prehistoric hunters and gatherers of brazil

Prehistoric Hunters and Gatherers of BrazilAuthor(s): Pedro Ignacio SchmitzSource: Journal of World Prehistory, Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 1987), pp. 53-126Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25800520 .

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Journal of World Prehistory, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1987

Prehistoric Hunters and Gatherers of Brazil

Pedro Ignacio Schmitz1

Although carbon-14 dates prior to 13,000 B.P. have been obtained from several sites east and south of Amazonia, their reliability is uncertain. By about

11,000 B.P., however, two lithic traditions were widespread. The Uruguai tradition, characterized by bifacial stemmed projectile points, was associated with open vegetation in the south; the Itaparica tradition, emphasizing well

formed unifacial artifacts, had dispersed over the eastern tropicalparklands. An enormous amount and variety of rock paintings and/or engravings are associ ated with the latter. Around 7000 B.P., two new traditions emerged to exploit new habitats. The Humaitd tradition, characterized by large bifacial tools and an absence of stone projectile points, expanded over the broad-leavedforests in the south, leaving the open landscapes dominated by the projectile point-using Umbu tradition. The sambaqui (shell midden) tradition, also emphasizing large bifaces, developed along rugged portions of the southern coast. By 4000 B.P., groups along the coast of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo were using domesticated or semidomesticated plants, perhaps sweet manioc. Maize was being grown in Minas Gerais by about 3500 B.P. Carbon-14 dates

from numerous sites indicate, however, that the hunter-gatherer way of life persisted in many places long after the advent of pottery-making horticultur alists. The existence of large temporal and spatial gaps even in regions with considerable investigation makes it difficult to reconstruct the process of evo lution reflected in these archaeological complexes. Correlations between cultural traditions and environmental fluctuations indicate, however, that

adaptation to changing conditions was a significant challenge faced by pre historic Brazilian populations.

KEY WORDS: preceramic traditions of coastal Brazil; rock art; shell middens; plant domesti

cation; lithics.

'Institute Anchietano de Pesquisas, Praca Tiradentes 35, 93.000 Sao Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.

53

O892-7537/87/O30O-O053S05.00/0 ? !987 Plenum Publishing Corporation



54 Schmitz

INTRODUCTION

Historical Background

Compared with most other countries in the Americas, archaeological research is a recent development in Brazil. Today, professional archaeologists number fewer than 100 and reconstruction of the prehistory of some

8,500,000 km2 within the frontiers of the nation is just beginning. A few decades ago, Brazilian archaeology called to mind "Lagoa Santa

man" and the names of W. P. Lund, J. H. A. Padberg-Drenkpol, H. V.

Walter, and A. Cathoud. The principal problem they investigated was association of humans with the Pleistocene fossils encountered in the cal careous caverns of Minas Gerais.

Since 1956, the picture has been radically changed by the introduction of new problems, new methods, and more efficient techniques, primarily by North American and French scientists. Wesley R. Hurt continued the

investigations in Minas Gerais and succeeded in dating the human remains.

Subsequently, he turned his attention to the coastal sambaquis (shell middens) of the states of Parana and Santa Catarina, seeking to define the

way of life of these shoreline gatherers and its relation to changes in sea level. Annette Laming-Emperaire, accompanied initially by her husband Joseph Emperaire, concerned herself with correlating the sambaquis of Sao Paulo and Parana with successive marine transgressions. Later, she too conducted work in the Lagoa Santa region and also stimulated the study of Brazilian rock art. Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans, although more interested in the development and dispersal of agriculturalists, encouraged their Brazilian

collaborators to investigate important aspects of coastal and inland hunter

gatherer populations and provided most of the carbon-14 dates available for Brazilian archaeology. In more recent times, influence from the French school developed by A. Leroi-Gourhan has been pronounced, especially in the state of Sao Paulo.

At present, teams composed principally of Brazilians trained by these pioneers exist in several states. They are expanding the geographical frontiers of knowledge and multiplying by many thousands the number of recorded sites. As a consequence of their diverse training, they employ distinct theoretical orientations and methodologies. Topics of investigation include the distributions of cultures in time and space; the habitats in

which they developed; the oscillations in climate and their repercussions on the flora, fauna, sea level, and technology; rock art; burial rituals; the use of domestic space; and the mechanics of migrations and cultural

processes.



Prehistoric Brazilian Hunter-Gatherers 55

Present Status of Knowledge

In geographical terms, fieldwork now concentrates on the Atlantic coast, the adjacent planalto (plateau), and the banks of the Amazonian rivers. The

quantity and quality of information vary, but some states possess good initial frameworks and a few have advanced to the investigation of specific prob lems or detailed excavations of sites.

The existing chronology is based principally on carbon-14 dates

provided by laboratories in the United States, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. In

addition, a small number of thermoluminescence results have been produced by the Universidade de Sao Paulo and the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Although the total number of dates must be about a thousand, this is very few for a territory of 8.5 million km2 with considerable cultural

diversity. Furthermore, about half the dates apply to pottery-making groups and the majority of the nonceramic dates is from sambaquis (shell middens). Consequently, many sites and complexes must be given estimated chrono

logical positions on the basis of typological comparisons. Although research was initiated recently, its geographical scope is

expanding rapidly and its goals are diversifying to include paleoenviron mental reconstruction as a factor in explaining cultural changes. Because most of the data have not been thoroughly analyzed, much less published, considerable modification is to be expected in the synthesis presented here.

Time-Space Framework

Many investigators employ the concepts of tradition and phase, per mitting their data to be correlated. Others use different analytic categories, however, making comparisons difficult. This situation has led me to adopt a

framework based on major environmental regions and climatic or paleo environmental periods. Although the present-day environment cannot be taken without reservation as the canvas upon which to project past cultures, it can serve as a general reference to be retouched and focused for earlier

periods. Three major regions are definable using dominant vegetation: (1) the

densely forested equatorial lowlands of Amazonia, still superficially explored archaeologically; (2) the tropical parklands of the plateau, extending from the northeast across central Brazil to the southeast, which have been under

going rapid economic exploitation during recent decades; and (3) the sub

tropical forests and savannas of the south and the Atlantic coast, both

densely populated for centuries (Fig. 1).



56 Schmitz

Fig. 1. Map of eastern Brazil showing the boundaries between the three principal environ mental regions: (1) Amazonia, (2) the tropical parkland area, and (3) the subtropical area.

Although Amazonia incorporates more than half of Brazil, data on

hunter-gatherers are too sparse and imprecise to warrant discussion. The environments of the other two regions differ significantly. Tropical parklands cover an immense area, most of it within Brazil. Subtropical forests con centrate in Brazil but extend slightly into northeastern Argentina and




southeastern Paraguay. The savannas are minor northern extensions of those

covering Uruguay and much of Argentina. The shores along the southern and southeastern coasts are sufficiently uniform to be treated as a separate unit.

Since cultural differences correlate generally with these environmental

divisions, the discussion is divided into two parts. The first deals with the area of tropical parklands, and the second with the subtropical forests and savannas.

THE TROPICAL PARKLAND AREA

Environment

Nearly all the tropical parklands are located on the Brazilian planalto, varying between 200 and 1200 m in elevation. Its central portion, with elevations above 500 m, is surrounded by a broad strip with altitudes between 200 and 500 m. This, in turn, is bordered on the Atlantic side by a narrower

band below 200 m in elevation. The climate is hot, the average temperature of the coolest month being

above 15?C. Rainfall is irregularly distributed, creating clearly defined wet

and dry seasons. In the eastern extreme, rainfall occurs during winter, whereas in the rest of the region it occurs during summer. The dry season may extend for 11 months in the most arid part of the Sao Francisco basin and

adjacent terrain and typically exceeds 3 months except in peripheral areas, where it may last only 1 month.

Relief, climate, and soil are responsible for the tropical parkland vege tation (Fig. 2). It is very sparse in the driest portions, where it is known as

"caatinga." Where water is more abundant, it is somewhat denser and termed "closed savanna" (campo cerrado) or simply "cerrado." Dense forest

may occur where humidity is most evenly distributed and patches of relict savanna occupy the highest and most poorly drained locations.

Resources suitable for human exploitation appear to be more abundant in the cerrado than the caatinga. Numerous plants produce large quantities of fruits during the rainy season, which attract both humans and animals. Savanna enclaves in the cerrados may shelter abundant game, the animals

solitary or in small groups. The forest is poorest in both plant and animal resources.

Game is characterized by a large number of species of medium or small size, which live dispersed or in small bands in specific habitats and

vary in abundance according to the season of the year. The rivers draining toward the Amazon basin are well stocked during the dry season, when



58 Schmitz

Fig. 2. Typical landscapes of the tropical parkland area, (a) Bed of the Rio Curimatau, RN,

during the dry season, (b) Cerrado and gallery forest in the Serranopolis region, GO. [(a) Courtesy of N. Nasser.]




fish ascend to spawn and turtles to lay their eggs. Even the less prolific rivers of the southeast and northeast offer some sustenance. Throughout the

uplands, honeybees are abundant, constructing their hives in trees or among rocks.

Although the planalto offers similar flora and fauna throughout its

extent, local conditions of latitude, topography, soil, and climate combine the elements in different ways, creating extremely productive habitats for human

exploitation. This diversity is attributable largely to the scarps, ridges, and hills produced by the cutting action of the Amazon, Sao Francisco, and Parana rivers, which originate from the divide in the center of the planalto. The most extreme expression is manifested by the "brejos" of the northeast, where differences in altitude offer an incredible range of varied resources, from dry plains with sparse vegetation to high summits with dense forest.

Heterogeneous environments also develop near the sea. Other resources include the variety of raw materials obtained from

animals, such as skins, bones, horns, teeth, and shells. Minerals required for manufacturing tools and weapons are unequally distributed. Raw

materials of good quality (chert, indurated sandstone, and quartzite) exist in

large masses in some places, whereas only materials of inferior quality (e.g., quartz) and small quantity are available in others. Wood for fuel and for raw

material is universally available, but water may be scarce during the dry season in some places. In crystalline regions, shelter may be insufficient

during cold or rainy periods but is usually abundant in karst and sedimentary zones.

The absence of large gregarious animals (bison, horse, guanaco, etc.), which could support a specialized hunting economy, led to the development of a generalized hunting and gathering subsistence on the planalto domi nated by parkland. This can be distinguished from the specialized hunting characteristic of the natural plains of the Southern and Northern Hemi

spheres, which concentrated on a few extremely abundant species. Changes took place in the vegetation during the millennia of human

occupation. During cold and dry periods, caatinga and even cerrado expanded at the expense of forest; during hot and wet periods, vegetation increased in

density and forest displaced the parkland. Although reconstructions of climate and environment during the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene are still extremely hypothetical (see especially Ab'Saber, 1977), they offer the

only background against which we can project the cultural evidence and

attempt to understand it. Faunal changes and their relationship to human

adaptation are even less known, unfortunately. The prehistory of the parklands can be divided into four general periods,

which correlate with major climatic oscillations that provoked changes in the

ways of life of the human populations.



60 Schmitz

The Terminal Pleistocene, 31,500 to 12,000 B.P.

Until a few years ago, no human remains older than about 12,000 B.P. were known from Brazil. Recently, however, the Franco-Brazilian Project working in southeastern Piaui has announced earlier dates from 3 of more than 200 rock shelters investigated. Other projects have also obtained dates or materials that may be of Pleistocene age (Table I). Although the reliability of these results remains to be established, they cannot be ignored.

Environment

General reconstructions of conditions during the end of the glacial period, between about 18,000 and 13,000 B.P., provide a basis for orientation

(Fig. 3). Frigid winds initiating from the glacial ice caps of Patagonia and the Andes reached to northeastern Brazil and the cold Falkland Current bathed the coast as far north as the state of Bahia, creating extremely arid conditions

throughout the planalto. The sea level was at least 100 m below that at present, exposing a continental shelf that attained a width of more than 100 km in the south and southeast. The temperature was considerably lower, the rainfall

less, and the vegetation much sparser than today. Low altitudes would have been dominated by caatinga, middle altitudes by cerrado, and summits by bands of dense forest. In the south, where cold was most accentuated, large patches of forest extended down the slopes and the highest plains of the

planalto were dominated by pine as far north as Minas Gerais. Lowlands were occupied by dry steppe (Ab'Saber, 1977).

A similar reconstruction has not been proposed for conditions between

31,500 and 20,000 B.P. As in other parts of the world, the climate must have been more benign and part of this period must represent an interstadial.

During the climax, the temperature may have been similar to that today, with unknown consequences for the fauna, flora, and humans.

