Human mobility in the Ancient Amazon: isotopic archaeology and the bioavailability of strontium in the South America lowlands

Abstract

This project proposes to carry out isotopic analysis of strontium, focusing on mapping the signatures of dental enamels and other biological materials from the Monte Castelo shellmound, comparing them with data from other sites, such as Hatahara, in the Central Amazon, and Gruta do Gentio II, near the Central Brazil Amazonian headwaters of the Upper Tocantins River. Monte Castelo (MC) is a fluvial shellmound located in the Guaporé River wetlands, Southwestern Amazon, and has proven to be a key site for the archaeology of the indigenous people of the South American lowlands. The chronology extends from 6.000 B.P. and the site bears one of the earliest and longest continuous records of ceramic production in the New World. Focused on the samples obtained by the excavation of the burials, the analyzes proposed here will investigate the isotopic signals from human remains, funerary structures and associated assemblages from the Mid to Upper Holocene MC occupations. In order to generate data for synchronic and diachronic regional comparison, burials from the Central Amazon and Amazonian highlands will also be included at this stage of the research, allowing the initial recognition of human mobility patterns and their possible relationship with distinct paleoenvironments. The results from the isotopic analysis proposed here will provide knowledge about the diachronic bioavailability - nor only of heavy (Sr) but also of light (C, N and O) - elements in Amazon, and beyond. So, in parallel to the studies on human mobility in the past, the data produced will be geo-processed to form a preliminary archaeological isoscape of strontium bioavailability in the South America lowlands and, at the end of this research, the mapping from isotopic proxies of human mobility in the ancient South America lowlands will be open for free consulting and permanent updating. (AU)