Society for American Archaeology

The Continuing Quest for El Dorado: Round TwoAuthor(s): Betty J. MeggersSource: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Sep., 2001), pp. 304-325Published by: Society for American ArchaeologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/971635 .Accessed: 21/06/2011 17:16

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An increasing number of publications supports the autonomous development of dense sedentary populations with advanced social organization throughout Amazonia in spite of abundant archaeological, ethnographic, physical, and biological evidence for environmental limitations to sustainable intensive exploitation of the varzea as well as the terra firme. Three articles in recent issues of Latin American Antiquity dispute the validity of the data collected during three decades of survey by partici- pants of the Programa Nacional de Pesquisas Arqueologicas na Bacia Amazonica, which indicate that surviving indigenous groups perpetuate settlement and social behavior adopted at least 2,000 years ago, when the widespread use of pottery makes it detectable. Correction of the misunderstandings contributing to this "revisionist" assessment is essential because uncritical acceptance of the conclusions not only conflicts with ecological and archaeological evidence, but provides support for the unconstrained deforestation of the region.

Un creciente numero de publicaciones apoya el desarrollo autonomo de poblaciones densas y sedentarias con organizacion social avanzada a lo largo de la Amazonia a pesar de la abundante evidencia arqueologica, etnografica, fisica y biologica de la exis- tencia de limitaciones medioambientales para la explotacion intensiva sostenible de la varzea como de la terrafirme. Tres articu- los en numeros recientes de Latin American Antiquity rechazan la credibilidad de la evidencia recolectada durante tres de'cadas de prospecciones realizadas por los participantes del Programa Nacional de Pesquisas Arqueologicas na Bacia Amazonica, que sostiene que los grupos indigenas sobrevivientes conservan un comportamiento habitacional y social desarrollado por lo menos hace 2000 anos, cuando el uso de la ceramica lo torna visible. Una clarificacion de los malentendidos que contribuyen a esta evaluacion <<revisionista>> es esencial, porque una aceptacion de las conclusiones no solamente contradice la evidencia ecolo- gica y arqueologica, si no que respalda la deforestacion desenfrenada de la region.

Betty J. Meggers * MRC-112, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20560

Latin American Antiquity, 12(3), 2001, pp. 30>325 CopyrightC) 2001 by the Society for American Archaeology

The vast neotropical rainforest fascinated the early European explorers, initially because of its luxuriant vegetation and later because of

its supposed mineral wealth. According toAcuna "si el Nilo riega lo mejor del Africa, fecundandola con sus corrientes, el Rfo de las Amazonas riega mas extendidos reinos, fecunda mas vegas, sustenta mas hombres, y aumenta con sus aguas mas caudalosos oceanos" (1946:31). Carvajal, chronicler of the first descent of the Amazon in 1542, describes villages extending for leagues along the bank, "fine high- ways" leading inland, stone-walled houses, female warriors, gold and silver utensils, and "many sheep ofthe sort found in Peru" (Heaton 1934). During the seventeenth century, the lure of El Dorado inspired numerous well-equipped expeditions to search for "the great and golden city of Manoa," located on the

shore of a vast saline lake in the interior of the Guianas (Hemming 1978). Although no one ever saw it, the Lake Parima continued to appear on maps until the early eighteenth century, when the quest was finally abandoned (Ales and Pouyllau 1992). Since then, archaeological and ethnographic investigations, mineral explorations, power-line surveys, and other kinds of expeditions have failed to encounter any trace of El Dorado.

After a lapse of three centuries, the myth of El Dorado is being revived by archaeologists. Roo- sevelt's contention that "the rich floodplains and fish- eries of the Amazon are hundreds of times more extensive than those of the Nile" (1991:435) is rem- iniscent of Acuna's 1641 description. She envisions "territories tens of thousands of square kilometers in size, larger than those of many recognized prehis-

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1l1E CONTINUING QUEST FOR EL DORADO: ROUND TWO

Betty J. Meggers

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toric states. Their organization and ideology of dei- fied chiefs and ancestors, nobles and seers, vassals or commoners, and captive slaves are more similar to those of early states and complex chiefdoms else- where in the world than to the present Indian soci- e t i e s o f A m a z o n i a " ( 1 9 9 1 : 4 3 6 ) . S i m i l a r l y , W h i t e h e a d (1994:43) contends that "ancient Amerindian polit- ical and cultural life was of a level of sophistication that rivaled or even exceeded that of their (Euro- pean) homelands [and] we are dealing with civiliza- tions of considerable complexity, possibly even protostates." More specifically, he argues that "we cannot dismiss . . . the implicit ethnography contained in the European myth of El Dorado" (1992:58-59).