Archaeological Evidence

Information on the context of the early dates from Sao Raimundo Nonato in Piaui is limited, the investigations still being in progress. Field work during 1984 reached deeper levels than those producing a date of

31,500 B.P. and contained carbon suitable for dating. The following sequence has been described by Guidon (II Reuniao Cientifica SAB, 1983, 1981a, 1984).

The first stage, between 31,500 and 22,000 B.P., is characterized by a

pebble-tool industry employing quartz and quartzite. Flakes, many with evidence of use but not retouch, scrapers, choppers, and chopping tools occur. About 25,000 B.P., stoneworking techniques were well developed.



Table I. Radiocarbon Dates Prior to 11,500 B.P. from the Tropical Parkland Area

State

Site

Type

Complex

Date

B.P.

Lab. No.

Investigator

PI Boqueirao da Pedra Furada, Sao Raimundo Nonato

PI Boqueirao da Pedra Furada PI

Caldeirao do Rodrigues

PI Sitio do Meio, Sao Raimundo

Nonato

BA Morro Furado

MG Abrigo Grande, Santana do

Riacho MG Lapa Vermelha

MT Abrigo do Sol (MT-GU-i)

Rock shelter Pebble industry

Rock shelter Rock shelter

Rock shelter

Flake industry

Flake industry Retouched artifacts

Rock shelter Unknown Rock shelter Unknown Rock shelter Flakes

Rock shelter Dourado complex

31,500 ? 950 26,400 ? 400 26,300 ? 600

25,000 17,000

?

400 18,600 ? 600 14,300 ? 400 to

12,200

+

600 21,090 ? 420 18,570 ? 130 16,200 ? 290 11,960 ? 250 11,680 ? 500

12,300

+

95

GIF-6041 GIF-5962 GIF-5963

GIF-5348 and

-5398 GIF-5397

GIF-5406

GIF-5083 GIF-4628 SI-6750 SI-6751

SI-6752 GIF-5089 GIF

SI-3477

Guidon (1984)

Guidon (1984)

Guidon (1981a)

Guidon

(1981a)

Programa Arqueologico

de Goias Prous (1981a)

Laming-Emperaire (1979)

E, Miller (1983)



62 Schmitz

-EXPOSED PUCITOItM

Fig. 3. Vegetation pattern between 18,000 and 13,000 B.P. (after Ab'Saber, 1977) and locations of archaeological sites. (1) Sao Raimundo Nonato, PI. (2) Coribe, BA.

(3) Lagoa Santa, MG. (4) Rio Claro, SP. (5) Alegrete, RS. (6) Mato Grosso, MT.




During the second stage, between 22,000 and 17,000 B.P., flakes, knives, and scrapers became more abundant, whereas choppers and chopping tools decreased. Raw material remained quartz and quartzite.

The third stage is best defined about 12,000 B.P. Flakes, knives, and side

scrapers were produced from chert and pressure retouched. About 11,000 B.P., plano-convex tools appeared, representing the Itaparica tradition known over much of central and northeastern Brazil.

The two earliest stages proposed by Guidon antedate the oldest gener ally accepted dates for humans in South America. This situation makes it

necessary to view with caution both the antiquity and the sequence. The

stratigraphy, artifacts, and carbon samples are all subject to misinterpre tation. Given the incipient nature of the evaluation, the incompleteness of the

research, and the paucity of information on what has been accomplished so

far, it is impossible to make any definitive statement about the validity of the

sequence, especially the portion dating prior to 12,000 B.P. Dates exceeding 12,000 B.P. have also been reported from Morro

Furado in Bahia (Programa Arqueologico de Goias), Abrigo do Sol in Mato Grosso (Miller, 1983), Lapa Vermelha (Laming-Emperaire, 1979), and

Abrigo Grande (Prous, 1981a) in Minas Gerais, but in none of these cases has the context been subjected to the kinds of intensive examination needed to establish human association.

Extensive investigations have been conducted in Bahia (Beitrao et al, 1984; Bigarella et al, 1984), Rio de Janeiro (Beitrao et aL9 1981, 1982b),

Minas Gerais, and other states in the effort to confirm the presence of humans prior to 12,000 B.P. and their association with Pleistocene fauna, but none has yet been successful.

The Beginning of the Holocene, 119000 to 8500 B.P.

Environment

According to Ab'Saber (1981), the inception of the Holocene saw the retreat of the glaciers with all of the consequences: the cold winds withdrew with the reduction of the ice caps, the cold Falkland Current was displaced along the northeastern coast by the warm Brazil Current, the sea level rose, and the temperature and humidity increased, producing a more tropical climate. These changes appear to have proceeded by oscillations rather than

lineally, reaching a maximum in the "climatic optimum" between about 6500 and 4000 B.P. Also, conditions were moderated locally by various factors, among which relief seems to have been most significant. Vegetation probably remained open throughout the period and may have become even sparser in the northeast.



64 Schmitz

The general increase in temperature and probably slower increase in

precipitation around 9000 to 8000 B.P. [perhaps earlier in Piaui (Guidon, in

Schmitz et ah, 1981a, b)] initiated a very dry period that produced cultural and technological changes and population movements.


Between about 11,000 and 8500 B.P, unifacial blade industries, in which end scrapers predominate, constituted a widespread tradition or horizon over

the area including Pernambuco (Laroche, 1975; et ai, 1977), Piaui (Guidon, II Reuniao Cientifica SAB, 1983,1984), Bahia (Barbosa, 1984), Minas Gerais

(Dias, 1981b, personal communication, 1984; Prous, 1981a; Prous et al.9

1984), Goias (Schmitz et ai9 1976; Schmitz, 1980, 1981; Barbosa et al9 1976-1977; Simonsen, 1975; Mendonga de Souza et ai, 1981-1982), and

Mato Grosso (E. Miller, personal communication Wiist, personal com

munication, 1984). Isolated stone projectile points appeared toward the end of the tradition, dating between 8700 and 8400 B.P. in the Paranaiba phase of Goias (Programa Arqueologico de Goias) and 8400 B.P. at Sao Raimundo Nonato in Piaui (Guidon, II Reuniao Cientifica SAB, 1983).

Other sites of similar antiquity with poorly defined industries using quartz and quartzite have been reported in Lagoa Santa (Laming-Emperaire et al, 1975), in the Serra do Cipo (Prous, 1981a; Prous et al., 1984), and in Cerca Grande (Hurt and Blasi, 1969), the latter including projectile points whose relation to those of the Paranaiba phase is still uncertain (Table II,

Fig. 4).

The Itaparica Tradition

The Itaparica tradition is characterized by a generalized hunter-gatherer economy that exploited diversified niches. At one extreme is the cerrado,

caatinga, or savanna; at the other extreme is the forest. Intermediate and transitional types of vegetation include semidesert ("agreste") and dense cerrado.

Human settlements have been encountered in caves or rock shelters in Minas Gerais, Goias, Pernambuco, and Piaui (Fig. 5) and on the summits of hills in Goias, Bahia, and Permanbuco. Some sites appear rather permanent, as in southwestern and central Goias, where resources must have been

abundant, but the majority were temporary camps. Most of the latter were loci of multiple activities, but a few were specialized for obtaining and

reducing stone. No kill sites have been reported. The subsistence regime of these generalized hunter-gatherers is well

represented by food remains in the rock shelters of southwestern Goias. A

great variety of animals of all sizes was hunted, from reptiles, amphibians,



Prehistoric Brazilian Hunter-Gatberers

Fig. 4. Locations of archaeological sites and phases dating between 11,500 and 6500 B.P. (1) Rio Acu Valley, RN. (2) Bom Jardim, PE. (3) Brejo da Madre de Deus, PE.

(4) Petrolandia, PE. (5) Sao Raimundo Nonato, PI. (6) Coribe, BA. (7) Correntina, BA. (8) Parana Valley, GO. (9) Niquelandia, GO. (10) Hidrolina, GO. (11) Caiapo nia, GO. (12) Serranopolis, GO. (13) Montalvania/Januaria, MG. (14) Unai, MG.

(15) Varzelandia, MG. (16) Montes Claros, MG. (17) Serra do Cipo, MG. (18) Lagoa Santa, MG. (19) Cerca Grande, MG. (20) Itaboraf, RJ. (21) Rio Claro, SP. (22) Alto

Paranapanema, SP. (23) Itaguaje phase, PR. (24) Rio Ivaf, PR. (25) Vinitu phase, PR.

(26) Itapiranga, SC. (27) Capivara phase, RS. (28) Uruguai phase, RS. (29) Mato Grosso, MT. (30) Camboinhas, RJ.



Table II. Radiocarbon Dates Between 11,500 and 8500 B.P. from the Tropical Parkland Area

State

Site

Type

Complex

Date

B.P.

Lab. No.

Investigator

PI Boa Vista II, Sao

Raimundo Nonato

PI Boa Vista I, Sao

Raimundo Nonato

PI Bojo

PI Baixao do Perna I

PI Caldeirao do Rodrigues I

PI Paraguaio PE Cha do Caboclo PE Pedra do Caboclo

PE Brejo da Madre de Deus,

Abrigo 3

GO GO-JA-l, 2, 3, 13c, 14,

20, 22, 26 GO GO-NI-49

BA Pilao

BA Morro Furado MG Lapa Vermelha MG MG-RP-6

Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter

Open site

Rock shelter Rock shelter

Itaparica tradition Itaparica tradition Itaparica tradition Itaparica tradition

Unknown

Itaparica tradition Itaparica tradition Itaparica tradition

Flakes Rock shelters Itaparica tradition

Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter

Itaparica tradition

Unknown Undefined

Rock shelter Flakes

Rock shelter Itaparica tradition

9,850 ? 120 9,700 ? 120 9,730 ? 140 9,700 ? 120 9,540 ? 170 9,480 ? ?

8,780 ? 120

8,600

?

100 11,000 ? 250 to 9,250 ? 160 8,400 ? 200 11,060 ? 90 to 8,495 ? 70 10,740 ? 90 to 8,370 ? 85

10,750 ? 300 9,610 ? 90 9,110 ? 100 8,860 ? 115 10,200 ? 220

9,580 ? 200 10,190 ? 120

9,580 ? 200 8,620 ? 110

MC-2513 MC-2481

Guidon (1981a)

GIF-4629 Guidon (1981a)

GIF-4624 GIF-5414 GIF-5650 MC-251I MC-2510 MC-1046 MC-1056 MC-1003 SI-6298

SI-6296

N-2348 SI-5562 SI-2769 Beta-10015

SI-7160 SI-5565 GIF

GIF-3208 SI-6837

GIF-3208 SI-32I0

Guidon (1981a) Guidon (1981a) Guidon (1984)

Guidon (1981a) Laroche (1975)

Laroche et al. (1977)

Laroche (1975) Schmitz and Lima (pers. comm.) Schmitz et al. (1976)

Schmitz (1976-1977, 1980) Barbosa et al. (1976-1977)

Beitrao et al. (1984) Schmitz et al. (1984)


Dias (pers. comm.) Dias (1976-1977)



MG Cerca Grande, Abrigo 6 Rock shelter Lagoa Santa complex

MG Santana do

Riacho,

Rock shelter Unknown

Abrigo Grande

MG MG-VG-11 Rock shelter Undefined MG MG-VG-19 Rock shelter Undefined

MT MT-GU-1, Abrigo Rock shelter Undefined

do Sol

9,720 ? 128 P-521

9,020 ? 120 P-519

9,460 ? 500

9,135 ? 105 SI-5508 8,865 ? 110 SI-5509 8,845 ? 90 SI-5511 10,405

? 100 SI-3476 9,370 ? 70 SI-3479

Hurt and Blasi (1969)

Prous

(1981a)

Dias (pers. comm.) Dias

(pers. comm.)

E. Miller (pers. comm.)



68 Schmitz

--------------------------------

..........

. ........ . x::x" ..... ...... .............. n M . ......... 'k Or

MEN=



41 5 7 cm i 4$ $755y e e

:3 ....... . ;0b

Fig. 5. Rock shelter and artifacts of the Itaparica tradition. (a) The type site, GO-JA-1, with paintings of the Serranopolis style on the walls. (b) Typical artifacts.



70 Schmitz

and freshwater fish to mammals and birds. Mollusks are absent in the Paranaiba phase but are the predominant fauna in sites in Minas Gerais with similar artifacts (Prous et a/., 1984; Dias, personal communication, 1984). Fruit pits, principally from palms, also occur. These foods reflect a diversified

habitat, combining open savanna, cerrado, and tropical forest vegetation with riverine and swampy environments. All the animals are Holocene

species (Jacobus, 1983). Information on exploitation of the environment is sparse in other parts

of the region, either because no food remains have been found or because the data are unpublished. Around Lagoa Santa, deer predominate in Lapa Vermelha, whereas armadillos constitute the most abundant remains in

Carrosao (Prous, 1981b). The types and sources of raw materials vary locally. In southwestern

Goias, siliceous sandstone and good-quality quartzite were obtainable from the walls of the rock shelters or fallen blocks; at hilltop sites, the raw material was provided by the cobbles covering the summits and slopes. In south western Bahia, northern and northwestern Minas Gerais, and southeastern

Piaui, chert nodules were available. The most important and most frequent stone artifacts of this tradition

are unifacial (Fig. 5). Most were made from flakes, removed and retouched

by percussion, and used for cutting, perforating, scraping, smoothing, thin

ning, and breaking. In archaeological typology, they consist of scrapers, perforators, knives, choppers, and hammers. Smoothing or grinding stones, disks, anvils, and bola stones were sometimes pecked or abraded, represent ing a very ancient use of this stoneworking technique. Projectile points are too rare to permit establishing a typology.

Where raw material was abundant, as in southwestern and central

Goias, hundreds of thousands of artifacts and lithic waste may be encoun

tered in relatively small excavations. These allow reconstructing the process of manufacture from the moment the flakes were removed from the cores,

through their reduction and shaping, to their discard when broken or useless.

At least in Goias, bone and horn must have been an abundant raw

material, judging from the quantity of broken, cut, and pointed fragments. Deer foot bones were cut, retaining one of the epiphyses, and filed at the end of the diaphysis to produce a spatula, a typical artifact both in the Paranaiba

phase and in northern Minas Gerais (Prous et ah, 1984). Horns often show marks indicative of various uses.

The possibility that some of the numerous paintings on the walls of the rock shelters are contemporary with this occupation is suggested by the occurrence of splotches of pigment on artifacts. The evidence is insufficient, however, to assign a particular style to the Itaparica tradition except in Piaui,




where Guidon (personal communication, 1984) believes the Northeastern tradition to be associated.

No burials are known from the Itaparica tradition, with the possible exception of unidentifiable remains from the Lapa da Foice in western Minas Gerais (Dias, 1981a). They appear in the Serra do Cipo around 9000 B.P., in

pits near the hearths, flexed, and accompanied by beads (Prous, 1981b), and in Lagoa Santa around 10,000 B.P., where the body seems abandoned

(Cunha and Guimaraes, 1978; Prous, 1981b).

The Transitional Period, 8500 to 6500 B.P.

Environment

The temperature during this period was generally hot, but the humidity oscillated and varied locally. Vegetation probably became denser and ter restrial game may have declined in abundance. With the retreat of the cold Falkland Current and expansion of the warm Brazil Current, coastal waters must have been warmer. The sea level began to rise but did not reach the

present level (Ab'Saber, 1977; Bigarella, 1971). These changes created an

excellent habitat for coastal gatherers. This period is transitional between a hot and dry phase and a hot and

humid phase. Although humans continued exploiting the same environments and occupying the same areas, there are signs in a few places of adaptation to new local conditions (Fig. 4, Table III). Toward the end of the period, a

marked cultural change is evident in the caves of Sao Raimundo Nonato, Piaui (Guidon, 14th Reuniao da ABA, 1984).


In southwestern Goias, a dry interval at the beginning of the period is associated with modifications in subsistence, technology, and settlement,

giving rise to the Serranopolis phase. Terrestrial mollusks assumed an

important role in subsistence and fruits were consumed in large quantities, whereas generalized hunting declined. Simultaneously, the well-formed stone tools of the preceding period were replaced by smaller and less elaborated implements produced by a different technique. Shell and bone became important raw materials. Open sites were no longer occupied in Goias, although their use continued in Pernambuco and Bahia (Schmitz, 1980).

Similar phenomena have been reported in Minas Gerais. In the north, shaped stone tools and retouch became rare, and lithic remains consist almost completely of abundant small to medium-sized thin flakes. Although



Table III. Radiocarbon Dates Between

8500

and 6500 B.P. from the Tropical Parkland Area

State

Site

Type

Complex

Date B.P.

Lab. No.

Investigator

PI Boqueirao da Pedra Furada, Rock shelter

Sao Raimundo Nonato

PT Bojo, Sao

Raimundo

Nonato Rock shelter PI Paraguaio, Sao

Raimundo

Nonato Rock shelter

PE Cha do Caboclo Open site PE Gruta do

Padre Rock shelter

GO GO-JA-1, 2, 3, 13c, 14, 20, 22, 26 Rock shelters

Undefined Undefined

Undefined Bom Jardim subtradition

Itaparica tradition (?) Serranopolis phase

BA Morro Furado

Rock shelter Flakes

BA Cajueiro Open site Undefined

MG Lapa Vermelha Rock shelter Flakes

MG MG-RP-6 Rock shelter Paracatu phase

MG MG-VG-19 Rock shelter Undefined MG MG-VG-ll Rock shelter Undefined MG Lapa Pequena Rock shelter Undefined

8050 ? 170 to 7640 ? 140 8080 ? 170 to 7180 ? 100 7000 ? 100 8100 ? 135 6600 ? 50 7580 ? 410

7420 ? 80 to 6690 ? 90 7707 ? 115 to 6805 ? 90 7170 ? 65 6830 ? 150 8215 ? 120 7295 ? 150 7755 ? 80 7655 ? 110

8240 ? 160 to 7590 ? 100

GIF-4635

GIF-4928 GIF-170

GIF-4926

MC-2509 MC-1042 MC-1061

SI-544

SI-3694

SI-3691

SI-6747 SI-6746

SI-5566 GIF-2373 SI-2373

SI-2372 SI-5512 SI-5513

Birm-868 Birm-909

Guidon (1981a)

Guidon

(1981a) Guidon (1981a)

Laroche (1975)


Calderon (1969)

Schmitz et al. (1976) Programa Arqueologico

de Goias Schmitz et al. (1984) Laming-Emperaire

(1979)

Dias (1976-1977)

Dias (pers. comm.) Dias

(pers.

comm.)

Bryan

and Gruhn

(1978)




blades are common, debitage is heterogeneous. The same situation prevails on the planalto in the vicinity of Montes Claros and in the region of Lagoa Santa. Although the technique of manufacture by polishing was known

earlier, no trace of its use during this period has been reported in northern Minas Gerais. Large anvils of calcareous rock, suitable for breaking seeds, have been found in the lower levels of several rock shelters, both on habi tation surfaces and in burial pits. Shells perforated and perhaps used as

planes have been encountered in Montalvania, as well as small beads made from seeds. Refuse deposits in the Januaria region always incorporate large amounts of red, yellow, or orange pigment, which form veritable lenses. Subsistence emphasized consumption of mollusks, accompanied by game and wild fruits. In the Serra do Cipo, pequi nuts (Cariocar brasiliensis) are

abundant in the refuse and in interments (Prous, 1981b; Prous et al, 1984; Dias, 1981c).

Well-made plano-convex side and end scrapers and knives continued to

be produced from chert in southeastern Piaui (Guidon, II Reuniao Cientifica

SAB, 1983). Concurrent with simplification of the lithic industries in Goias and

Minas Gerais, fine bifacial leaf-shaped points were beginning to be manu

factured from crystalline quartz at hilltop sites and in rock shelters in the

vicinity of Bom Jardim in Pernambuco. They may indicate the adoption of a new type of dart or a new method of hunting. Projectile points remained

in use on a small scale in other places, such as in Sao Paulo and perhaps Minas Gerais.

Paintings continue to fill the rock shelters. The dead were interred flexed, lying on one side (usually the left). Ocher

or strings of small beads used as necklaces or belts may be associated. The

body was often surrounded or covered with stones (Prous, 1981b; Prous et al., 1984). Extended burials occur in Piaui (Guidon, II Reuniao Cientifica

SAB, 1983). The increased abundance of terrestrial mollusks in interior sites, such

as the rock shelters of Goias and Minas Gerais, is accompanied on the coast by the appearance of the first specialized gatherers of marine and

lagoon shellfish, whose remains are known as "sambaquis" (Kneip et al,

1981b). This new mode of life became extremely popular, especially along the southern and southeastern shores of Brazil, and is described in another section.

The diversification and regionalization of culture during this period appear to reflect improved adaptation to new local resources, but the

details become clear only during the subsequent period.



74 Schmitz

The Climatic Optimum, 6500 to 4000 B.P.

Environment

Between 6500 and 4000 B.P. the temperature rose to its highest Holocene level and the climate became humid. In southwestern Goias, the stratigraphy in rock shelters indicates two episodes of erosion separated by a slightly drier interval (Schmitz, 1980).

The vegetation intensified extraordinarily: forests appeared, cerrados

expanded, and caatingas were reduced to their present extents or further

(Fig. 6). Concomitantly, the sea level rose, attaining a maximum in the

lagoons of the coastal plain of Cananeia-Iguape between 5200 and 5100 B.P.,

remaining stable until between 4800 and 4200 B.P., and dropping rapidly thereafter (Martin et aL, 1984). Fine sediments (clay and silt) produced by chemical decomposition of the coastal rocks and deposited in valleys, estuaries, and bays formed along the base of the Serra do Mar by rising water provided excellent conditions for reproduction of marine mollusks

(Ab'Saber, 1983). These environmental changes created abundant new resources for

human exploitation along the rugged coast and perhaps in parts of the interior but also made traditional and densely populated locations less

productive or even inhospitable. Many rock shelters intensively occupied during earlier periods in southern Piaui, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, and Goias were abandoned, perhaps because they became too wet, too hot, or too

poorly ventilated or perhaps because they were made obsolete by the con

struction of perishable shelters that permitted greater mobility. It is equally possible, however, that the impoverishment of local subsistence resources

forced the occupants to move elsewhere.


In northern Minas Gerais, sets of postholes varying between 13 and 25 cm in diameter occur in the upper preceramic levels in the caves and rock

shelters. The smaller ones are sometimes inclined and surround the larger ones, suggesting that they served as braces. Prous (1981b; Prous et aL, 1984) believes that some may have been scaffolding used during painting the walls or markers for storage pits or graves. Single or double rows of postholes have been reported in Santana do Riacho (Prous, 1981b).

Food remains continue to emphasize mollusks, but in smaller quantities and consisting almost exclusively of large gastropods. Remains of small and medium-sized vertebrates are not numerous and small mammals predominate. The bones of freshwater fish include very large individuals. Exploitation of birds appears to have intensified. A variety of seeds and palm nuts often fills



Prehistoric Brazilian Hunter-Gatherers

t 1C A ATM A EI3 CCMMOO F0*?3T

(UB AtAUCAmA EED SAVANNA O 3fr?5 Fig. 6. Vegetation pattern between 6500 and 4000 B.P. and locations of archaeolo

gical sites and phases. (1) Bom Jardim, PE. (2) Formosa, GO. (3) Serranopolis, GO.

(4) Montalvania/Januaria, MG. (5) Varzelandia, MG. (6) Serra do Cipo, MG. (7) Lagoa Santa, MG. (8) Rio Claro, SP. (9) Alto Paranapanema, SP. (10) Rio Ivai, PR.

(11) Itapiranga, SC. (12) Umbu and Antas phases, RS. (13) Capivara phase, RS.

(14) Rondonopolis, MT.



76 Schmitz

pits or forms lenses in hearths. Everything indicates diversification, which

may have opened the way to domestication of plants (Prous, 1981b; Prous et aL, 1984).

Between 5000 and 4000 B.P., stemmed projectile points appear in

Santana do Riacho and other locations in Minas Gerais. They become

increasingly abundant approaching the limit of the subtropical area, as in Rio Claro in the state of Sao Paulo (Beltrao, 1974: T. Miller, 1972; Caldarelli, 1983; Caldarelli and Neves, 1981, 1982). Stemmed points have also been

reported in Pernambuco, continuing the Bom Jardim subtradition (Table IV) (Laroche, 1970). The significance of isolated points in southeastern and northeastern Brazil, far from their center of concentration in the subtropical area, is uncertain (Schmitz et aL, 1981b).

Traditional forms of interment continued. The position was predomi nantly flexed, but some individuals were extended or laid on the side. Inten sive painting of rock walls also continued, but the transformation of other

aspects of culture is obvious. About 5000 B.P., pottery appears in shell middens south of the mouth of the Amazon (Simoes, 1971; Correa and

Simoes, 1971). Around 3500 B.P., cultivated maize was in use in Minas Gerais

(Dias, 1981c; Prous, 1981b). At this time, or perhaps earlier, domestication or at least experimentation with plants was under way in the coastal Itaipu tradition, as discussed in a subsequent section (Dias and Carvalho, 1983).

The Traditions of Rock Painting

Examples of painting have been reported from hundreds of rock shelters

throughout the tropical parklands. Documentation is still very incomplete and dating is even less adequate. Inception was probably contemporary with the earliest campsites and execution continued after the replacement of

hunter-gatherers by horticulturalists. A classification initiated by Guidon (1981b) and Prous (1981c) and

extended to the northeast by Aguiar (1982), to Bahia by Calderon (1970, 1971), and to Goias by Schmitz et aL (1984) recognizes the following tra

ditions and styles (Fig. 7).

(1) Naturalistic, Realistic

Northeastern tradition (Guidon): Anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, phyto morphic, and rare geometric figures forming hunting, dancing, fighting, and

symbolic scenes, executed in red and yellow or white (Fig. 8). Distribution: Southern Piaui (Varzea Grande and Caracol styles), northwestern Bahia

(Jaboticaba, Orobo, and Irece phases), western Pernambuco, Ceara, and Rio Grande do Norte (Serido style).



Table IV. Radiocarbon Dates Between 6500 and 4000 B.P. from the Tropical Parkland Area

State

Site

Type

Complex

Date B.P.

Lab. No.

Investigator

PE Cha do Caboclo PE Pedra do Caboclo

PE Angico 3 GO Gruta da Pcdra MG MG-VG-U

MG Lapa Vermelha MG

MG-UG-11 MT MT-GU-1

MT SP SP SP SP

Ferraz Egreja Alice Boer

Agua Ronca Pau d'Alho

Santa

Rosa

Open site

Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter Rock shelter

Open site Open site Open site Open site

Bom Jardim subtradition Bom Jardim subtradition

Paquevira phase Passassunga phase Parana phase

6330 ? 125 to 4460 ? 100

Paracatu phase

6225 4515 4630

125 115 90

4500 ? 150 5585 ? 5135 ? 5120 ? 4170 ? 4905 ? 6130 ? 5750 ? 5730 ? 4610 ? 6135 ? 6050 ? 6160 ? 5505 ? 4140 ? 4530 ? 3080

60 95 130 120 85 65 60 60 60 160 100 180

105 345

290 to ? 455

MC-1059 MC-1013

MC-1038

MC-1036 MC-1007

SI-470

S1-55IO SI-5506 G1F-3214

GIF-2543 SI-2789

SI-3104

SI-3473 SI-3478

GIF-6249

SI-1206 SI-1205

SPC-0033 1-9184

SPC-0097 SPC-A.l SPC-A.3

Laroche (1975)


Laroche (1975)

Laroche et al (1977)

Laroche (1975)

Laroche et al (1977) Mendonca de Souza et al.

(1981-1982) Dias (pers. comm.)


Dias (1976-1977)

E.

Miller (pers. comm.)

D. Vialou (1983-1984)

Beltrao (1974) Caldarelli (1983) Caldarelli (1983) Caldarelli (1983)



78 Scbmltz

HO*TH?A$T nn |

PLANAWO c=3 SAO FRANCISCO BEOHETRfC

O A6RESTE

Fig. 7. Distribution of the rock-art traditions of northeastern Brazil




Fig. 8. Paintings of the Serido style, Northeastern tradition, at Carnauba dos Dantas, RN. Black?red; stipple?yellow or whitish.

Planalto tradition (Prous): Predominantly zoomorphic and geometric, few anthropomorphic figures, juxtaposed elements rather than scenes, executed in red (Fig. 9). Distribution: Planalto of Minas Gerais east of the Rio Sao Francisco and in the Mineiro triangle (Cerca Grande, Jequitinhonha, and Cabral styles), planalto of Bahia east of the Rio Sao Francisco (Itacira and Iturucu phases), Goias (Caiaponia style), Sao Paulo, and Parana.

(2) Naturalistic, Stylized

Sao Francisco tradition (Prous and Guidon): Zoomorphic, anthropo morphic, and predominantly geometric figures, and human and animal

footprints, never forming scenes, executed in polychrome (Fig. 10) or

engraved (Fig. 11). Distribution: Minas Gerais (Caboclo and Januaria styles), Bahia (Manciac^u phase), and Goias (Serranopolis style).

Agreste tradition (Aguiar): Zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, and geo metric figures occasionally forming simple scenes, executed in red and yellow. Distribution: Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco (Cariris Velhos style), and Piaui (Castelo style).



80 Schmitz

Fig. 9. Paintings of the Caiaponia style, Planalto tradition, executed in red.

(3) Geometric

Geometric tradition (Guidon): Geometric figures and rare lizards and

birds, executed in polychrome (Fig. 12). Distribution: Piaui, Minas Gerais

(Sumidouro tradition), Bahia (Sincora and Mucuge phases), Pernambuco

(Elaborated Geometric style), and Goias (Formosa stylistic group).

THE SUBTROPICAL AREA

Environment

This area includes the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Parana and extends along the coast of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

(Fig. 1). The climate is mesothermic and humid. Median temperatures are

below 22?C, the minimum may drop to 10?C on the uplands, and both daily and monthly variations may be large. Rainfall is distributed throughout the

year but is slightly greater during the fall and winter. Annual precipitation attains 2000 mm where relief is most accentuated and drops to 1250 mm

where relief is slight. At the time of European contact, forest covered most of the territory but

was densest in the north. Savanna occupied the southern lowlands and the




Fig. 10. Paintings of the Serranopolis style, Sao Francisco

tradition, executed in red.

highest parts of the planalto. Between these extremes were transitional formations of greater importance to hunter-gatherers because of the abun dance of subsistence resources they offered.

For our purposes, three major formations can be differentiated: (1) broad-leaved forest, which occupied the valleys of the rivers of the Parana and Uruguai basins and the slopes of the Serra do Mar and the planalto; (2) less dense subtropical mixed forest with Araucaria angustifolia, which covered most of the planalto; and (3) savanna, open or with scattered trees, which dominated the southern plains and the highest parts of the planalto (Fig. 13).



82 Schmitz

Fig. 11. Engravings of the Serranopolis style, Sao Francisco tradition.

Faunal resources were adequate when appropriate hunting strategies were employed. In the interior, both forest and open vegetation supported a

variety of small and medium-sized game. Large herd animals such as horse and guanaco do not appear to have been significant sources of food during earlier millennia, when they coexisted with humans. In the sea and especially the shoreline lagoons and lakes, fish, Crustacea, and mollusks were abundant and exploited during long intervals. Plant foods, in contrast, were highly dispersed and relatively scarce, except fruits of the Araucaria angustifolia, which were available in dense patches during autumn.

Raw materials for producing stone artifacts were varied and of good quality on the planalto and its margins, as well as in calcareous regions. In

crystalline regions, they were few and poor. Since the distances between

outcrops were small and the rivers transported rocks from one place to

another, acquisition was not difficult in most of the region.

Adaptation by the prehistoric population to these differences in resource

distribution is reflected in their technologies and cultures, one complex being associated with open landscapes, another with forests, and a third with the narrow coastal plain between the ocean and the cliffs of the Serra do Mar.

These habitats did not remain stable over the millennia of human occupation.




Fig. 12. Paintings of the Geometric tradition, Formosa, GO, executed in red.

Reconstructions offered by Miller (1976a, b) of climate and landscape have been documented in greater detail by Bombim (1976) using geological and paleontological evidence from the Touro Passo region. He has proposed the following stages.

(I) The Austral stage, from about 20,000 to 14,000 B.P., correlates with the last stage of the Wurm/Wisconsin glaciation, when predominance of the Pacific anticyclone created a dry and cold climate. Erosion provoked by climatic conditions and by the Rio Uruguai is manifested in cutting of the

slopes and the development of the "valley flat." No human physical or cultural remains have been encountered.

(II) The pre-Atlantic stage, from 14,000 to 12,000 B.P., is characterized

by sporadic heavy rainfall that produced the Rudaceo Member of the Touro Passo Formation, consisting of coarse sediments containing redeposited remains of mammals of the Lujanian biota. Miller encountered stone artifacts cemented among waterworn cobbles of Horizon IX, which he estimates to date prior to 12,000 B.P. and assigns to the Ibicui phase.

(III) The Atlantic stage, from 12,000 to 5000 B.P., includes the climatic



84 Schmitz

Q

Fig. 13. Typical landscapes of the subtropical area, (a) Savanna in western RS. (b) Forest with Araucaria. (c) Tropical broadleaf forest, [(a) After Miller, 1969c, Plate la.]

optimum. Deposition of fine sediment reached a climax in the Lamitic Member. Predominance of the Atlantic anticyclone created a humid climate, and elevation of the bed of the Rio Uruguai facilitated the deposition of sediments. Fossils of the Lujanian fauna and artifacts of the Uruguai phase are contemporary and come from the lower (early) part of the deposit.




Bombim has proposed the following reconstruction of the environment

during the Atlantic stage, extrapolating from the habits of the extinct and

surviving fauna and the paleoenvironmental evidence. The composition and diversity of the mammalian fauna imply a climate

between temperate and tropical. Annual precipitation between 500 and 1300 mm and median annual temperature between 15 and 20?C would favor formation of extensive areas of herbaceous pasture, gallery forests with deciduous and semideciduous trees along watercourses (including Salix, Tessaria, Erythrina, and other genera), and areas of parkland and stands of

palms, depending on the local rainfall regime and drainage. A mosaic of formations would have existed on a regional scale and would have supported a varied vertebrate fauna. The composition of the mosaic would have

changed as the climate fluctuated, arboreal species invading the savannas

during wet periods and open formations replacing closed ones during dry periods. Humans would have had at their disposal a fauna of large animals, many now extinct. Although we are not sure which were hunted, few bones

yet having been encountered associated with cultural remains, we at least know which coexisted in the habitat.

The End of the Pleistocene and Beginning of the Holocene, 13,000 to 8500 B.P.

Environment

The lower temperature and precipitation during the terminal Pleistocene would have supported less dense and varied vegetation than exists today (Fig. 3). Broad-leaved forest would have been reduced to small enclaves

along the margin of the planalto and in the protected valleys of the large rivers, such as the upper and middle Parana and the upper Uruguai. The

present-day subtropical forest with Araucaria probably was more extensive. Cold and dry steppe conditions would have favored the development of

parklands where savanna now exists on the lowlands and gallery forests

along the larger rivers. Similar vegetation may have extended over the surface of the continental shelf, which was exposed along the south coast in a width of tens of kilometers and which was kept cold and dry by the Falkland Current that swept past it (Ab'Saber, 1977).

The characteristic southern fauna, known as Lujanian and including many species of large animals now extinct, spread throughout the region.


The principal investigations of the terminal Pleistocene and initial Holocene human populations were conducted in southwestern Rio Grande



86 Schmitz

do Sul by Eurico Th. Miller (1976a, b) under the auspices of the Paleoindian

Program of the Smithsonian Institution. The sites are located along the left bank of the Rio Uruguai and its tributaries, the Ibicui', Touro Passo, and

Quarai. Based on the information obtained, Miller established a paleoindian tradition incorporating the Ibicui phase (2 sites) and the Uruguai phase (16 sites). Eight other occurrences provided insufficiently diagnostic cultural remains to permit their allocation to either phase.

The Ibicui Phase

The Ibicui phase is characterized by poorly elaborated artifacts fash ioned from basalt cores and natural slabs of metamorphic sandstone by percussion and pressure flaking and by flakes showing evidence of use

(Fig. 14). Extinct fauna (Glossotherium robustum and other species) is associated and at least one fossil bone shows marks of human origin.

Fig. 14. The Ibicui phase, (a) Remains of extinct fauna (Paramilodon?). (b-h) Artifacts.

(After Miller, 1969c, Plate 2.)



Prehistoric Brazilian Hunter-Gatherers

Table V. Radiocarbon Dates Prior to 8500 B.P. from the Subtropical Area

87

State Site Type Complex Date B.P. Lab. No. Investigator

RS RS-I-50 RS RS-Q-2 RS RS-I-68 RS RS-I-69 RS RS-I-69 RS RS-I-69 RS RS-I-66 RS RS-I-98 RS RS-IJ-67 RS RS-I-72 RS RS-I-70 RS RS-IJ-67 SC SC-U-6

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Open site

Ibicui phase Ibicui phase

Uruguai phase Uruguai phase Uruguai phase Uruguai phase Uruguai phase

Uruguai phase Uruguai phase Uruguai phase Uruguai phase Uruguai phase

12,770 ? 220 12,690 ? 100 11,555 ? 230 10,985 ? 100 10,800 ? 150 10,400 ? 110 10,810 + 275 10,180 ? 275 9,595 ? 175 9,450 ?115 9,120 ? 340 8,585 ? 115 8,640 ? 95

SI-801 SI-2351 SI-3750 SI-2630 N-2523 N-2521 SI-2622 SI-3752 SI-2637 SI-2634 SI-2632 SI-2636 SI-995

E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller E. Miller Rohr

Two sites are known. One is composed of several loci within a distance of 100 m along the Rio Ibicui and 300 m along the Lajeado dos Fosseis; the

second, 4 km downriver, extends 200 m along the bank. At both, the occu

pation level is covered by alluvium 3.0 to 4.5 m thick. A single carbon-14 date

places the phase around 12,770 B.P. (Table V).

The Uruguai Phase

The Uruguai phase is characterized by stone projectile points and other artifacts produced by percussion and pressure from basalt, metamorphic sandstone, quartz, chalcedony, and other raw materials (Fig. 15).

The phase is represented by 16 sites along the Rio Uruguai between the

Ijui and the Quarai (Fig. 4). Extension along the bank varies between 30 and 800 m, the latter composed of discontinuous loci. The sites are always facing or slightly above or below shoals or rapids and nearly always adjacent to islands. They generally occur on one or both margins of fossil tributaries.

Carbon-14 dates extend from 11,555 to 8585 B.P. (Table V). Excavations of RS-I-69: Laranjito provided details on the settlement

pattern. Located at the junction of a paleo-arroyo and the Rio Uruguai, the site faces a rapid and an outcrop of metamorphic sandstone and backs on a

drainage basin bordered by rocky slopes. The soil is clayey and the surface was inundated periodically by calm water, judging from the contours at the base of stratum II and the upper part of stratum III, where the artifacts occur

(Fig. 15). The lithics form clusters around concentrations of charcoal

representing hearths and containing carbonized pits of wild fruits. Two bones with breaks and cuts of human origin were encountered; one was identified as deer.



88 Schmitz

t.i.,i.i 11 ,*.t

0 I 2 3 4 5 CM

Fig. 15. The Uruguai phase, (a) Excavation at RS-I-69 exposing the dark clayey

occupation layer beneath lighter sterile sediment, (b) Projectile point in situ, (c) Typical artifacts. (Courtesy of E. Miller.)




The most diagnostic artifacts are various forms of medium to small,

stemmed, bifacial projectile points, occasionally broad but usually narrow,

produced from chalcedony and exhibiting pressure retouch. Medium to small

bifacial knives with pressure retouch, small circular end and side scrapers, and bifacial lanceolate preforms lacking pressure retouch are also charac

teristic. Microflakes produced by percussion and pressure retouch, medium

sized flakes and blades with and without retouch or evidence of use, cores, small to medium pounders, and anvil stones are abundant.

We do not know how the Ibicui and Uruguai phases originated, whether

they are related, from where the populations came, how they are linked with

other equally ancient hunter-gatherers in neighboring regions, where they went, or why they disappeared about 8500 B.P. Miller suggests that a severe

drought associated with the rapid deposit of airborne ash introduced from Chile rendered the region uninhabitable. A hiatus of some 2000 years separates the Uruguai phase from the earliest date for the succeeding Itaqui complex on the Rio Uruguai.

The Ibicui and Uruguai phases are known only from southwestern Rio Grande do Sul, at the frontier with Argentina and Uruguay, probably because the neighboring areas have not been examined with equal intensity.

The Transition to the Climatic Optimum, 8500 to 6500 B.P.

An increase in temperature without a corresponding increase in pre

cipitation appears to have provoked crises among animals and plants. The

megafauna became extinct and the humans moved closer to the planalto, where rainfall and vegetation remained sufficient.

Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul Sites

Sites have been reported on the upper Rio Uruguai, where they are

overlain with 5 to 8 m of clay. Excavations by brickmakers have revealed hearths dating between 8640 and 7145 B.P. (Rohr, 1966). Associated artifacts are insufficient to indicate whether these sites belong to the stone or nonstone

projectile-point line of development. Miller (1969a) considers Layer I of the

Maquine rock shelter in northeastern Rio Grande do Sul, which is in the

projectile-point line, to date from this period or even earlier, but this remains to be verified. RS-C-43 in the valley of the Rio Cai, northeastern Rio Grande do Sul, has also produced numerous points; the Capivara phase, which the

complex has been labeled, clearly antedates the climatic optimum (Schmitz, 1985). Another site with material implying considerable antiquity is Prainha at the junction of the Rio Paranhana and the Rio dos Sinos, but the only available carbon-14 date is much more recent (Miller, 1976b).



90 Schmitz

The Vinitu Phase

Isolated "fishtail" points have been reported from Brazil and adjacent areas but are generally associated with materials of relatively recent origin (Caggiano, 1984). The only one from a context possibly assignable to this horizon belongs to the Vinitu phase of the upper Rio Parana, described by Chmyz (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981a, b, 1982), who estimates its age as between 8000 and 7000 B.P.

Nearly 30 sites of the Vinitu phase were encountered during rescue

investigations in the reservoir of the Itaipu Dam on the Rio Parana (Fig. 4). The greatest concentration is in the center, around the mouth of the Rio Sao Francisco Verdadeiro. Sites in this region are also the largest, generally having areas of between 1000 and 11000 m2. Elsewhere, areas range between 6 and 700 m2. Sites are usually on elevated slopes or level terrain, near small rivers or streams, but often also near the Rio Parana.

The archaeological deposits are usually superficial, perhaps because most sites are located where the soil is shallow and appear to have suffered from erosion. In a few cases, the depth extends between 15 and 125 cm, with the base usually on bedrock. At the deepest site, the occupational layer lies between horizontal strata of ferruginous sand, possibly indicating climatic

changes.

The artifacts were classified first according to the method of reduction, then the form of retouch or use. Categories include flakes with and without

cortex, with or without preparation; flakes used as knives, scrapers (side, end,

pointed, notched), planes, and cleavers; flakes retouched to function as

scrapers (side, end, pointed, elliptical, circular, hook-shaped, double, plano convex); flakes transformed into triangular, leaf-shaped, and stemmed

projectile points (Fig. 16); artifacts in the process of manufacture or broken; microflakes; and microflakes used as side and end scrapers or retouched

hook-shaped and end scrapers. Blades include unretouched examples, blades used as knives, side scrapers or pointed scrapers, and leaf-shaped and stemmed projectile points (Fig. 16). Among cores are exhausted cores; cores

used as side or end scrapers, notched or used as planes, anvils, cleavers, and

pounders; and cores retouched to produce side scrapers, pointed scrapers, plano-convex tools, bifaces, and picks.

Departing from the morphoclimatic and phytogeographic mosaic reconstructed for the last major dry period of the Quaternary (Ab'Saber, 1977), Chmyz proposes that steppe and cold desert habitats were giving

way to semiarid caatingas and patches of forest. The lithic complex of the Vinitu phase, composed mainly of projectile points and a great variety of scrapers, seems suitable for exploiting an environment with sparser vegetation than today. Picks, choppers, and a possible ax are restricted to the




Fig. 16. Projectile points of the Vinitu phase, (a, g, h-k, n, o-s) Produced from flakes,

(b-f, 1, m) Produced from blades. (After Chmyz, 1978, Fig. 11.)

valley of the Rio Sao Francisco Verdadeiro, where most of the sites are

concentrated, suggesting that forest may have predominated there. The single carbon-14 date for the phase is incompatible with the stra

tigraphic, geologic, and artifactual associations, but a date of more than 8000 B.P. has been obtained recently for the Itaguaje phase with a similar

projectile-point complex of the Rio Paranapanema (Chmyz, 1984).



92 Schmitz

For the period prior to the climatic optimum, we thus have substantial information from only two areas, leaving the rest of the lowlands, the

planalto, and the continental shelf little known. Isolated finds from various

parts of these regions indicate, however, that they were also inhabited during this time.

The Climatic Optimum, 6500 to 4000 B.P., and the Subsequent Period, 4000 to 2000 B.P.

Environment

Temperature and precipitation reached their maxima during the climatic

optimum. Vegetation expanded, diversified, and intensified, approaching its

present composition. Sites became abundant everywhere and represent three

general technological traditions. The Humaita tradition developed in the dense forests along the Parana, Uruguai, and Jacui rivers. The Umbu

tradition, dominated the savanna and subtropical forest with Araucaria. A tradition of shoreline hunter-gatherers adapted to the coast, where the rising sea level reduced the plain to a narrow band (Fig. 17).

During the subsequent period, the environment appears to have stabi lized. No significant changes have been observed in the Humaita and Umbu traditions. Along the shore, however, in addition to or in place of the classic shellfish gatherers, a more diversified subsistence pattern developed, known as the Itaipu tradition.

The Umbu Tradition

This tradition, characterized by stone projectile points, is represented by some 400 sites grouped into 27 phases. Dates extend from the seventh

millennium B.P. into the Christian Era (Table VI, Fig. 17). Numerous

archaeologists have contributed data, which have been synthesized by Kern

(1981). Sites are numerous in rock shelters and open locations along the

southern margin of the planalto in Rio Grande do Sul, especially the valleys of the rios Dos Sinos, Cai, Taquari, Pardo, and Jacui. They are also common in lowland areas in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the state, where they often consist of small mounds known as "cerritos." They are

usually near streams or rivers, occasionally adjacent to marshes and lakes, and rarely along the seashore. Sites are less abundant on the high savannas of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana, and Sao Paulo. Similar remains have been reported in similar environments in Uruguay and the

Argentine provinces of Misiones and Corrientes (Caggiano, 1984). The




Fig. 17. Locations of sites and phases of the Umbu and Humaita traditions dating between 6500 and 1000 B.P. (see Tables VI and VII for identifications).



Table VI. Radiocarbon and Estimated Dates for

Phases

and Sites of the Umbu Tradition, Subtropical Area

No/

State

Phase or site

No. of sites

Age B.P.

Lab. No.

Investigator

9 10 11 12 13 14

PR PR PR PR PR PR PR SC SC SC SC RS RS RS

Bituruna phase Iguac.u phase Potinga phase Cambiju

Morro do Castelo

Ribeirao

Ceu Azul phase

Itaio phase

Petrolandia area

Suruvi phase

Itapiranga

Araponga phase

Amandau

phase Panambi phase

3000

3100 ? 140 to 730 ? 50

3000 3000 3000

4800 to 4100 3705 ? 130 to 755 ? 60 660 ? 80 to 290 ? 80

1500

Younger than Amandau, older

than

Camuri Contemporary

with

Camuri

Contemporary with Rio Pardinho

Estimated SI-802 Estimated Estimated

Estimated Estimated SM575 SM578

SI-537 SI-536

Estimated

Estimated

Estimated Estimated

Chmyz Chmyz Chmyz Chmyz Chmyz Chmyz Rauth Piazza Rohr Piazza

Schmitz

Miller Miller Brochado



15 RS Uruguiana 1

16 RS Itaqui phase Dozens 17 RS

Capivara

phase 1 18 RS Umbu phase 4 19 RS Itapui phase 100 + 20 RS Camuri phase 7

21 RS Rio Pardinho phase 100 +

22 RS

Patos

phase Dozens 23 RS Lagoa phase 4

24 RS

Chin phase Dozens

25 RS Herval do Sul area Dozens

26 RS Rio Negro area 9

27 RS

Piraca

phase

"Numbers

correspond

to locations in Fig. 17.

610 + 65 3527 + 145 8500 to 6000 5950 ? 190 to 4280 ? 180 5655 ? 140 to 1440 + 65 5000 to 4000 905 ? 95 to 605 + 40 2500 to 2400 2435 ? 85 to 2000 ? 120 2500 to 1500 2500 to 1500 2500 to 1500

SM195 SI-800

Estimated SI-234

SI-233 SM199

SI-2344

Estimated SI-1196

SI-1002

Estimated Sl-1006

SMI 93

Estimated Estimated Estimated

Schmitz Miller Schmitz Miller Miller,

Ribeiro Miller

Schmitz, Brochado,

Ribeiro

Schmitz Schmitz, Naue

Schmitz Schmitz, Cope

La Sal via Miller



96 Schmitz

northern limit of the tradition has not been established with precision but

probably corresponds to the transition between the subtropical and the

tropical areas in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais.

Superimposing the sites on a vegetation map reveals them to be cor

related with similar kinds of landscapes: the interface between savanna and

subtropical A raucaria forest on the planalto, broad-leaved subtropical forest

along the southern margin of the planalto, and savanna with clumps of trees and gallery forest farther to the south. They rarely occur on open savanna

and even more rarely in dense forest, which is the domain of the contempo rary Humaita tradition with a different lithic industry.

