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(Reference retrieved automatically from SciELO through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Indigenous bread and vegetable pulp: bonds between past and present in indigenous Amazon

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Author(s):
Gilton Mendes dos Santos [1] ; Daniel Cangussu [2] ; Laura Pereira Furquim [3] ; Jennifer Watling [4] ; Eduardo Góes Neves [5]
Total Authors: 5
Affiliation:
[1] Universidade Federal do Amazonas - Brasil
[2] Fundação Nacional do Índio - Brasil
[3] Universidade de São Paulo. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia - Brasil
[4] Universidade de São Paulo. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia - Brasil
[5] Universidade de São Paulo. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia - Brasil
Total Affiliations: 5
Document type: Journal article
Source: Bol. Mus. Para. Emílio Goeldi. Ciênc. hum.; v. 16, n. 1 2021-04-19.
Abstract

Abstract The development of food storage technologies by indigenous peoples of the Amazon has been described since the early european chroniclers that travelled in the region. Cultural artifacts known as pães de índio ( ‘indigenous bread’) are frequently found in or nearby archaeological sites, in various environments and settings, and identified by local peoples as a compound of processed and buried plants, edible even after years of production. Since the 1980s, however, a number of botanical and mycological studies have classified these supposed breads as a fungus of the genus Pachyma Fr., Polyporus indigenus. In this paper we present archaeological, microbotanical and ethnographic evidence that shows that indigenous breads are a compounds of prepared fruit and tuberous species, widely described by indigenous peoples. We present the first attempt to extract starch grains from two of these objects, which tested positive for starch grains from maize, pepper, batata-mairá, and other vegetable species. We aim to demonstrate that such objetcts are the testimony of the management and use of forest plant diversity and of a set of production tools and techniques for food storage purposes. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 18/26679-3 - Relationships and movements: an archeology of cropping and mobility patterns in Southwestern Amazon, from 1.000 A.D. to the present
Grantee:Laura Pereira Furquim
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate