Late Prehistoric Social Complexity in Southern Amazonia (Upper Xingu, Brazil)

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With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Michael Heckenberger and his colleagues will conduct two seasons (eight months) of archaeological research in the Upper Xingu region, Brazil, situated near the southern peripheries of the forested lowlands of the Amazon basin. The project aims to accurately characterize the regional distribution, variability, and articulation of late prehistoric (c. AD 1000-1600) habitation sites within a 900 km study area and to improve the overall chronology of prehistoric human occupation in the region. Building on the results of previous NSF funded research, specific questions to be addressed include: (1) the initial appearance of circular plaza villages in the region, suggested to be c. AD 800-900; (2) the timing of major structural elaboration of the plaza villages, through earthwork construction, thought to have occurred c. AD 1400-1600; (3) the variability, in terms of size, configuration, and structural features, of these terminal prehistoric sites and their integration within the study area; (4) the degree of population nucleation, measured in terms of village growth, coincident with major earthwork construction; and (5) the overall environmental impacts of the large prehistoric villages on the surrounding landscape, in collaboration with specialists in paleoecology, pedology, and ethnobotany. The project will include the expansion of a geographic (GIS) database for this portion of the southern Amazon, utilizing satellite images and aerial-photos, as well as ground-based data recovery. The research addresses pressing issues in regional anthropology, most notably debates regarding the nature and distribution of complex societies (chiefdoms) in late prehistoric times. Although long felt to be inimical to the development of large, settled populations, recent research indicates that such societies did exist prehistorically in Amazonia. Thus, the Amazon is one of the last major hearths for the emergence of chiefdoms to be recognized worldwide. This research is particularly timely since, to date, very few systematic regional-level archaeological studies have been conducted in the Brazilian Amazon. More broadly, scientific investigation of past settlement and land-use in different parts of the Amazon is critical to debates regarding pre-industrial adaptations to tropical forest environments and issues of contemporary economic sustainability and development in this ecologically sensitive region. The project, sponsored by the Museu Nacional and Museu Goeldi in Brazil and composed of a team of Brazilian and American researchers and students, will strengthen scientific cooperation between Brazil and the United States and also promote cooperation between scientists and indigenous peoples.