The reincarnation of the myth of El Dorado is also the focus of three articles in recent issues of Latin AmericanAntiquity, which claim to provide evidence for dense sedentary populations supported by inten- sive terra firme agriculture, contrary to the interpre- tations that my Brazilian colleagues and I have developed during more than three decades of archae- ological investigation throughout Amazonia. The articles at issue are "Ceramic Seriation and Settle- ment Reoccupation in Lowland South America" by DeBoer, Kintigh, and Rostoker (1996), "The Ring Villages of Central Brazil: A Challenge for Ama- zonian Archaeology" by Wust and Barreto (1999), and "Village Size and Permanence in Amazonia" by Heckenberger, Peterson, and Neves (1999).

Clarification of their misinterpretations of the environmental limitations and understandings of our data, methods, and theoretical approach is necessary because these are unlikely to be recognized by most readers of this journal. It is also essential because, unlike archaeological controversies in other parts of the world, this one has serious political implications. If local subsistence resources sustained dense seden- tary populations in the past, then the biologists, ecol- ogists, climatologists, agronomists, and other experts are wrong in their assessment of the environment, surviving indigenous groups are under-exploiting their habitats, modern efforts to intensify agricultural productivity are incompetent, and developers are entitled to operate without constraint. If they did not, then the growing environmental devastation is not only ill-advised, but likely to be irreversible. Con- sequently, reconstructions of prehistoric population density and cultural complexity must be based on the most accurate scientific evidence we can obtain.

Space constraints make it necessary to focus on

the most controversial assumptions and interpreta- tions in the three articles and the principal archaeo- logical, ecological, and ethnographic evidence relevant to their evaluation. Readers are encouraged to consult the bibliographic references for additional information.

Archaeological Evidence

"Detailed archaeological field studies and research methodologies designed to identify regional-level settlement patterns in Amazonia are still largely lack- ing. Even basic aspects of chronology, regional set- tlement patterns, and the characteristics of individual sites and site components (e.g., size, duration, and internal variability) are poorly understood" (Heck- enberger et al. 1999:354).

The Programa Nacional de Pesquisas Arque- ologicas na Bacia Amazonica (PRONAPABA), a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (CNPq), was initiated in 1976 to supply this kind of evidence (Simoes 1977). Since then, survey and samplinghave been conducted along the lower Tocantins, Xingu, Tapajos, and Negro, the entire Madeira and Jurua, the middle Purus, the lower Uatuma and Urubu, the left and right banks of the lower Solimoes, Guapore and Jamari, the headwaterrivers in the State of Acre, and on the northeastern Llanos de Moxos (Figure 1). Similar information is available from earlier surveys along the middle Amazon (Hilbert 1959, 1962, 1968), at the mouth of the Amazon (Meggers and Evans 1957), on the upper Essequibo, Rupununi savanna, and coast of Guyana (Evans and Meggers 1960), the upper Orinoco-Ventuari (Evans et al. 1960), and the Napo (Evans and Meggers 1968).

All sites encountered were described, mapped, and sampled with unselected surface collections and many were also documented with one or more strati- graphic excavations. Uniform criteria for the collec- tion, classification, and quantitative analysis of the pottery and the construction of seriated sequences have made it possible to identify phases corre- sponding to endogamous communities throughout the lowlands and to define their temporal and spatial parameters. Several hundred radiocarbon dates per- mit estimating the duration of phases within a region and correlating them between regions.

Detailed publication of the PRONAPABA data has been delayed because of continuing refinements in analysis and interpretation, but the theoretical and

[Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001] 306 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

Figure 1. Northexn lowland South America showing the rivers and other features mentioned in the text.

methodological aspects of the approach and the implications of the evidence have been discussed in various articles (Dias and Carvalho 1988; Dougherty and Calandra 1981,1984,198>85; Meggers 1987, 1991, 1992a, 1992b, 1992c, 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 1995c, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Meggers et al. 1988; Miller 1992; Perota and Botelho 1994; Simoes 1974). Abbreviated pottery type descriptions and preliminary seriated sequences from several widely separated regions have also been published (Meg- gers 1992c, 1999; Miller 1983; Miller et al. 1992; Perota 1992; Simoes et al.1987). These publications contain far more ecological and archaeological data than have been provided by Heckenberger et al. (1999) or by Wust and Barreto (1999).

