Landscape Transformation and Sociopolitical Organization in Marajoara Phase, Brazilian Amazon

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Marajo Island is famous for its unusual geography and remarkable archaeological sites. On a landscape characterized by seasonal flooding and severe droughts, Marajoara people built earthen mounds and canals, and produced one of the most elaborate ritual ceramics of the New World. Marajoara culture influenced further developments of social complexity on the Amazon Basin, during the millennium that anteceded the Europeans arrival. Located at the mouth of the Amazon River, Marajo Island was in the center of the dispute between the European nations for the control of the Amazon River during the early stages of the conquest. Although its indigenous occupation dates back to 3,500 years ago, it was only around A.D. 400 that complex societies emerged on the Island, predating the development of regional, politically centralized societies on the Brazilian Amazon. From A. D. 400 to A. D. 1,400, Marajoara Phase mounds multiplied on the Island flooded grasslands, representing the height of cultural development in Brazil. Interpretations by archaeologists who have excavated at some of these ceremonial sites, has led to a debate on the nature of the rise of chiefdom level society in the Amazon. Some researchers have characterized the moundbuilders as hierarchically organized, with chiefs holding political control over a large region. Under this senario, this development took place outside the Basin,. Others believe that social complexity developed locally but that there is little difference between the mound groups in terms of architecture and material culture. Accordingly, the mounds would have hosted independent villages within a more egalitarian type of society. The proposed research will test these two opposing hypotheses at the Camutins site, a group of 37 mounds located along the Camutins River, on the center of Marajo Island. That site represents the first regional aggregation of population under some kind of sociopolitical rule. In order to investigate whether the Camutins society was hierarchically organized under a single chief or simply represents population aggregation on a more egaliatarian basis, a major systematic settlement pattern survey will be accomplished on the area, followed by excavations in selected mounds. The research will construct a chronological sequence of the rise of the Marojoara chiefdomship at the Camutins site, based upon the radiocarbon dating and the analysis of the pottery recovered from the excavations. This detailed study will provide the critical foundation for future regional studies on Marajo Island, and permit more sophisticated hypotheses to be formulated on the socio-political organization, not only on Marajo Island, but throughout the Amazon Basin. Although it has become widely recognized that complex societies were present in many areas in prehistoric Amazonia, the region has lacked significant archaeological investigation as compared to other areas in the Americas. This project aims to place Marajoara societies and Amazonia more broadly on current debates on ancient complex societies. The project will also assist in training a very promising graduate student.