The Middle to Late Holocene Climate of the Middle Guaporé

• Grant number: 25/05165-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Prehistoric Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Góes Neves
• Grantee: Sadie Louise Weber
• Host Institution: Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/07794-9 - Human-environment relationships in Pre-Columbian Amazonia, AP.TEM

Abstract

This project aims to carry out a detailed reconstruction of the climate for the past 6000 years near the Guaporé River in southwestern Amazonia. The Amazon basin is home to unique settlement systems with a deep history that resulted in the culturally and biologically diverse landscape we know today. By applying a program of intensive stable isotope analysis at the Monte Castelo shell mound, this project will assess the environmental changes that have taken place since the Middle Holocene in Southwestern Amazonia. In addition to reconstructing the paleoclimate, I aim to examine how the people living at Monte Castelo responded to changes over time. This isotopic work will be integrated with ongoing research into subsistence and human-landscape interaction, which is rooted in macro- and micro-botanical and zooarchaeological analyses. Additionally, this research will contribute to a better overall understanding of Holocene climate in South America as a record that is comparable to existing data. (AU)