Extension of the "Standard Model" into Prehistory

"Based on ethnographic examples . . . Meggers has repeatedly espoused a general model for Amazonia in which settlements are portrayed as uniformly small, . . . impermanent, dispersed, and politically autonomous.... Models of Precolumbian occupa- tions . . . typically are hypothetical, based largely on

nonarchaeological data (ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and/or ecological) and untested theoretical assump- tions.... [T]here is no sound empirical basis to sup- port . . . [the] contention that the standard model can be extended into prehistory" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:35>355)-

Empirical Basis

Having been taught in graduate school that a seri- ated sequence has no social counterpart and that irregular trends are the expectable expression of sam- pling error, I began to question the validity of these assumptions only after comparing the spatial distri- butions of the sites included in dozens of seriations produced by different archaeologists along the Brazilian coastal strip and in Amazonia during the past four decades. Classification of the pottery from sites along the Tocantins, for example, produced five seriated sequences, each confined to a different sec- tion of the river. The absence of overlap in their dis- tributions suggested the seriations identified the territories of endogamous communities (Figure 2; Simoes and Araujo-Costa 1987).

A search of the ethnographic literature revealed

COMMENTS 307

Figure 2. Contiguous prehistoric territories along the lower Tocantins, each characterized by a unique seriated ceramic sequence. The boundary between the Taua and Tucurui phases coincides with the first rapid, which marks the southern pen- etration of Amazonian aquatic fauna. In the Tucurui Phase territory, the river descends from the Brazilian Shield across a rocky substrate, and in the Tauari Phase sector it flows over a sandy floodplain that narrows in the Itupiranga Phase terri- tory and disappears in the Maraba Phase territory. The existence in each sector of significant differences in the kind, abun- dance, and seasonality of aquatic resources and their methods of capture accounts for the absence of overlap in territorial boundaries even at the first rapid, where the contrast is greatest and the sites are in closest proximity. This stability and the occasional occurrence of pottery with Taua Phase decoration in Tucurui Phase sites suggest that trade was a more viable option than invasion (after Miller et al. 1992, Figs. 72, 99, 100).

308 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001]

a similar contiguous pattern among the Akawaio of western Guyana, where each territory was occupied by an endogamous community divided among two or three widely separated exogamous matrilocal households (Colson 1983-84). An explanation for the permanence of the boundaries on the Tocantins was provided when subsequent publication of the results of environmental and demographic survey undertaken prior to construction of the Tucurui hydroelectric dam revealed that they coincided with significant changes in the riverine topography and associated differences in the abundance, seasonality, and methods of capture of fish (Merona 1990). Sim- ilar correlations have been identified along other rivers where the archaeological and environmental documentation is sufficiently detailed.

The notion that I have imposed the "standard model" onto the archaeological record reverses the actual procedure. It was the archaeological evidence for the spatial segregation of the sites included in dif- ferent seriated sequences and the discontinuity in the interdigitated positions of successive levels from the same excavation that provoked a search of the literature for evidence of territoriality and village movement among surviving indigenous groups. Four types of territory have been reported ethnographi- cally: contiguous, isolated, overlapping, or shifting boundaries (Grenard 1980:70; Kaplan 1975), and temporary or ephemeral boundaries (e.g., Rosengren 1981-82:61). Only the first two types have been identified archaeologically, suggesting that the lat- ter two are post-contact responses to disruption and dislocation (Meggers 1995b, 1996a; cf. Hill and Moran 1983: 121). Centripetal village movement within a territory and reoccupation of sites were also inferred from the seriated sequences prior to identi- fying ethnographic examples (e.g., Gallois 1981; Vickers 1983). Comparing the archaeological pat- terns with the ethnographic data makes it possible to identify specific ways in which indigenous settlement behavior has altered since European contact.

Theoretical Support

Rather than an "untested theoretical assumption," there is abundant ethnographic evidence that the quantitative differences in pottery types used to cre- ate seriated sequences are produced by evolutionary drift. The susceptibility of nonmaterial cultural traits (e.g., myths, rituals, languages) to change via drift has been observed repeatedly (e.g., Colson 1983-84;

Gross 1983; Henley 1982), and the operation of unconscious drift in vessel shape was confirmed experimentally decades ago (Hodges 1965). The development of minor differences in the presence or relative frequency of decorative techniques as a con- sequence of isolation among potters has been observed among autonomous communities sharing a ceramic tradition and among matrilocal residence groups in the same community (Arnold 1993:235; Roe 1981:65; Wust 1994:329). Long-term monitor- ing of pottery production in endogamous Kalinga communities has documented the emergence of quantitative differences in several details of decora- tion (Graves 1994) and detected changes in the rel- ative frequencies of vessel shapes within only five years (Longacre 1985).

