THE AMAZON, EASTERN BRAZIL, AND THE ORINOCO -
1992 Fieldwork

Amazonia. During 1992, Clark Erickson (University of Pennsylvania [UP]) and Wilma Winkler (Instituto Nacional de ArqueologÍa de Bolivia) continued to work on the Raised Field Agro-Archaeological Project of the Beni. Investigations focused on the raised fields and associated hydraulic infrastructure at the site of Santa Fe. Large expanses of previously unreported raised fields were located through aerial survey from small planes and archival research using aerial photographs of the central and northern Llanos de Moxos. John Walker (UP) is applying digital processing of remote-sensing images to enhance visibility and mapping of earthworks. Electronic distance measuring theodolite (EDM) surveying by Kay Candler (UP) provided microtopographical recording of hydraulic works including raised fields, causeways, dikes, and canals within a large block of prehispanic agricultural remains. Ground survey of the Santa Fe zone indicates that extensive areas of raised fields are under forest canopy, and thus these features are invisible from the air, making calculations of field coverage difficult.

Preliminary interpretations of the mapping program support the idea that raised-field farmers used sophisticated means of water management. Marcos Michel (Universidad Mayor San Andrés) excavated a long profile trench in raised fields for recovery of soil and botanical samples. Project experiments using raised-field agriculture continued at the Biological Station of the Beni under the direction of agronomy students Julio Arce and Carlos San Roman (Universidad Técnica del Beni). Marcos Michel (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés) continues his investigations of raised fields at the site of La Vibora near San Ignacio de Moxos.

Bahia and Santa Catarina. Alan Bryan and Ruth Gruhn (University of Alberta) announce the publication of Brazilian Studies by the Center for the Study of the First Americans in fall 1993. One part provides the final reports on archaeological research carried out at six cave or rockshelter sites in interior Bahia in 1983 1984 and 1985, as part of the Projeto Central, under the sponsorship of Profa. Maria Beltrão (Museu Nacional). This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The other part is the final report on excavations by Alan Bryan in the sambaquÍ at Forte Marechal Luz on the Ilha de São Francisco in Santa Catarina state in 1960, a project sponsored by the Organization of American States and the Grace R. Doherty Foundation.

Mato Grosso do Sul. Pedro Ignácio Schmitz (Instituto Anchietano de Pesquisas) reports that the Pantanal Project, which began in 1990, was continued in 1991 and 1992 in the vicinity of Corumbá. Large Tupiguarani horticultural sites, earthworks of both ceramic and preceramic peoples, and large petroglyph sites have been found. Work was focused on locating, mapping, and excavating the earthworks. Hundreds of sites have been identified, while 87 have been mapped as of this report. Only 10 stratigraphic cuts have been made to identify structures and materials.

Preceramic sites are found on high banks of the Paraguay River and around large, permanent lakes surrounded by a system of low hills. Ceramic sites are found in these same localities, but they are most frequently found in low areas of the Pantanal along small canals and lakes that remain flooded for 6 10 months of the year.

The ceramics come from small, simple utilitarian vessels with smoothed, corrugated, cord-marked, or basketry-impressed surfaces. The pottery is different from any other described for Brazil. In colonial times, various horticultural and hunting and collecting groups occupied the area that included the Brazilian Pantanal and similar regions of Bolivia and Paraguay.

Sites that are not flooded during high water appear to be shell middens built up of the remains of freshwater gastropods. Smaller amounts of fish bones are found. In areas subject to longer periods of inundation, the sites are more earth colored, but food remains continue to be the same varieties of molluscs with only small amounts of fish. In these areas, sites are 80—100 m in diameter and 120—150 cm high. They are the only points standing above water during periods of inundation. The sites stand out in the countryside because of the trees that grow on them while the surrounding area is covered with grass and shrubs. Presently it can not be certain that the mounds were constructed intentionally, but their appearance was certainly strongly influenced by people. Though radiocarbon dates have not been obtained, it is postulated that the sites in the Pantanal are relatively recent. Pedro Ignácio Schmitz proposes that the sites were occupied by the same people who lived on the hills around Corumbá, who spread from there to the Pantanal.

The project is executed by the Instituto Anchietano de Pesquisas, the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and the Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul. The general coordinator is Pedro Ignácio Schmitz. The coordinator of ecology is Maria Angélica Bezerra de Oliveira. Geraldo Alves Damaceno Júnior is in charge of botanical studies. Quaternary Geological studies are directed by Ana Luisa V. Bitencourt. Maria Eunice Jardim Schuch Coordinates ethnohistoric work.

Santa Catarina. The Instituto Anchietano de Pesquisas and the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos returned to the archaeological investigation in coastal Santa Catarina with the objective of publishing the results of excavations carried out by Pe. João Alfredo Rohr, S.J. who died in 1984. Rohr's work was designed to shed light on the peopling of the coast. He worked at various sites along the full length of Santa Catarina's coast.

