Production, Accumulation, and Regional Socio-Political Dynamics in the Southern Amazon (Brazil), AD 1250-1600

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

This research examines the socio-political organization of large, complex communities in the Upper Xingu region of southern Amazonia (Brazil), particularly with respect to the production and distribution of economic and symbolic capital. The research builds on previous NSF-funded archaeological research (2001-2003), which focused on regional survey and site mapping. Prior research revealed unexpectedly complex regional and local settlement patterns, including first-, second-, and third-order plaza villages and non-plaza hamlets, and substantial ecological transformations associated with the large and densely distributed late prehistoric communities. The present research will investigate differences in production and accumulation of resources at local and regional levels to characterize regional social dynamics in late prehistoric times (c. AD 1250-1650). Investigations will address differences between sites and intra-site distributions and zonation, particularly with respect to major structural features of communities, e.g., within, near, and distant from central plazas. Specifically, the research will test three models of production and accumulation. The first suggests that bulk food resources (notably agricultural surplus) and economic centralization is at the heart of regional political economics. The second suggests that political economy was based primarily on the control and exchange of tangible luxury items, a "prestige goods" economy. The third model, inspired by Clifford Geertz's definition of the "theater state," suggests that it is control of public ritual and space that forms the basis of differential power production. Fieldwork involves archaeological surface evaluation, soil coring and analysis, test-pit and larger block excavations at select sites, including at least one example of each site type. Lake-bottom coring, for paleo-environmental reconstruction (headed by project participant Dr. Mark Brenner), and paleoethnobotany (headed by project participants Dr. Lee Newsom and Dr. Jose Iriarte) are also planned. Laboratory activities include processing and preliminary analysis of artifacts, soils, and satellite imagery. The project involves participation by US and Brazilian researchers and graduate students, as well as substantial participation by local indigenous (Amerindian) populations.