelt have it right? In L. E.
Sponsel (Ed.), Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia: an Ecological Anthropology of an
Endangered World (pp. 45–69). Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.
Chaumeil, J.-P. (2007). Bones, Flutes, and the Dead: Memory and Funerary treatment in Amazonia. In C. Fausto &
M. J. Heckenberger (Eds.), Time and Memory in Indigenous Amazonia: Anthropological Perspectives (pp.
243-283). Gainsville: University Press of Florida.
Clement, C. R. (1999). 1492 and the loss of Amazonian crop genetic resources. I The relation between
domestication and human population decline. Economic Botany, 53(2), 188-202.
25
Colinvaux, P. A., Irion, G., Räsänen, M. E., Bush, M. B., & De Mello, J. (2001). A paradigm to be discarded: Geological
and paleoecological data falsify the HAFFER & PRANCE refuge hypothesis of Amazonian speciation (vol 16,
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606–607
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Daly, D. C., & Mitchell, J. (2000). Lowland vegetation of tropical South America: an overview. In D. L. Lentz (Ed.),
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Columbia University Press.
DeBoer, W. R. (1981). Buffer zones in the cultural ecology of Aboriginal Amazonia: an ethnohistorical approach.
American Antiquity, 46(2), 346-377.
DeBoer, W. R. (2003). Ceramic assemblage variability in the Formative of Ecuador and Peru. In J. S. Raymond & R.
L. Burger (Eds.), Archaeology of Formative Ecuador (pp. 289–336). Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks
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DeBoer, W. R., Kintigh, K., & Rostoker, A. G. (1996). Ceramic seriation and site reoccupation in lowland South
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DeBoer, W. R., Kintigh, K., & Rostoker, A. G. (2001). In quest of prehistoric Amazonia. Latin American Antiquity,
12(3), 326–327.
Denevan, W. M. (1970). The aboriginal population of western Amazonia in relation to habitat and subsistence.
Revista Geográfica, 72, 61-86.
Denevan, W. M. (1992). Stone versus metal axes: the ambiguity of shifting cultivation in prehistoric Amazonia.
Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society, 20(1-2), 153–165.
Denevan, W. M. (1992). The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the Association of
American Geographers, 82(3), 369–385.
Denevan, W. M. (1996). A bluff model of riverine settlement in prehistoric Amazonia. Annals of the Association of
American Geographers, 86(4), 654–681.
Denevan, W. M. (2001). Cultivated Landscapes of Native Amazonia and the Andes. (G. Clark, A. Goudie, & C. Peach,
Eds.)Oxford Geographical and Environmental Studies (p. 400). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Descola, P. (1994). Homeostasis as a cultural system: the Jívaro case. In A. C. Roosevelt (Ed.), Amazonian Indians
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Eden, M. J., Bray, W., Herrera, L., & McEwan, C. (1984). Terra preta soils and their archaeological context in the
Caquetá basin of southeast Colombia. American Antiquity, 49(1), 125–140.
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(2000). An artificial landscape-scale fishery in the Bolivian Amazon . Nature , 408, 190–193. Erickson, C. L.
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Antiquity, 30(1), 83–84.
Evans, C., & Meggers, B. J. (1968). Archaeological Investigations on the Rio Napo, Eastern Ecuador (Vol. 6).
Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
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Gomes, D. (2001). Santar m : symbolism and power in the tropical forest. n C. McEwan, C. Barreto & E. G. Neves
(Eds.), Unknown Amazon. Culture in Nature in Ancient Brazil (1st ed., pp. 134-155). London: The British
Museum Press.
Gomes, D. M. C. (2008). O uso social da cerâmica de Parauá, Santarém, baixo Amazonas: uma análise funcional.
Arqueología Sul-americana, 4(4-33).
Guapindaia, V. (2008). Prehistoric Funeral Practices in the Brazilian Amazon: the Maracá Urns. In H. Silverman & W.
Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 1005-1026). New York: Springer.
Guapindaia, V. (2008). Prehistoric Funeral Practices in the Brazilian Amazon: the Maracá Urns. In H. Silverman & W.
Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 1005–1026). New York: Springer.