The first of his postmortem works was published in 1990 (Praia da Tapera. Pesquisas, Antropologia 45:210). The second was published in 1992 (Praia da Armação do Sul. Pesquisas, Antropologia 48:220). Another five publications are in preparation and should appear in the next few years. These works include studies of both preceramic and ceramic occupations of the long Itarare tradition. Sites are located in areas that would have favored the utilization of both coastal and marine resources. Rohr's excavations yielded dozens of burials and sufficient data to reconstruct much of the internal structure of villages and encampments.

In order to complete the sample produced by Rohr, work was begun in 1991 and continued in 1992 to excavate a small coastal settlement on the south coast in the municipality of Icara. The objective of the research was to sample a preceramic encampment in an area unfavorable for permanent occupation. So far, 112 square meters of the 600-square-meter site have been excavated, and 10 burials have been recovered. Burials were both primary and secondary, and one cremation was found. Secondary burials and cremations have not been found at any sites excavated previously. Comparisons with a nearby site suggests an age of at least 2,000 years.

Pará. Marcos P. Magalhaes (Museu Paraense EmÍlio Goeldi) reports that work sponsored by the Vale do Rio Doce Mining Company since 1983 to study and conserve the cultural and natural resources threatened by the Projeto de Minera‡ o de Ferro Grande Carajás in the south of Pará continues. Important archaeological discoveries were made during a survey of the valleys of the Parauapebas and Itacaiúnas Rivers. As was reported in Current Research published in American Antiquity 50(1), open sites in the Vale dos Rios contained great quantities of ceramic material.

In 1985, cave sites in the Serra de Carajás were visited to verify the reports of archaeological remains. Preliminary research in three caves of the Serra Norte revealed significant cultural material. Site PA-AT-69 (Gruta do Gavião), located in a deposit of iron ore, turned out to be one of the most important for the prehistory of Amazonia and Brazil. Evidence of a hunter and collector preceramic period, previously little known in the Amazon Basin, was found. Remains have been radiocarbon dated to 8065 ± 360 B.P. (Geochron GX-12509, -12510, -12511; Teledy I-14, 912). This date is not the oldest date for a human occupation in the Brazilian Amazon, but the richness of the archaeological context makes it one of the most important for the study of early hunters and collectors of the region.

The archaeological evidence from the upper levels of Gruta do Gavião includes fragments of pottery of a simple, undecorated, coil-made type. No dates for the pottery are available. Lower levels (20—40 cm) contain scrapers, punches, small projectile points, drills, flakes, microflakes, and cores made predominately from quartz crystal, milk quartz, lemon quartz, and amethyst. Tools were generally made by percussion techniques. Nut breakers and hammers are of granite, sandstone, or natural iron. None of these materials, except for iron ore, is found in the Serra Norte.

In front of the Gruta do Gavião, a large hearth contained ashes and vegetable and food remains such as seeds, bones and teeth of small animals, fish bones, turtle shells, and mussel shells. The seeds and animals identified show that the inhabitants of the cave were not only using the savannah environment of the top of the plateau, but were also using the fauna and flora of the forested valleys.

It is hypothesized that a common culture ("Neotropical culture") existed early in the Amazon Basin and had a long duration. The discoveries in Carajás demonstrate that human groups occupied the environmental transition between forest and savannah using resources of the diverse environments. This model proposed by the staff of the Museu Paraense EmÍlio Goeldi, emphasizes the diversity of environmental niches in the Amazon and contrasts with previous models that emphasized environmental homogeneity.

The method of excavation employed from the beginning work in 1989 consisted of dividing the area of the site into 1-m squares with four 25-cm subsections. Each unit was excavated by natural stratigraphic levels. Material found in situ was mapped according to position and depth. These methods permitted the reconstruction in the laboratory of the spacial distribution and concentration of the material in the cave. Excavation of the site was completed in 1992, and the laboratory analysis of the material is in progress.

Fortunately, in the region of Carajás there exists many other caves, and hopefully some of these will have vestiges of archaeological material. Work planned for 1993 and 1994 will be directed toward finding cave sites not subject to immediate destruction, thus allowing for more careful excavations to be carried out.

The following staff of the Museu Paraense EmÍlio Goeldi participated in the excavations of the Gruta do Gavião: Daniel Florêncio Frois Lopes, Klaus Hilbert, Maura Imázio da Silveira, Vera Lúcia Guapindáia, Edithi Pereira, and Marcos Pereira Magalhães. Cristina Senna and Dirse Kerm served as geologists on the project. Jorge Mardock, Raimundo Teodório, and Carlos Chaves worked as technicians.