The slight evidence of the subsistence pattern suggests generalized hunting of small to medium-sized solitary animals, collecting of animals of limited mobility (turtles), and gathering of fruits?all resources available in low densities.

If sites on the margins of the coastal lagoons of southeastern Rio Grande do Sul (Lagoa and Chui phases) belong to the Umbu tradition, as we

currently believe, they were undoubtedly occupied seasonally for intensive

exploitation of specialized foods. In the case of the Lagoa phase, these were

fish and Crustacea, and in the Chui phase, fish and deer (Schorr, 1975; Jacobus, personal communication, 1983; Schmitz, 1976).

The appearance in Rio Grande do Sul of marine remains even in sites distant from the shore suggests that these resources were exploited (perhaps seasonally) by inland groups. This situation does not occur in sites of the

Umbu tradition elsewhere, with rare exceptions, perhaps because the shores were intensively populated by shellfish gatherers and because access was

impeded by formidable cliffs. Few sites have been sufficiently excavated to provide evidence of camp

organization. In the state of Sao Paulo, large enough areas have been exposed to reveal hearths associated with debitage, but no food remains, burials, or

features relevant to reconstructing the structure of the camp have been encountered (Pallestrini, 1975, 1977; Pallestrini et ai, 1981-1982; Morais, 1979, 1983; Caldarelli, 1983). It is not even certain whether these sites belong to the Umbu tradition, whether they are transitional, or whether they belong to the projectile-point complex extending into Minas Gerais from the north.

Lithic artifacts were usually produced by direct percussion and retouched

using pressure. A few kinds of objects, such as axes and bola stones, were manufactured by abrasion and polishing from the inception of the tradition. A large number of rock types were used, including chert, chalcedony, basalt, siliceous sandstone, and quartz. Choice was dictated by local availability and the requirements of the objects to be produced. Raw materials were obtained from riverbeds in the form of waterworn cobbles or from outcrops. Cobbles were often taken to the camp to be transformed into artifacts, whereas




quarried material was reduced to preforms before transport to the base for final manufacture. At present, the best-known sites in the southern states are

those where cobbles were worked, leaving abundant flake and core debitage. Quarry sites in outcrops of siliceous sandstone have been described from the state of Sao Paulo (Morais, 1983).

The typical artifacts, in both open sites and rock shelters, are projectile points, which occur in stemmed, triangular, and laurel-leaf forms. Flakes are

always abundant, and blades rare. Other artifacts include bifacial knives, small to medium scrapers (terminal lateral, plano-convex, stemmed, circular,

elliptical, fingernail-shaped, quadrangular, triangular, notched, pointed), perforators, bifaces (preforms?), and pounders. Elongated end scrapers, burins, choppers, chopping tools, large bifaces, and anvil stones occur rarely. Grooved or ungrooved bola stones, polished axes, polishing stones, and picks have been found in a few places (Figs. 18 and 19).

Bone artifacts are rare and consist principally of perforators, double ended points, spatulas, fishhooks, needles, pressure flakers, and scrapers. Teeth were perforated to be used as ornaments; mollusk shells were perfo rated to serve as beads.

Petroglyphs in some sites in Rio Grande do Sul have been attributed to the Umbu tradition. They consist of irregular marks, sometimes filled with dark pigment, and have been classified in the "footprint" style known from

Patagonia (Brochado and Schmitz, 1976; Schmitz and Brochado, 1982; Ribeiro, 1978).

The Umbu tradition may have developed from the Uruguai phase, which was in existence from the 11th millennium B.P. If the Vinitu phase is as old as suggested, it may be an intermediate link, at least for some of the phases in Parana. Similar antecedents are not yet known in Rio Grande do Sul.

Transitional sites may be rare, but it is more likely that their scarcity reflects the lack of fieldwork and absence of dates for materials already collected.

In spite of the large number of stratigraphic cuts in sites of this tradition, few chronological indicators have been identified. Some investigators have

proposed trends in the typologies of projectile points and scrapers based on

comparing assemblages in various phases, but more reliable controls are

necessary before their validity can be assessed (Miller, 1969a; Ribeiro, 1972; Kern, 1981).

In areas with abundant sites, such as southeastern Parana and north eastern and possibly southwestern Rio Grande do Sul, the tradition is early. In other areas, such as the planalto of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, it appears to be more recent. The situation in northeastern and central Rio

Grande do Sul is ambiguous. Either the region was densely populated at a late time, which seems unlikely, or the tradition is more ancient than existing dates suggest.



98 Schmitz

i-i-1-1_t_< 0 1 ?345 Oil

Fig. 18. Projectile points of the Rio Pardinho phase, Umbu tradition.

The Humaitd Tradition

This tradition is characterized by the absence of stone projectile points. Artifacts produced from cores include bifaces, cleavers, and scrapers; flakes with and without evidence of retouch or use are abundant. As for the Umbu

tradition, numerous archaeologists have contributed information, but I draw

principally on the synthesis produced by Kern (1981). The Humaita tradition appears at the beginning of the climatic optimum

in temperate zones with dense vegetation (Fig. 17, Table VII). All earlier cultures occupied areas with open vegetation and used stone projectile points.




^^^H^^^^^ ^^^^ "'^j^^^^^l^^

Pd t -W' 0 I t $ CM

t?J-1-4_l 0 12 3 4 CM

Fig. 19. Various artifacts of the Rio Pardinho phase, Umbu tradition.



Table VII. Radiocarbon and Estimated Dates for Phases and Sites of the Humaita Tradition, Subtropical Area

No/ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

State

Phase or site

No. of sites

Age

B.P.

Lab. No.

Investigator

SP SP SP SP PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR

Brito Camargo Almeida

Jataf

Timburi phase

Sertan6polis

area

Inaja phase Tapejara

phase Jose Vieira Ivaf phase Riacho

Pequeno

Wobeto Pirajui phase

7 3 1 13

1 1 48

7020 ? 70 to 3930 ? 60 4650 ? 170 to 1030 ? 85 3600 to 1500 6700 to 3500

Recent

Very recent Younger

than Ivaf

6683 ? 355 to 5241 + 300 5380 ? 110

Contemporary with

Ivaf 6910 ? 75 to 2305 ? 70

Gif-6250 Gif-6254

Gif-Thermolum.

Estimated

(Intrusive pottery)

Estimated Estimated

Gif-78

Gif-80

SM004

Estimated SI-4994 SI-4991

A.

V. Vialou

Pallestrini Pallestrini

Guidon Chmyz Chmyz Chmyz Chmyz

Emperaire and

Laming Chmyz Chmyz

Laming-Emperaire and Andreatta

Chmyz



14 PR Barracao 1 15 SC Itapiranga area 25 16 SC

Tamandua

phase 1 17 RS Caaguacu phase 34 18 RS Rio Ijui area 10 +

19 RS Jacui phase 7

20 RS Canhembora phase 3 21 RS Pinhal phase 14

22 RS Serra phase 24

23 RS Santa Cruz phase 24 24 RS Humaita phase 2

25 RS Camboata phase Several

26 RS Antas phase 2 27 RS Cara phase 3 28 RS Paiquere phase 2

"Numbers correspond to locations in Fig. 17.

Recent Estimated

Various ages Estimated 5930 ? 140 SI-827

5000 to 3000 Estimated 2945 ? 85 to SI-1001 1165 ? 35 SI-1000

Recent Estimated Recent

Estimated

Recent Estimated Very old Estimated

Contemporary with Cara Estimated

6620 ? 175 SI-933 1920 ? 50 SI-611

Younger than Antas Estimated

Blasi

Rohr, Schmitz, and

Becker

Piazza Miller Ferrari Brochado Brochado and Schmitz

Ribeiro

Martin, Geske, and Seffrin Martin, Geske, and Seffrin

Miller Miller Miller Miller Miller



102 Schmitz

When, where, and how did adaptation to the forest originate? The hearths in the banks of the upper Rio Uruguai, dating between 9000 and 8000 B.P., may represent transitional groups. The associated cultural remains are insufficient to establish their affiliation, but the existence of abundant sites of the Humaita tradition in the region indicates a long period of occupation. An initial date about 7000 B.P. for the Brito site in Sao Paulo implies that the process of

adaptation to the forest occurred over a wide area (Vialou, 1983-1984). The Humaita tradition elaborates with expansion of the forests during

the climatic optimum and becomes best defined where the forest is most extensive and most typical. This suggests that a population resembling the hunters represented in the south by the Uruguai phase and in the north by the Vinitu phase, began adapting to changing resources as the climate became wetter and the forests expanded and perhaps enveloped them.

Sites abound in valleys covered with broad-leaved forest in the states of Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. They are sparse in the subtropical Araucaria forest of the planalto and absent in the humid

tropical Atlantic forest. Similar remains in similar environments in the

province of Misiones, Argentina, and in southeastern Paraguay have been

designated the Altoparanaense culture (Menghin, 1955-1956). Open-air sites are typical, but occupations occur occasionally in rock

shelters. Favored locations were floodplain terraces and the slopes or

summits of hills along major rivers or their tributaries, sometimes adjacent to swamps and lakes. The most detailed descriptions have been provided by the Projeto Paranapanema in the state of Sao Paulo (Morais, 1983). In

Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, sites are usually on land that has long been plowed, obliterating any evidence of features and even the limits of the occupation. In some recent sites, patches of dark soil may

represent hut locations. Many quarry and workshop sites are also known. The depth of the refuse accumulation seldom exceeds 20 to 30 cm. In

sites with deeper deposits, refuse layers alternate with sterile layers indicating abandonment. The area ranges from 400 to 10,000 m2. These data imply a

small population that persisted for a long time, moving from place to place within a relatively homogeneous habitat that was not sought by groups associated with other lithic traditions.

We can only speculate about the way of life. Initially, it was suggested that the large and heavy tools may have been axes and hoes, implying incipient agriculture (Menghin, 1955-1956). Many bifaces and/or cleavers have transverse blades, compatible with their use as hoes. Microwear analysis ought to resolve this question, but inferring cultivation in the midst of the forest at so early a date seems premature.

Existing evidence suggests that the bearers of the Humaita tradition were

hunter-gatherers adapted to the rivers flowing through forest, where fish were




large and abundant, mollusks were available on the land and in the water, terrestrial animals were solitary and small to medium in size, and tubers

and fruits could be collected. All these resources were scattered, but the concentrated seasonal crops of Araucaria pine nuts were probably also

exploited. Kern (1981, p. 196) observes that "in addition to phases situated

in the midst of pine forests on the southeastern part of the planalto in

Rio Grande do Sul (Antas, Humaita, Cara, Paiquere, and Camboata

phases), all the other phases and isolated sites are located near stands or

forests of pines." The presence of zooliths in sites of the Humaita tradition in central Rio

Grande do Sul (Ribeiro et ai, 1977) may indicate contacts with shellfish

gathering groups along the shore. Access to the sea is easy south of the

planalto, but travelers would have had to cross territory occupied by the Umbu tradition.

The characteristic raw materials are siliceous sandstone and volcanic rocks (basalt, rhyoiite, diabase, porphyry, etc.). Chert, quartz, chalcedony, and sandstone are less common. There is some regional variation. In Parana and part of Sao Paulo, for example, siliceous sandstone predominates; in Rio Grande do Sul, volcanic rocks are equally represented.

Most artifacts were made from cores, large blocks, or large flakes.

Quarry sites reveal the manner in which large blocks were reduced to

produce preforms. These sites are common along the zone of contact between Botucatu sandstone and basalt, where layers of siliceous sandstone occur, and along the upper Rio Uruguai, where rhyoiite is exposed on the highest hilltops. Flakes, cores, artifacts, and preform rejects are large and crude. A few artifacts were produced from waterworn cobbles. Flakes are smaller and rejects fewer, but preparation done at the campsite created dense

debitage. At sites distant from quarries, flaking debris is sparser and tools

predominate. Artifacts were also commonly manufactured from small flakes, which

were either slightly retouched or used without modification. Direct per cussion with a hard hammer was the principal technique, and hammers are

commonly encountered. In the Pirajui phase, some objects appear to have

been produced by bipolar percussion. Although retouch on scrapers, knives,

perforators, and bifaces seems more careful, it was probably also produced by direct percussion using a hard hammer. As a consequence, most artifacts have a coarse appearance, although exceptions occur (Fig. 20).

Polishing was a late introduction. Polished objects are most common in Rio Grande do Sul, where anvils, lenticular stones, zooliths, and circular axes occur in sites considered recent.