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(pp. 6-24). New York: Columbia University Press.
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Posey & W. Balée, Eds.)Resource Management in Amazonia: Indigenous and Folk Strategies. Bronx, NY:
New York Botanical Garden.
Heckenberger, M. J. (1998). Manioc agriculture and sedentism in Amazonia: the upper Xingu example. Antiquity,
72(277), 633-648.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2002). Rethinking the Arawakan diaspora: hierarchy, regionality and the Amazonian
Formative. In J. D. Hill & F. Santos-Granero (Eds.), Comparative Arawakan Histories: Rethinking Language
Family and Culture Area in Amazonia (pp. 99-122). Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2005). The Ecology of Power: Culture, Place and Personhood in the Southern Amazon AD
1000-2000. London: Routledge.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2008). Amazonian Mosaics: Identity, Interaction, and Integration in the Tropical Forest. In H.
Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 941-961). New York: Springer.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2008). Amazonian Mosaics: Identity, Interaction, and Integration in the Tropical Forest. In H.
Silverman & W. Isbell (Eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology (pp. 941-961). New York: Springer.
Heckenberger, M. J. (2011). Deep History, Cultural Identities, and Ethnogenesis in the Southern Amazon. In
A. Hornborg & J. D. Hill (Eds.), Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia (pp. 57-74). Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
Heckenberger, M. J., & Neves, E. G. (2009). Amazonian Archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 38, 251-266.
Heckenberger, M. J., Fausto, C., & Franchetto, B. (2003). Revisiting Amazonia circa 1492 - Response. Science,
302(5653), 2068-2070.
27
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ESSAY QUESTIONS (ARCL. 3060)
Questions for First Essay (Choose 1)
1. Discuss how three different current research questions in Amazonian archaeology have been
shaped by the history of archaeological thinking in the region?
2. Analyze whether ancient evidence for pottery making and the use of domesticated plants in the
Amazon basin confirms Lathrap’s (197 , 1977) ‘Neolithic Revolution’ model for the onset of
sedentism and the beginnings of agriculture in the region.
3. How ancient is the process of domestication of the Amazonian landscape? How is it related to the
domestication and cultivation of plants and the husbandry of faunal resources in the region?
4. Evans and Meggers’s (1968:1 7-11 ) and Lathrap’s (1970, 1977) proposed contrasting models of
centripetal fluvial migration. Compare and evaluate these models in light of arguments about
buffer zones and settlements on river bluffs.
5. Evaluate whether evidence for climate change during the Holocene is sufficient to account for gaps
in the archaeological record of Amazonia (Neves 2008).
Questions for Second Essay (Choose 1)
1. How do Amazonian burial practices relate to social memory and the making of places?
2. Analyze whether different ceramic traditions can be argued to represent events of demic diffusion
by discussing Amazonian linguistic diversity in the light of archaeological sequences of the middle
Amazon, the Ucayali basin, and/or the Ecuadorian Amazon.
3. Taking into consideration the newest data from the Central Amazon. Marajó Island, and southwest
Amazon, evaluate whether Donald W. Lathrap’s “cardiac model” accounts for the expansion of the
Amazonian Polychrome Tradition upstream from the L o w e r Amazon to the Upper Amazon
(Napo).
4. Critically discuss Meggers & Evans (1961, 1983, 1997)’ ceramic horizons/traditions model.
5. Evaluate existing interpretations about zoomorphic representation in Amazonian archaeology.
6. Compare how the archaeology of seasonal wetlands (e.g. Mojos, Guianas, Marajó Island) and
rainforest areas (e.g. Central Amazon, Tapajós, Northwest Amazonia) can inform archaeological
inferences about past socio-political complexity?
7. Small Bands, Chiefdoms, or Cities in Amazonia? Discuss marshalling ethnographic, ethnohistorical,
and archaeological evidence.
8. Can pre-Columbian landscape modifications to intensify the yield of subsistence resources be
interpreted as evidence of higher population density and increased socio-political complexity?
PLEASE MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE JRO ONCE YOU DECIDE WHICH QUESTIONS YOU WISH TO
ANSWER
A