Archaeological research is radically transforming the view that the Amazon basin and surrounding areas witnessed limited societal development before European contact. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains on the nature of the subsistence systems and the role that aquatic resources, terrestrial mammalian game, and plants had in supporting population growth, geographic dispersal, cultural adaptations and political complexity during the later stages of the pre-Columbian era. This is exacerbated by the general paucity of archaeological human remains enabling individual dietary reconstructions. Here we use stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen to reconstruct the diets of human individuals from São Luís Island (Brazilian Amazon coast) dated between ca. 1800 and 1000 cal BP and associated with distinct ceramic traditions. We expanded our analysis to include previously published data from Maracá and Marajó Island, in the eastern Amazon. Quantitative estimates of the caloric contributions from food groups and their relative nutrients using a Bayesian Mixing Model revealed distinct subsistence strategies, consisting predominantly of plants and terrestrial mammals and variably complemented with aquatic resources. This study offers novel quantitative information on the extent distinct food categories of polyculture agroforestry systems fulfilled the caloric and protein requirements of Late Holocene pre-Columbian populations in the Amazon basin.
Ocupações humanas pré-coloniais nacultura material e formação do pacote arqueológico. Correlações entre as variáveis espaçotemporais, inserção na paisagem e tecnotipologia cerâmica atestaram a existência de uma ocupação mais antiga, representada por um horizonte ceramista pré-sambaquieiro; seguida de uma ocupação intermediária de longa duração, associada a um horizonte ceramista sambaquieiro; substituída por um horizonte ceramista tardio associado à terra preta arqueológica, seguido de um horizonte ceramista simples e finalizando com um horizonte associado aos Tupinambás, que se estendeu até o período do contato. Os resultados obtidos nesta tese indicaram que, mesmo com a diversidade cultural e amplitude temporal, as ocupações humanas na Ilha de São Luís se assentaram nas mesmas áreas, tornando-se esses lugares atrativos ao longo dos milênios, por apresentar áreas de captação de recursos alimentares, matérias-primas, fontes de água doce e relacionar-se com os locais mais privilegiados topograficamente para habitação. attractive these places over the millennia, to present catchment areas of food resources, raw materials, fresh water sources and relate to the most privileged topographically housing. PALAVRAS-CHAVE:
Portable system of energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence was used to determine the elemental composition of 68 pottery fragments from ‘Sambaqui do Bacanga’, an archeological site in São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil. This site was occupied from 6600 BP until 900 BP. By determining the element chemical composition of those fragments, it was possible to verify the existence of engobe in 43 pottery fragments. Obtained from two‐dimensional graphs and hierarchical cluster analysis performed in fragments of stratigraphies from surface and 113‐cm level, and 10 to 20, 132 and 144‐cm level, it was possible to group these fragments in five distinct groups, according to their stratigraphies. The results of data grouping (two‐dimensional graphics) are in agreement with hierarchical cluster analysis by Ward method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Resumo: Os padrões humanos de subsistência e/ou mobilidade podem estar refletidos no registro zooarqueológico dos sambaquis de manguezais estuarinos e outros ecótonos litorâneos. Em um domínio biogeográfico, tal como o manguezal e seus ecótonos associados, a disponibilidade de grande parte dos recursos animais pode aumentar em função da sazonalidade e do ciclo de vida dos seres vivos, e tornar-se mais acessível dentro de uma área de captação de recursos. Assim, o registro dos sambaquis, caracterizados por uma grande quantidade de restos de moluscos e peixes, em relação a outros táxons, pode indicar tanto um viés tafonômico, quanto questões relacionadas ao cálculo da biomassa em laboratório e/ou variações na subsistência humana em função das modificações da paisagem no ciclo anual. Este trabalho tem por objetivo contemplar as questões e as hipóteses sobre os padrões de mobilidade atrelados aos modelos de subsistência e à apropriação do ambiente por sociedades humanas pretéritas, nos Sambaquis do litoral maranhense, com especial ênfase ao sambaqui do Bacanga, inserido em um contexto de manguezal estuarino. Até o momento, foi possível concluir que não houve variações taxonômicas significativas ao longo dos estratos arqueológicos.Palavras-chave: Zooarqueologia. Estratégias de subsistência. Forrageamento ótimo. Tafonomia em Zooarqueologia.Abstract: Human patterns of subsistence and/or mobility may be reflected in the zooarchaeological record from estuarine mangrove shell mounds and other coastal ecotones. In a biogeographical domain, such as mangroves and their associated ecotones, the availability of much of the animal resources may increase due to seasonality and life cycle of organisms and become more accessible within an area of resource capture. Thus, the record of shell mounds, characterized by a large number of remains of molluscs and fish in relation to other taxa, may indicate either a taphonomic bias, as well as issues related to the calculation of the biomass in the laboratory and/or changes in subsistencedue to modifications of the landscape in the annual cycle. This work aims to address the questions and hypotheses about patterns of mobility tied to models of subsistence and ownership of the environment by pasthuman societies in coastal shell mounds from Maranhão, with special emphasis on the Sambaqui do Bacanga, inserted in a context of mangrove estuary. So far it could be concluded that there were no significant taxonomic changes over the archaeological strata.
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