Variations in unobtrusive ceramic features have been interpreted by North American archaeologists as evidence of social distinctions. Statistical manip- ulation validates the correlation of minor differences in "latent stylistic expressions" in surface treatment and temper with Hohokam residence groups (Abbot 2000: 141). The results of applying evolutionary the- ory to stylistic variation in Illinois Woodland ceramic assemblages suggest that the approach "would lead to real payoffs in historical knowledge" (Nieman 1995:32). Intrasite seriation by pottery types at Pueblo de los Muertos was judged to be as accurate as using attributes and considerably less time con- suming (Duff 1996). Successful replication in sim- ulation experiments of the spatial patterns obtained by seriating surface collections of decorated sherds from sites in the lower Mississippi valley led to the conclusion that "populations whose members were free to interact equally over the entire space pro- duced nearly perfect seriations, whereas any restric- tions on the radius of interaction would destroy our ability to include the entire test population in one seri- ation" (Lipo et al. 1997:310). Changes in the rela- tive frequencies of pottery types have also proved the most useful guide to chronology during the Forma- tive to Classic transition in southern Veracruz (Pool and Britt 2000:151).

In short, the repeated independent observation of gradual divergence in composition, decoration, and vessel shape in the production of traditional potters in various parts of the world, both chronologically within the same community and spatially between contemporary households, and the detection of sim- ilar patterns in North American archaeology support

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Figure 3. Subdivision of the lbcurui Phase seriation into two subphases based on 5 percent relative frequency of lbcurui Painted decoration. The existence of the same pottery types, trends, and durations in both sequences implies their contem- poraneity and the restriction of all but three of the sites to one of the subphases is compatible with the existence of matnlo- cal residence. The wide separations of levels of the same excavation document episodes of abandonment and reoccupation of the location by the same matrilocal household.

the reliability of quantitative analysis and seriation ation [within the Aldeia da Queimada Nova] . . . forreconstructingprehistoricAmazoniansettlement might reflect the operation of a moiety division, a and social behavior. type of social organization common in lowland South

America, although its material correlates, at least as Ceramlc Evldence for Matrllocal llesldence evinced in ceramics, remain largely undocumented"

"Meggers and Maranca suggest that some of the vari- (DeBoer et al. 1996:272).

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LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001]

310

Divergence in details of pottery production as a consequence of matrilocal residence has been observed repeatedly (e.g., Brumbach 1985; Longacre 1964; ReinaandHill 1978:21; Roe 1981:65) andpro- vides a potential explanation for the erratic occur- rences of minor pottery types in seriated sequences that exhibit consistent trends in the principal undec- orated types. In the case of the Tucurui Phase on the Tocantins, separating the samples based on the pres- ence of + 5 percent painted decoration produces two sequences or subphases with similar trends and rel- ative frequencies in the undecorated types, implying their contemporaneity (Figure 3). Comparing the locations of the sites on the map shows that all except three were occupied and reoccupied by the same subphase and that the locus of occupation in two of those shared was different. This finding is compati- ble with the ethnographic evidence that the first moi- ety to occupy a location often retains permanent rights to future reoccupation, but that permission may be granted to the other moiety on request (Basso 1973:44 45; Ceron Solarte 1991:107).

Similar quantitative differences in minor pottery types in the ceramic phases of the Jamari Tradition in southwestern Amazonia and the Taruma Phase on the upper Essequibo in Guyana also permit con- structing contemporary subseriations, again com- posed principally of different sites (Miller et al. 1992). By contrast, seriated sequences for phases of the Polychrome Tradition cannot be subdivided, implying circulation of the women and patrilocal residence (e.g., Figure 7; Linares 1969:3).

The validity of attributing the spatial dichotomy in two minor decorated types to matrilocal residence at the Aldeia da Quemada Nova, a prehistoric ring village of the Tupiguarani Tradition in Piaui, is sup- ported by observations of similar associations in a historic Bororo ring village in Mato Grosso. Seri- ation of samples of pottery from 15 house locations at the Piaui site permit separating two contemporary sub-sequences, one with painted decoration on an unslipped surface and the other with painting on a white-slipped surface. Examination of the map shows them to correspond to different halves of the ring, compatible with the existence of matrilocal res- idence (Figure 4; Meggers and Maranca 1980).

The plan of Tadarimana, a recently abandoned Bororo ring village in central Brazil, shows similar variation in the sizes and orientations of the houses, as well as similar inequality in the number of houses

in each half of the ring (Figure 5). The population in this village was divided into matrilocal moieties, also characterized by rare ceramic features. In this case, a shouldered water jar was manufactured by one moiety and ovoid vessels with applique decoration by the other. The possibility that this distinction would be recognizable archaeologically has been rejected because Bororo vessels are loaned to mem- bers of the opposite moiety (Wust 1994:329), and our archaeological reconstruction has been criticized as "elevating what might be accidents to large and unwarranted inferential effects" (DeBoer et al. 1996:273). In view of the demonstrated ethnographic correlation between minor quantitative and qualita- tive differences in ceramics and matrilocal residence, however, it would seem more productive to use this information to reconstruct prehistoric settlement and social behavior than to dismiss it a priori.

