The archosedimentary record of human presence in the Amazon: a look through the micromorphology of soils and complementary techniques

Abstract

This project aims to study the archaeological sediments of sites in the Brazilian Amazon, belonging to different landscapes, contexts and chronologies. Recent research in the Southwest Amazonian (Acre, Rondônia and Southern Amazonas) has demonstrated continuous human occupation since the beginning of the Holocene, with evidence of ancient ceramics, the formation of anthropic soils (dark earth), the domestication of plants, the construction of monumental structures (geoglyphs and earthen mounds), as well as great linguistic diversity. In the middle Solimões, it is known the existence of areas with extensive dark earth, multicomponential sites, with great ceramic diversity and reports of high population density. Based on the theory of historical ecology, the interaction and occupation of Amazonia shows that the indigenous promoted significant changes in forest formation. From the different landscapes, the current archaeological researches understand how this management were carried out considering the social and cultural diversity in the region. The general objective of this research is to understand formation processes of Monte Castelo (RO), Teotônio (RO), Sol de Campinas do Acre (AC) and Boa Esperança (AM) sites based on geoarchaeological and microarchaeological methods. Textural, compositional and contextual characterization of archaeological sediments will be conducted by means of micromorphological analyzes (including the computerized micro-tomography of the samples), geochemical (X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction) and by infrared spectroscopy with Fourier (FTIR). The project will collaborate with the general discussion on the construction of the Amazonian landscape and its regional specificities from a comparative geoarchaeological approach between sites of dark earth (Teotônio, Boa Esperança) and earthen mounds sites (Monte Castelo, Sol de Campinas do Acre). The geographical and chronological extent of the proposal will allow us to track the changes associated with the construction of the Amazonian landscape at different moments of its history and to evaluate the impact that the great migrations had on the strategies of occupation and construction of the sites. (AU)