Food production during the Holocene in the Brazilian Central Plateau: a stable isotope perspective

Abstract

Origins and development of subsistence strategies and economic systems based on food production are central issues for understanding humanity's deep history. These processes are relatively well characterized in many regions of the world. The archaeological record shows the existence of horticultural groups in the late Holocene in Brazil Central Plateau. However, the origin of horticultural groups inhabiting Central Brazil remains unknown. In part, this is because in Central Brazil the transition from foraging to horticulture - whatever the nature - apparently occurs during the middle Holocene, a period notable for the drastic decrease in density of the archaeological record. The rarity of archaeological remains from this period contrasts with the abundance of archaeological sites for foragers from the early Holocene. This Research Internship Abroad (BEPE) Project is inserted in the discussion of the transition from foraging to food production, that is, on the debate about the social change from the early Holocene foragers to the late Holocene horticulturists. In this scenario, the main objective of this project is diet determination by stable isotope analysis. To investigate diet, analyses of stable isotopes of human, faunal and plant remains from archaeological contexts will be carried out. Samples of bone and teeth from human individuals, constituting a time transect from the early to the late Holocene in Central Brazil, are available for analysis. (AU)