Soil Color as Evidence of Continuous Occupation

"Short, small-scale occupations . . . simply do not

create the areally extensive alterations [in soil color] characteristic of many prehistoric occupations" (Heckenbergeretal.1999:355,emphasisinoriginal); "the evidence . . . does not justify . . . interpretation that large TP sites in Amazonia represent palimpsests of numerous successive and only partially overlap- ping reoccupations, as opposed to extensive con- temporaneous occupations and long-term settlement permanence" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:355; also DeBoeretal. 1996:276).

The conclusion that permanent occupation is required to produce the uniform extensions of black soil (TP) typical of Amazonian habitation sites is based on two questionable criteria: (1) the absence of layers or patches of unaltered soil in prehistoric habitation sites, and (2) the absence of terra preta in a modern settlement occupied up to 50 years.

The first criterion is falsified by the existence of continuous terra preta in trenches across extensive sites presenting stratigraphic discontinuities in ceramic trends and carbon 14 dates implying multi- ple reoccupation (e.g., Miller et al. 1992, Figures 34-36). There are at least three explanations for the absence of sterile zones: (1) reoccupied areas over- lap; (2) recycling of organic materials is too efficient for a sterile layer to develop on the surface during abandonment in the absence of extraneous forces, such as water-borne deposition, and (3) biotic activ-

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ity involved in the production of terra preta elimi- nates any remnants of unaltered soil (Woods and McCann 1997).

The second critenon fails to recognize the absence of comparable conditions. Modern and Precolumbian settlements differ in house construction (raised ver- sus dirt floor), cooking methods (elevated stove ver- sus floor-level hearth), type and disposal of organic refuse, household composition (nuclear versus extended family), number of occupants, presence/absence of domestic animals, and other fea- tures. Although the genesis of terra preta remains unclear, these kinds of variables are certainly involved (Vacher et al. 1998:52-55; Woods 1995).

Decorated Pottery as Evidence of Continuous Occupation

"[D]iagnostic ceramics . . . associated with the Guarita phase of the Amazonian Polychrome tradi- tion . . . are widely distributed across the entire site surface [implying that] Agutuba was occupied almost continuously, if not continuously, throughout the Christian era, if not before" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:362).

Equating the surface extent of decorated sherds with continuous occupation overlooks two uncer- tainties: (1) the social equivalent of "Guaritaceram- ics" and (2) the significance of their distribution.

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Figure 5. Plan of Tadarimana, a Bororo ring village in central Brazil occupied in 1983. The orientations and distributions of the houses and the moiety division are comparable to those reconstructed from the archaeological evidence at the Aldeia da Queimada Nova (modified from Wust 1994, Fig 14.1).

"Diagnostic Guarita ceramics," also termed "Guarita fineware," are described as "including red-and/or black-on-white painted, wide-line incised, flanged, and complicated modeled designs" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:362). This combination of decoration identifies the Guarita Subtradition of the Polychrome Tradition, which has a large spatial and temporal extension along the central Amazon and into the lower part of the adjacent tributaries. Like the other subtraditions, it contains numerous local phases of varying ages and durations that share the diagnostic pottery types and are distinguished by differences in their trends and relative frequencies. The radiocar- bon dates for the Pajura and Apuau phases on the adjacent part of the Negro indicate that they are con- temporary with A,cutuba, as are several other phases of the Guarita Subtradition on the lower Madeira and the lower Solimoes (Simoes 1974; Simoes and Kalk- mann 1987; Simoes and Lopes 1987).

Defining the spatial and temporal parameters of

the occupation of A jcutuba requires establishing whether all or part of the site was occupied by any of these phases or by one or more undescribed phases or both. Until this is done, it is premature to identify it as "the home of a large, sedentary population." It is even more speculative to assert that other "exten- sive (30 ha. or more of TP), . . . late prehistoric sites . . . within a 30 km radius of A,cutuba" were con- temporaneous because they contain "diagnostic Guaritaceramics" (Heckenbergeretal. 1999:364). To do so is equivalent to considering all the sites in the eastern United States that contain diagnostic Wood- land pottery or all those in the Caribbean area with diagnostic Saladoid features to be contemporary.

Reconstruction of the village area is complicated by the stratigraphic evidence provided, which does not support the existence of Guarita ceramics across the entire site. The profiles of the excavations atA,cu- tuba I, Unit 2 and A,cutuba II, Unit 1 show sherds to begin below ca. 20 cm of sterile soil (Heckenberger

COMMENTS 313

et al. 1999: Figure 5). All the pottery in both exca- vations is identified as "modeled-incised" rather than Guarita and the radiocarbon dates extend from 2310 + 140 to 1030 + 100 BP. The pottery assigned to the Guarita Subtradition was obtained in a different exca- vation at an unspecified location inA jcutuba II, where the dates extend from 980 +60 to 510 +70 BP (Heck- enberger et al. l999:Table 1). The significance of "a clear vertical increase in artifact frequency" in the three excavations must be evaluated in terms of these ceramic associations and the dates, which suggest the occupations in the three locations were not con- temporary (Heckenberger et al. l999:Table 3).