Anna Curtenius Roosevelt (Field Museum of Natural History and University of Illinois at Chicago) continued excavating the Caverna da Pedra Pintada site in the Monte Alegre upland near the city of Santarém. In an article published in The Sciences (November/December 1992:22 28) the site is dated to roughly 11,000 B.P. Large panels of multicolored rock paintings appear to relate to the earliest period of occupation. Knives, spear points, and scrapers are made of yellow flint, siltstones, and quartz crystals. Well-preserved food remains including fruit seeds from tropical forest zones and animal bones from nearby streams have been found. Roosevelt is also continuing to analyze the pottery excavated at the Taperinha site dated between 6,000 and 7,500 years ago.

Minas Gerais. André Prous (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais) reports that with the collaboration of the Mission Archéologique Française de Minas Gerais work continues to be carried out on various lines of research begun in 1976. Laboratory research on the 40 Lagoa Santa type skeletons excavated at the Grande Abrigo de Santana is in progress. These have been dated between 8400 and 9460 B.P. Work is also continuing on the thousands of rock paintings of the Planalto tradition. Some of these have been dated maximally and minimally because they are buried by datable midden. (See the article by Prous in Rock Art and Prehistory, edited by Bahn and Rosenfeld, 1991, Oxford.)

Work is also continuing in the Vale do Rio Peruaçu, where more than 60 very rich sites have been found. Evidence of human occupation is older than 12,000 years, and a long sequence of evolving tool types has been identified. Excellent preservation of vegetable materials has permitted the study of the domestication of manioc, maize, tobacco, urucum (a tropical fruit), cotton, and beans in central Brazil. Rock paintings at many of the Peruaçu sites pertain to several traditions that have been distinguished by stratigraphic excavations. An article on the Lapa do Boquete cave site was published in the Journal de la Société de Americanistes in 1991.

A third line of research consists of developing a systematic analysis of rock-art elements from more than 40 sites in the region of Lagoa Santa and Serra do Cipó near Belo Horizonte. Pigment analysis is being carried out at the Universidade Federal in the only laboratory for trace-element analysis in Brazil. Trace-element technology is also being used to study lithic material. The Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais has published 11 volumes of the Arquivos do Museu de História Natural da Universidade. Two more are in press. These volumes are almost exclusively reports on Minas Gerais archaeology. In 1992 André Prous published a book on Brazilian Archaeology (Arqueologia brasileira) with the Editora da Universidade Nacional de BrasÍlia. In 600 pages he presents the essential data of Brazilian archaeology.

In the area of historical archaeology, C. M. Guimarães studied Quilombos, a refuge for black fugitives during the slave period (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). P. Junqueira Alvarenga has been studying the remains of the urban occupation of the "Ciclo do Ouro" (gold rush) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Bolivar and Amazonas. During a short field season in 1993, John Greer (University of Missouri Columbia) continued survey and recording of pictograph sites in southwestern Venezuela, along the upper and middle Orinoco, above and below Puerto Ayacucho. Many new caves were found, with scores more reported by local inhabitants and seen during aerial reconnaissance. The tentative stylistic sequence seems to be fairly secure, although absolute ages still are not certain. The earliest paintings are a light orange, with motifs most commonly geometric but with some stylized humans. Distinctive geometric designs suggest a cultural tie with the present Piaroa inhabitants, which would push their known culture history back at least 3,000 years. A long Middle period of monochrome red appears next, with an emphasis on figurative motifs particularly dominated by human ritual dancers and numerous varieties of animals. Paint is often lighter shades of red during the early part of this period, and somewhat darker red in the latter part. The Middle period is divided in half by a distinctive red-white bichrome style with heavy emphasis on fish and aquatic animal motifs, but also portraying numerous terrestrial animals and several geometric patterns different from those in the earlier paintings. This Bichrome hrizon interruption appears to be very widespread and very short-lived. Red-black-white polychrome appears at the end of the red monochrome Middle period. The latest paintings seem to be identifiable to a series of short phases indicated by a dominant use of various colored clays (e.g., white, yellow, pink). Use of dark brown carana resin to paint very small figures also appears late and now seems, by its distinctive form and content, to be the same age as massive hillside petroglyphs of Cerro Pintado just south of Puerto Ayacucho. Historical-period pictographs are rare and only appear early within the period. In all the art there appears to be no portrayal of sexual activity or scenes clearly showing hunting or other forms of human animal conflict or killing; the lack of these subjects seems unusual and noteworthy. This study zone overlaps on its northern downstream side with the area where Kay Tarble (Universidad Central de Venezuela) continues her regional study of the middle Orinoco, including the continued intensive study of rock art by Franz Scaramelli (Universidad Central de Venezuela).