Typical artifacts are bifaces, choppers and chopping tools, large picks, scrapers (plano-convex, notched, terminal, lateral, circular), knives,



104 Schmitz

Fig. 20. Artifacts of the Humaita tradition.

perforators, pointed tools, and flakes (simple, retouched, notched, curved, and irregular).

All types of artifacts are not equally represented throughout the distribution of the tradition. The largest concentration of bifaces is between the valleys of the middle Parana and the upper Uruguai, where variation is also greatest; they may be long, straight, with one end pointed and shaped to a blade, or curved to resemble a boomerang. Where bifaces are rare, cleavers are more abundant; these more rudimentary artifacts, generally termed

choppers and chopping tools, occur throughout the area of the tradition.

Large picks are rare. Scrapers, often of large size, occur in all phases. Their

apparently greater variety in the north may be a regional difference, but it also may reflect more detailed classification. Knives, often fashioned from

flakes, are universal but less common in northeastern Rio Grande do Sul. Perforators occur on the upper Rio Paranapanema, and pointed tools in the Cara phase of northeastern Rio Grande do Sul.

Flakes occur in significant proportions at most sites and their diverse forms imply multiple functions. Many knives are no more than flakes retouched to sharpen the blade. Rare sites have produced projectile points, which may be intrusive or may correlate with complex environments, such as the interface between forest and more open vegetation; this may explain their occurrence in sites of the Humaita tradition in southern Sao Paulo.




Petroglyphs are associated with the Canhembora phase. The grooves are

usually filled with pigment of several colors and the elements are reminiscent of the Patagonian footprint style (Brochado and Schmitz, 1976).

The participants in the Programa Nacional de Pesquisas Arqueologicas (PRONAPA) proposed four regional variations or subtraditions during their final reunion in Washington in 1973: (1) the Ivai subtradition of the upper and middle Rio Parana, (2) the Tamandua subtradition of the upper Rio

Uruguai, (3) the Jacui subtradition of central Rio Grande do Sul, and (4) the Antas subtradition of northeastern Rio Grande do Sul. Definitions of their distinctive characteristics have not been published.

The Shoreline Gatherers

Numerous archaeologists have investigated sambaquis or shell middens, but this discussion depends mainly on the summaries by Hurt (1974,1980,1983), Fairbridge (1976), Prous (1976), and Prous and Piazza (1977) for sambaquis and by Dias (1981a) and Dias and Carvalho (1983) for the Itaipu tradition.

The Sambaquis. The shoreline gatherers appear to have based their subsistence on mollusks, which grow in abundance in the lagoons, mangrove swamps, and bays of the southern and eastern coast of Brazil, Thousands of

sambaquis have been recorded between Rio de Janeiro and northern Rio Grande do Sul, but they do not occur from Espirito Santo to the north. Distribution is not continuous, well-defined clusters usually occurring in

bays: in Rio de Janeiro (various bays), Sao Paulo (Iguape/Cananeia), Parana

(Guaratuba and Antonina), Santa Catarina (Ilha de Santa Catarina and

Imarui), and Rio Grande do Sul (coast of Torres-Tramandaf) in particular (Fig. 17).

The earliest examples have been reported from the northern states, from which occupation expanded southward. We do not know whether earlier

sambaquis were obliterated by the rise in sea level before and during the climatic optimum or whether the populations living as hunter-gatherers on the continental shelf and squeezed against the Serra do Mar by rising waters

adopted the new and increasingly abundant subsistence resource. As the climate became less arid, shoreline formations of mangroves,

rushes, and other kinds of marshy vegetation developed in low areas and closed forest covered higher elevations and the slopes of the Serra do Mar.

The shore was rich in marine fauna, including fish, mollusks, birds, mammals, and amphibians. In places this faunal wealth was accentuated by the proximity of diversified niches. The protracted sandy beaches offered only species capable of surviving in shallow salty water, but the bays concentrated the resources of the rivers (freshwater fish and mollusks, aquatic reptiles and

mammals), the mangroves (numerous Crustacea and mollusks), and the sea

(fish that migrate to brackish water, cartileginous fishes, marine mammals, and innumerable kinds of mollusks).



106 Schmitz

It is not clear why mollusks were most intensively exploited between northern Rio Grande do Sul and Cabo Frio in Rio de Janeiro, but conditions

may have been more favorable for their proliferation. Along this stretch, the Serra do Mar is submerged, forming islands, bays, lakes, and lagoons; the cold Falkland Current keeps the temperature of the surface water low

(varying from 18?C in the south to 24?C in the north), and the cold winds from the Andes and Patagonia sweep the coast.

Although most sites were occupied over several centuries, they consist

predominantly of one or two species of mollusks common in the vicinity. Among minority species, some were available locally and others were

brought from some distance. Remains of fish and terrestrial plants and animals are usually also insignificant. These are the impressions derived from

analysis of materials obtained from the first excavations. The application of more sophisticated techniques, such as the studies by Garcia (1972) of the

Pia^aguera and Tenorio sites on the coast of Sao Paulo, should provide a more complete inventory of the animal foods consumed. Reconstructing plant foods is limited by existing methods of recovery, which restrict the

sample to charred fruits, among which palm nuts are the leading component. The slight understanding we have of the ways of life of the shoreline

gatherers reflects the hot and humid character of the environment, which

selectively destroys archaeological remains, as well as the difficulty of finding inconspicuous sites in the dense vegetation and the rudimentary methodo

logy used to collect potentially available evidence.

According to Hurt (1974) and Fairbridge (1976), shoreline gatherers employed the following criteria in selecting campsites.

(1) An elevation at least 1 m above normal high tide, to ensure that the

camp would not be inundated by exceptionally high water levels.

(2) Good drainage, on a rocky outcrop, dune, or raised beach, where rainfall runoff would be rapid.

(3) Accessibility to a food supply. Open water always existed at the base of each camp, even those now isolated by changes in sea level or sedimen

tation, permitting direct access to local banks of shellfish and indirect access

via canoe to more distant ones. Abrupt changes in the composition of a

midden, for example, from a predominance of Ostrea in the deepest levels to mussels in the upper levels, suggest that content reflects local and immedi

ately accessible resources. If the inhabitants had traveled 2 to 4 km, they could have obtained mollusks of the kinds formerly available adjacent to the site and each midden would have remained monospecific in composition.

Most of the changes occurred at intervals of centuries.

(4) Places where shellfish could be collected, including estuaries, gulfs, deep bays, coastal lakes, and lagoons, which maintained saline conditions

through daily infusion of tidal water. Fresh water mollusks do not occur in




any of the middens examined by Hurt and Fairbridge in Santa Catarina. The

open sea also appears not to have been regularly exploited. Although small sambaquis occur, because of either short occupation or

highly compacted composition, many are enormous. One in Santa Catarina was calculated by Fairbridge (1976) to contain about 50,000 individual Anomalocardia shells per m3. The accumulation was 20 m in height and 100 m

in diameter, representing some 2,500,000,000 mollusks, which could have

sustained 100 persons for 500 years at the rate of consumption of 100

mollusks per person per day. Hurt's (1974) calculations are even higher. These calculations do not assume that no other sources of food were

exploited; rather, they are efforts to draw inferences from the evidence that

predominates. Gross estimates of the initial populations of two sambaquis on the coast

of Parana have been made using the size of habitations. Rauth (1968) estimated the maximum population of the Sambaqui do Gomes, which dates about 4500 B.P., at 50 to 60 persons; Hurt and Blasi (1960) estimated the

population of the Sambaqui de Macedo, dating about 3500 B.P., at 60 to 100

persons. Using the same criteria, Hurt (1980) calculated that the largest sambaqui, Carni^a I, dating about 3500 B.P., had a maximum population of 600.

Considering that the middens accumulated during at least 4500 years and that the duration of occupation of even the most long-lived sites seldom exceeded 300 years leads to the conclusion that few were occupied simul

taneously (Hurt, 1980). Further insight into population density is provided by Bigarella's (1950-1951) survey of the Baia de Guaratuba, Parana. He encountered 63 sambaquis along 60 km of coastline. Assuming the con

tinuous occupation of each site for 200 years, no more than 3.5 would have been simultaneously occupied during the period of4500 years. Employing the

estimate of 60 to 100 persons for a medium-sized sambaqui, such as Macedo, the local population would never have exceeded 180 to 400 (Hurt, 1980).

In some regions, including the Baia de Paranagua, shell middens are

scattered along the margins of the present course of the river (Fig. 21)

(Rauth, 1962, 1967, 1969a, b, 1971, 1974a, b). In general, one large site and numerous much smaller ones are associated with each river or swamp. This

may imply progressive movement from one place to another, provoked by changes in sea level. An alternative hypothesis cannot be rejected, however

?namely, that like other hunter-gatherers, the inhabitants of the sambaquis had semipermanent bases or ceremonial centers from which at least part of the population dispersed periodically to secondary habitats, where they exploited complementary resources. These possibilities varied according to

proximity to the forest or the sea, to the white or black mangrove, etc. (Prous, 1976, p. 147).



108 Schmitz

^^^^

Fig. 21. Sambaqui do Godo, PR. (a) View of the site and surrounding mangrove, (b) Excavation showing dense shell composition. (After Rauth, 1969b, Plate 17.)




Practically nothing is known of the dwellings. Stratigraphy is usually

approximately horizontal at the center of the middens and inclined toward the margins. Layers of earth or sand are sometimes observed and usually interpreted as evidence of abandonment, but some may have been prepared floors (Prous and Piazza, 1977, p. 20). Four house floors surrounded by

postholes were defined in Caieira and floors of oval huts were observed in

Carni?a I (Hurt, 1980). Other investigators have reported postholes that

may represent huts or windbreaks. Cooking and storage pits are frequent, sometimes filled with shells, crab claws, sea urchins, small charred nuts, and fish bones. In Conquista A, five columns of ash and carbon extended from the base to the summit in the center of the site, the two largest 7 m in

diameter; no cultural remains were encountered in the fill (Prous and Piazza, 1977, p. 83).

The most common features are burials, usually primary and flexed.

Many skeletons were covered with ocher or deposited on a bed of fine sand. Some were interred in cavities lined with whale bones or, rarely, in sarcophagi constructed of hardened clay and usually decorated. In Parana, stones were

often associated. Grave offerings include ornaments of mollusks, pendants of

stone, bone or tooth, stone axes, pebbles, and zooliths. Multiple interments are characteristic (Prous, 1976, pp. 19-20).

Artifacts were made from local materials. Quartz flakes were used for

cutting, as were tools of diabase and basalt. Granite and gneiss were used for

crushing. Schist and sandstone were sometimes used for making receptacles. Cryptocrystalline (porphyritic) rocks were used for well-finished objects. Bones of terrestrial and marine mammals were employed for making various

items, bird bones were used for projectile points, rodent teeth for burins, and carnivore and shark teeth for pendants and projectile points (Prous and

Piazza, 1977, pp. 34-35). Lithic remains consist principally of quartz and diabase flakes used for

cutting, anvils partly shaped by pecking and used for breaking nuts, and

pounders of granite or gneiss, as well as choppers, chopping tools, and

pebbles (sometimes grooved) interpreted as net weights. Well-made quartzite bifaces have been reported only from two sambaquis on the Laguna coast. The lithic inventory appears to have served purely utilitarian requirements, which may explain its uniformity through time and space (Fig. 22).

The technique of polishing was known from the inception of this mode of subsistence but was initially employed on a small scale. By the end, however, it was used to manufacture a great variety of objects: shallow basins of diabase (Laguna-Torres), deep basins (Parana-Joinville), mortars (Parana and Torres), pointed or cylindrical objects sometimes interpreted as lip plugs (tembetds) or weights (Laguna, Ilha de Santa Catarina); axes, some so small as to seem useless; and geometric pieces (Laguna) and zooliths (from Iguape



110 Schmitz

^^^^^^

^^^^

Fig. 22. Stone artifacts from the Sambaqui do Godo. (After Rauth, 1969b, Plate 18.)




to Rio Grande do Sul), which may also be pecked. Fixed polishing stones, used for manufacturing the artifacts, consisted of either large slabs brought to the site or surfaces of nearby rock outcrops.