Ceramic Evidence of Reoccupation

Although "seriated-based arguments for site reoc- cupation . . . generally survive tests of statistical plau- sibility, they neither withstand scrutiny from the standpoint of empirically observed patterns nor are buttressed by a body of theory that points unequiv- ocally to the recognition of separate occupations" (DeBoer et al. 1996:276).

Empirical Patterns

The "empirically observed patterns" consist of a seri- ated sequence based on the relative frequencies of ceramic features in contemporary houses in a mod- ern Shipibo village, which are sufficiently different to imply that their occupation was sequential (DeBoer et al. 1996: Figure 6). Examination of the evidence indicates, however, that this discrepancy can be attributed to incomparable conditions. The Shipibo community is distributed among a dozen dispersed nuclear family dwellings, whereas tradi- tional Amazonian communities typically occupy a communal house. The Shipibo pottery samples con- sist of all vessels in use during a single year (or less), whereas a 10 cm level represents at least a decade of discard. The Shipibo vessels were "broken" into uni- form "sherds" 20 cm square for tabulation, so that each sample consists of 100 percent of those corre- sponding to each vessel, whereas archaeological fragments differ in size and efforts at refitting indi- cate that a 10 cm level seldom includes more than a couple of sherds from the same vessel. Other vari- ables include differences in manufacture, use, and disposal. Given these disparities, it is not surprising that the Shipibo "seriation" misrepresents the chronological relationships of the houses.

A more appropriate ethnographic test of the reli-

ability of seriated sequences for identifying sequen- tial occupations has been provided by Dillehay (1999), who conducted stratigraphic excavations in a site extending over a distance of 250 m that was continuously occupied by the same Mapuche fam- ily during about 100 years. As a consequence, the locations and durations of the houses, the activities undertaken, the number of residents, and the sequence of movement are known. Excavations were made in five of the concentrations to evaluate the cor- respondence between the distributions of surface sherds and subsurface post holes and floors, to iden- tify activities, and to provide unselected samples of pottery. Classification into seven types, quantitative analysis, and seriation produced consistent trends in all the types and a sequence that corresponded to the known order of occupation (Figure 6).

In this case, the pottery revealed such slight vari- ation in form, size, and composition that

were it not for the informants and the seriated ceramic sequence, the house floors would eas- ily have been interpreted as a group of contem- porary dwellings.... Without the informants, we might have also interpreted the differences in frequency of the types of artifacts in the structures as evidence of different economic tasks performed by different families.... In short, the Mapuche evidence suggests that spa- tial redundance or increased reoccupation may be a key factor in the creation of extensive, and often superimposed, concentrations of cultural remains. The sites consisting of palimpsests of episodes of reoccupation by a single family (or a few families) may be just as extensive and complex as large village sites, and they may or may not have clearly separated activity areas representing each episode of use.... One can imagine hypothetically the discovery of 100 large archeological sites, each one of which was occupied by a single family or a few families.... Based on this, we could estimate a dense popu- lation between 500 and 600 families, and between 2000 and 2500 individuals living in these sites, when in reality only 5 or 6 families and 200-250 individuals may have existed [Dillehay 1999:264, translation].

The Pajura Phase Seriation

As noted earlier, the principal reason for failure to publish more of the PRONAPABA data is continu- ing revision of earlier seriations as understanding of the implications of the discontinuities in trends has increased. In the initial seriation constructed by Simoes prior to the inception of the PRONAPABA,

314 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001]

Ceramic Types overall increase in frequency and Vila Plain tends to decline, whereas the trends in the other types are

_ _ _ _ _

restricted within each episode. For example, Pajura

_ _ _ _

Painted decreases within Episode 1 and increases

_ _ _ _

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_ _ _

In the context of evolutionary theory this "punc- B C D E F G s

tuated equilibrium" implies temporary disruption of d sequence obtained from quantitative the community. A clue to the cause is provided by a sttery excavated at five successive house similarrevisionoftheexceptionallyerraticseriations lleco, a site continuously occupied by the Lmily during 100 years. The trends in all for the Barrancold and Saladold phases 1n eastern bs (A-G) are consistent and the chronolog- Venezuela to produce a succession of relatively con- historically correct (after Dillehay 1999, sistent episodes. Existing radiocarbon dates corre-

late the most dramatic discontinuities with mega-Nino events ca. 1500, 1000, and 700 B.P.,

