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Amazonia year AD 1000: Territoriality and Conflict at the Time of the Regional Chiefdoms

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Author(s):
Claide de Paula Moraes
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Doctoral Thesis
Press: São Paulo.
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE)
Defense date:
Examining board members:
Eduardo Goes Neves; Cristiana Nunes Galvão de Barros Barreto; Vera Lucia Calandrini Guapindaia; Maria Clara Migliacio; Fabiola Andrea Silva
Advisor: Eduardo Goes Neves
Abstract

This work presents the results of archaeological research aimed at debating the process of human occupation in the pre-Columbian past in an area generally referred to as the Central Amazon. More specifically, it contemplates archaeological evidence from the environs of the mouth of the Rivers Negro and Solimões (Amazon) as well as the lower Madeira, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. Our principal focus is upon occupations of the Christian Era; the discussion is guided by evidence from a period of occupation defined as the Paredão phase. The greater aim of the work, however, is to understand processes that led to the emergence, development and decline of regional chiefdoms of the pre-colonial period in Amazonia. We seek to understand site and archaeological structure formation processes, the specificities of each moment of occupation and the interaction between peoples who lived in these areas based on survey, mapping and excavation of archaeological sites and upon a substantial volume of research conducted by members of the Central Amazon Project. Technological and detailed spatial analyses allowed us to study artefact production technology and intra-site contexts respectively, enabling us in turn to shed light on a larger question, involving wider regional processes. We then compared and contrasted the results of these analyses with other contexts, where archaeological research is still in an exploratory phase. These data and methods have permitted us to contribute to debates involving other areas of Amazonia, which contemplate demographic density, settlement patterns, settlement systems, conflict, territorial disputes, the meaning of artefact variability and modes of subsistence. This work has led us to formulate alternative proposals for interpreting the meaning of the technological variability of ceramic artefacts, territorial disputes, the importance of agriculture and political complexity around the year 1000AD. (AU)