Bone objects are common only in a few sites of southern Parana and northern Santa Catarina. Projectile points were made from mammal bones,

stingray spines, and shark teeth. Fishhooks, perforators, and needles were

also fashioned from bone. Zoomorphic sculptures made from whale bone

appear on the border between Parana and Santa Catarina. Sea-mammal bone was also used to make attractive containers and knives; innumerable ornaments were made from tympanic bones. Teeth of terrestrial and marine

carnivores were perforated for use as ornaments, projectile points, or

harpoon heads. Rodent teeth were used for gravers. Shells were transformed into ornaments (principally gastropods), knives (oysters), and scrapers

(Lucina, Thais); some bivalves may have been used as receptacles or projectile

points (Prous, 1976, pp. 21-22). These prehistoric populations developed a unique plastic art. Polished

or pecked sculptures in whale bone or local stone (usually diabase and

diorite) depict humans and a variety of animals with varying realism.

More than 80% have a ventral or lateral cavity of variable size, suggesting use as mortars. Their well-finished appearance, which contrasts with the

crudity of the rest of the lithic industry, implies a ceremonial function

(Prous, 1976). Several efforts have been made to establish sequences or phases based on

differences in shell composition, artifacts, art, and the identity of the popu lation. Hurt (1974, 1983) attempted a correlation with changes in sea level,

using the curves and periods proposed by Fairbridge (1976). Piazza (1974) employed malacological composition as the principal criterion, and Beck

(1973), cultural content. The validity of these sequences for the region as a

whole is uncertain. Prous (1976, pp. 117-118) has proposed a general division into two

facies based on lithic and bone typologies: a northern facies including the Matinhos region of Parana and Joinville in Santa Catarina and a southern facies extending from Laguna and Imaruf in Santa Catarina to Torres in Rio

Grande do Sul. Subsequent investigations seem likely to establish the unique ness of the central coast of Santa Catarina. Data from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are difficult to incorporate into this scheme.

(I) The northern facies: Artifacts include a varying but always signifi cant proportion of bone and shell implements, as well as shallow vessels of whale vertebrae and ornaments, chisels, knives, and clubs of bone. The most common lithic implements are axes and cleavers, polished only on the blade. Basins were made from schist and diorite. More effort appears to have been

expended on bone working than on stone.



112 Schmitz

(2) The southern fades: The only noteworthy bone objects are deep cylindrical receptacles made from whale vertebrae. The lithic industry, in

contrast, is abundant and includes completely polished axes (sometimes notched), geometric pieces reminiscent of the Californian and Chilean "cog stones," pointed objects interpreted as lip plugs, and beautifully made plates of diabase with a very shallow cavity.

These two divisions correlate perfectly with the two principal "schools" of zooliths. In the north, zooliths are exclusively of bone, and some form the heads of cylinders reminiscent of the bone clubs. In the south, in contrast, their flattened form has its counterpart in the morphology, raw material, and careful manufacture of stone basins and plates. The same pecking technique was used for both categories of objects.

Why were these sites abandoned? Examining their locations with reference to existing bodies of water reveals some potential causes:

(1) transformation of the midden into an island by a rise in sea level;

(2) excessive isolation from the food supply as a consequence of a

decline in sea level; (3) disappearance of the local food supply as a result of sedimentation,

which blocked the entry of salt water;

(4) growth of aquatic vegetation in front of the site, impeding the ebb and flow of the water;

(5) exhaustion of the preferred food resource, such as mangrove oysters, by overexploitation; and

(6) absorption of the population by invading groups. Abandonment was not always permanent. Ecological changes could

reconstitute the qualities that would make the location attractive once more

to a group of the same cultural affiliation or from another part of the coast

(Hurt, 1974). The Itaipu Tradition. A group of sites on the coasts of Rio de Janeiro

and Espfrito Santo represents a different kind of coastal adaptation, exploit ing multiple faunal and floral food resources that may have included domesticated or incipiently domesticated plants.

The Itaipu tradition differs from the partially contemporary sambaqui tradition along the same coast in technology, subsistence, and burial pattern, as well as in the biological consequences of dietary differences. It may

represent the gradual substitution of shellfish by plants, fish, and freshwater

mollusks, and concomitant changes in the form and location of sites, by groups that were able to modify their adaptation to new conditions produced by retreat of the sea. The diversification of the subsistence economy had

proceeded sufficiently that it persisted after a new marine transgression restored the habitats for mollusks, which continued to be exploited intensively by neighboring groups.




Preserved food remains indicate systematic exploitation of a great

diversity of animals, from mammals to reptiles, fish, and mollusks. The latter were heavily consumed during some epochs. Carbonized seeds confirm the

interpretation, based previously on specialized stone tools, that plants were an equally important source of food in all time periods. Analysis of the

human skeletons from Corondo has demonstrated that the population consumed a larger quantity of foods rich in carbohydrates than many groups known to practice agriculture. The clearest evidence was provided by the

teeth, which exhibited a very high frequency of caries and a characteristic

type of wear, independent of the age of the individual. This situation led the

analysts to propose that the local group may have been practicing incipient domestication and that the cultigen may have been a form of nontoxic manioc (Turner and Machado, 1983).

Two phases have been defined: (1) the Potiri phase in Espirito Santo, dated 1435 B.P. (Perota, 1971, 1974); and (2) the Itaipu phase in Rio de Janeiro, with numerous, dates beginning about 4000 B.P. (Carvalho, 1984;

Dias, 1976-1977,1981a, b; Dias and Carvalho, 1983; Machado, 1984; Turner and Machado, 1983). Other sites in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and possibly adjacent states have probably not been assigned to this tradition because different methodologies have prevented recognition of their affiliation or

because they have not been sufficiently studied. The Itaipu phase has been divided into subphases A and B. Sites of

subphase B, the most recent, are characteristically on dunes at the ends of

extensive beaches along the open sea, where accentuated relief creates a

curvature. Another important factor is the presence of a lagoon, and sites are

generally located at its mouth. The principal subsistence resource was fish,

although mollusks were also heavily exploited. Duna de Itaipu, a typical site, has a flattened summit reaching a height of 17 m and an extension of 200 m. It consists of layers containing fish and whale bones, hearths, and mollusks,

alternating with layers of sand. Stone artifacts were produced by flaking quartz and by pecking elongated

gneiss and granite cobbles and usually performed several functions. Mortars and grinding stones are very abundant.

Sites of subphase A, dating between 4000 and 3000 B.P., are slightly removed from the shore, at the margins of mangroves and lagoons with still or slowly moving water. The principal resource was mollusks, followed by hunting small animals and collecting Crustacea, as well as some fishing. Corondo and Malhada I are typical sites.

The Corondo site (RJ-JC-64) is a small knoll with two summits beside a former lagoon. It has an area of 70 x 60 m and a depth of 220 cm. Extensive excavations have differentiated four occupational levels dating between 4000 and 3000 B.P. ? 500 years and exposed the remains of numerous



114 Schmitz

Fig. 23. Excavation at the Corondo site, Itaipu tradition, showing a circle of postholes preserved in clay and the stratigraphy of the underlying refuse accumulation. (Courtesy of Ondemar Dias.)

dwellings and more than 400 burials. The structures were defined by post holes implanted in clayey floors and were associated with evidence of domestic activities (Fig. 23).

The burial pits were oval, shallow, and lined with hard clay or light colored sand. They occurred inside or outside the areas identified as dwell

ings. In one of the mounds, they were dispersed, whereas in the other they were distinctly grouped. Burial was usually primary, and graves contained one, two, or several individuals. Secondary interments were rarer and appear to represent reburial of remains disturbed by subsequent excavation. Skeletons were usually extended, lying on the back, with one hand over the

pubic region and the other along the side. Artifacts of daily use were

associated, including stone beaters, polishers, scrapers, knives, pendants, anvils, and plain or painted pebbles; bone points, spatulas, and perforators; ornaments made from fish vertebrae; human and animal teeth or bones

perforated for use in necklaces; and shells with smoothed and serrated

margins, or painted or perforated. The majority of the burials also contained

coloring materials.




The inhabitants were skilled stoneworkers. Quartz was used for making knives and small scrapers suitable for processing meat and wood. Mortars and tools for grinding, beating, cutting, and sharpening made from gneiss and diabase were common throughout the site, implying that crushing, pulverizing, and grinding were daily activities. Bone artifacts, such as points, needles, and awls, and shell scrapers and knives completed the tool inventory. Pottery appeared at the end of the occupation but was rare.

In the southern states, sites in which bones of fish and game predominate also occur in association with those composed mainly of mollusks. In general, they are more recent than most of the sambaquis, but some, such as Pantano do Sul in Santa Catarina, with a date of more than 4000 B.P., appear as old as the oldest shell middens in the same region. Burials are more numerous than in the sambaquis, but tool kits are very similar. When comparative studies have been made, they should establish whether or not the same

processes of change occurred here as on the coasts of Rio de Janeiro and

Espi'rito Santo.

CONCLUSIONS

Summarizing the highlights of the preceramic period provides the

following panorama.

Although carbon-14 dates prior to 13,000 B.P. have been obtained from several sites, their reliability and association with human remains have been

questioned, leaving the time of initial occupation uncertain. After about 11,000 B.P., two major lithic industries can be recognized.

The Uruguai phase and the succeeding Umbu tradition, characterized by bifacial stemmed projectile points, spread over areas with open vegetation in the south, including savannas and the margins of subtropical forests; they resemble strongly contemporary complexes from regions with similar vege tation in Uruguay and Argentina. The Itaparica tradition, emphasizing well-formed unifacial artifacts, among which projectile points are exceedingly rare, dispersed over the tropical parklands. Data are insufficient to demarcate the boundary between these two traditions, but it was probably along the

junction between the two general habitats, approximately at the Tropic of

Capricorn (Fig. 1). The presence of a few projectile points in parkland sites

implies an intervening zone occupied by transitional groups. Although both industries changed through time, they retained their

diagnostic features. The southern one (the Umbu tradition) continued to

emphasize bifacial projectile points, and the northern one (the Itaparica tradition) unifacial or flake tools. If the early dates from Piaui prove valid, they favor the dry northeast as the place of origin of the unifacial industries,



116 Schmitz

whereas the steppes of Patagonia and/or the basin of the Rio de La Plata are

the most probable homeland of the biface tradition. An enormous amount of rock paintings and/or engravings of several styles occurs in the northern

region, but their origin, evolution, function, and relationships to one another and to the various lithic complexes are largely problematical.

Around 7000 B.P., two new traditions emerged to exploit new kinds of habitats. The Humaita tradition, characterized by large bifacial artifacts and an absence of stone projectile points, occupied broad-leaved forests in southern Brazil and similar environments in northeastern Argentina and southeastern Paraguay. The sambaqui tradition, also typified by large bifaces and an absence of stone projectile points, developed along rugged portions of the southern Brazilian coast. We do not know the origin of either or their relation to the Umbu tradition, which continued to dominate more open environments.

The coastal shellfish gatherers diverged with time, developing new

subsistence patterns that culminated in the Itaipu tradition. Investigations have been insufficient to establish whether similar differentiation occurred in the immense area of tropical savannas. Carbon-14 dates indicate, however, that the hunter-gatherer way of life persisted in some places long after the advent of pottery-making agriculturalists.

It seems likely that intensified use of food plants encouraged experiments in their modification. That agriculture was not a local invention, but was

stimulated by long-range contacts, is implied by the presence of cultivated maize in Minas Gerais about 3500 B.P. and intensive utilization of foods

comparable to manioc at an earlier period on the coast of Rio de Janeiro and probably other southern states. The process by which the hunter

gatherers were transformed into pottery-making agriculturalists is a matter of speculation.

The existence of large temporal and spatial gaps even in regions with considerable investigation makes it difficult to envisage the process of evolution reflected in the archaeological complexes. A great deal more and

better-controlled data are required for an understanding of how the popu lations lived and developed and from where they came.

Several exciting problems are concerning Brazilian archaeologists at

present. One is the reliability of the astonishingly early carbon-14 dates from the driest parts of the northeast. Another is the function of the enormous

variety of art styles encountered in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of rock shelters in the tropical parklands. A third is the existence and character of

early hunter-gatherer groups in Amazonia, which thus far has not produced any direct evidence except along its margins. Existing information still offers few clues to the identities and histories of the populations responsible for the various cultural remains and to their prehistoric movements and interactions.




ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper was made possible by the cooperation of many colleagues, who generously made available their research, publications, manuscripts, and verbal communications. I have made liberal use of these sources, sometimes without specific attribution. I have depended most heavily on the

work of Arno A. Kern, Andre Prous, Eurico Th. Miller, Miguel Bombim,

Wesley R. Hurt, Rhodes W. Fairbridge, Aziz N. Ab'Saber, Niede Guidon, Ondemar Dias, A. F. Laroche, and Altair Sales Barbosa. Betty J. Meggers translated the Portuguese text and organized the illustrations. I acknowledge their assistance with gratitude.

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