.puau phases were combined (Simoes when severe drought would have depleted local sub- 1987, Figure 3). Their separation, sistence resources and forced the members of the

ed by DeBoeret al. (1996), produced communities to disperse until conditions returned to 'e sequence they criticize. This ver- normal (Meggers 1996b). evised. The current revision of the Pajura Phase sequence nds in all the pottery types are exam- produces a slightly different spatial distribution of n only those undecorated types con- the four episodes of occupation at AM-MA-9, but oer et al. (1996), the levels from the the implications are the same. Episodes 1 and 4 are s atAM-MA-9 can be grouped into restricted to Cut 2, Episode 2 to Cut 3, and Episode

Figure 7). Pajura Plain exhibits an 3 to Cut 1. This confines the maximum limits of the

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COMMENTS 315

Figure 8. Plan of AM-MA-9 showing the locations of the stratigraphic excavations and maximum extent of the associated episodes of occupation. The first and fourth episodes were restricted to Cut 2, the second to Cut 3, and the third to Cut 1. The absence of interdigitation of the levels in Cut 2 with those in Cuts 1 and 3 implies that the settlements during Episodes 1 and 4 did not overlap them. Since the maximum diameter of houses reported ethnographically is ca 50 m, the actual dimen- sions were probably no greater than this. It seems likely that additional excavations would identify other episodes and pos- sibly contemporary houses during a single episode (after Meggers 1992b).

first and fourth settlements within the area between Cuts 1 and 3, the second settlement west of Cut 2, and the third settlement east of Cut 2. Each occupa- tion thus could not have extended over more than about half of the site or ca. 250 m. Since the maxi- mum diameter of indigenous communal houses today is about 50 m, the actual area was probably less (Figure 8).

Stratigraphic Discontinuities

Since cultural drift should proceed gradually, other things being equal, the abrupt changes in the rela- tive frequencies of both undecorated and decorated pottery types in consecutive 10 cm levels are evi- dence of discontinuous occupation of the location sampled. For example, although the trends in two excavations at RO-PV-30 on the Rio Jamari in south- western Amazonia are similar, both exhibit gaps between Levels 1W20 and 20-30 cm (Figure 9, top). The interpretation that these imply abandonment and reoccupation of the locations represented, rather than social or functional differences, is favored by the seriated sequence, in which the lower two levels of Cut 3 interdigitate into the hiatus in Cut 2 and the upper two follow the upper levels of Cut 2 (Figure 9, bottom).

When multiple radiocarbon dates are available from several locations at the same site, they also fre- quently imply temporal and spatial discontinuity of occupation. Although those at RO-PV-25, another

large habitation site on the Rio Jamari, are in chrono- logical order within each excavation, differences of 120 and 860 years between consecutive 10 cm lev- els in Cut 3 are compatible with the seriational evi- denceforepisodes of abandonment (Figure 10). The horizontal discrepancies are also large. The dates from the same depth (1W20 cm) in Cuts 1, 2, and 3 differ by 430 years; those from the same depth (2 30 cm) in Cuts 3 and 4 differ by 320 years, and those from the same depth (5(}60 cm) in Cuts 1 and 2 differ by 2,120 years. This example (one of many) suggests that the differences of 360 years and 720 years in the radiocarbon dates from consecutive 10 cm levels in Unit 1 at Acvutuba identify at least two major episodes of abandonment of this location (Heckenberger et al. l999:Table 1), as do similarly large gaps between the radiocarbon dates at three sites on the upper Xingu (Heckenberger et al. l999:Table 4). Residential continuity must conse- quently be demonstrated rather than assumed.

Earthworks as Evidence of Permanent Occupation

"The substantial structural elaboration at each of these [Amazonian] sites, including the construction of central plazas, earthworks, and specialized mid- den deposits, documents the type of landscape alter- ation and functional variability that would be expected for large, sedentary occupations, but highly unlikely for small, impermanent communities"

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LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001]

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Figure 9. Relative frequencies of the pottery types in successive 10 cm levels of two stratigraphic excavations at RO-PV-30, an extensive habitation site of the Jamari Phase on the Rio Jamari, a right-bank tributary of the upper Madeira in south- western Amazonia. Top, each excavation shows significant changes in the relative frequencies of both undecorated and dec- orated types at a depth of 20 cm, implying abandonment and reoccupation of the locations sampled. Bottom, interdigitation produces smooth trends of increasing and decreasing frequency in the principal undecorated types and reveals chronologi- cal changes in most of the decorated types. Most of the levels in this seriation are separated by multiple occupations at other sites in the seriated sequence for the Jamari Phase, implying additional discontinuities (courtesy of E. Th. Miller).

(Heckenberger et al.1999:355-356); "it is clear from the scale of earthmoving at each site that villages did not intend to abandon their villages once they had built these features" (Heckenberger et al.1999:369).

The "substantial structural elaboration" at Acvu- tuba consists of three ovoid refuse mounds, one mea- suring 60 x 35 m in area and one meter high, and a "presumed plaza" at least 450 x 100 m in extent that terminates in a ditch 110 m long, 5-6 m wide, and 1-2 m deep (Heckenberger et al.1999:363 and Fig- ure 4). On the upper Xingu, it consists of two or three concentric ditches about 1.5 m deep surrounding the settlement and 4-5 roads radiating from a central plaza (Heckenberger et al. 1999: Figures 8, 10).

To infer that these sites were "likely the home of a large, sedentary population in the centuries imme- diately preceding European contact" (Heckenberger et al.1999:364) and "undoubtedly the result of long- term continuous occupation" (Heckenberger et al.

1999:368) requires ignoring the far more spectacu- lar accomplishments of small egalitarian groups.

In southern Chile, for example, numerous artifi- cial burial mounds up to 35 m in diameter and 12 m high have been constructed by individual Mapuche families (Dillehay 1990). In SW Victoria, Australia, clusters of up to 28 artificial mounds were built and "habitually resurfaced" by the Aborigines during some 2,500 years. They also dug artificial channels more than 3 km long, 2.5 m wide, and over a meter deep to connect extensive patches of swampy ground and increase the abundance and accessibility of eels. One water-control system is estimated to have required 13,000 hours of labor. Repeated congrega- tion of a few hundred people during the annual two- month fishing season has produced habitation refuse extending 35 km along a riverbank, more than 10 times the extent of the occupation at Acvutuba (Lourandos 1997:65-68, 218-221, Figure 6.13).

317 COMMENTS

Figure 10. Plan of RO-PV-25 showing the locations of four stratigraphic excavations and the associated radiocarbon dates. Five episodes of occupation are suggested by the seriated sequence and indicated by circles ca 50 m in diameter. The first and fifth were in the location of Cut 3, the second in Cuts 1 and 4 (contemporary houses), the third also in Cut 4, and the fourth in Cut 2. Discontinuous occupation is also implied by the horizontal and vertical discrepancies in the dates. Those from Level 10-20 cm in three excavations differ by 430 years, those from Level 2s30 cm in two excavations differ by 320 years, and those from Level 5040 cm in two excavations differ by 2,120 years. Although the dates within each excavation also differ significantly, the discrepancy is particularly noteworthy in Cut 3, where consecutive 10 cm levels differ by 120 and 860 years. The three earliest dates identify preceramic occupations of the site (after Miller et al. 1992, Figure 71).

A similar prehistoric water-control system on the northeastern lowlands of Bolivia consists of a net- work of ridges 1-2 m wide, 2s50 cm high, and up to 3.5 km long, totaling ca. 1515 linear km. Associ- ated small artificial ponds are 0.5-2.0 m deep and 10-30 m in diameter. Earth-moving experiments indicate that construction could have been accom- plished by 1,000 people working only 30 days per

year during 10 years (Erickson 2000). The "scale of earthmoving" atAc,utuba and on the upper Xingu is insignificant by comparison.

Another archaeological perspective is provided by 29 habitation sites along the Guapore on the Brazil- ian border with Bolivia (Miller 1983). The majority have a single peripheral ditch, but two exhibit rem- nants of two or three ditches (Figure 11). Black soil

318 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001]

Forest

Flasd Pisin

0 100 200 a I | I ,1 |

Forest

Flood Plain

0 100 200 m RO - C0 - 05: PIMENTEIMS

Figure 11. Habitation sites of the Corumbiara and Pimenteiras phases on the upper GuaporeS which marks the frontier between Brazil and Bolivia. As on the upper Xingu, the two semicircular ditches at RO-PN-4 and the remnants of three at RO-CO-S do not correlate with the boundaries of the habitation refuse. Both the seriated sequences and the radiocarbon dates imply multiple episodes of occupation. RO-CO-05 has been reoccupied by a modern settlement and an airfield (after Miller 1983, Figs. 20 and 27).

COMMENTS 319

extends 25s900 m along the bank,8>230 m inland, and is 2s90 cm deep, and does not coincide with the locations of the ditches. A 1 x 1, 2 x 2, or 3 x 3 m stratigraphic excavation in 10cm levels was made in six sites and systematic surface collections were made in 10.

The pottery was classified into 4 undecorated and 14 decorated types. Quantitative differences required construction of two seriated sequences, which allo- cated the sites to two regions separated by an unin- habited zone, compatible with the existence of endogamous territories. All of the stratigraphic exca- vations exhibit discontinuities, and the disjunct seri- ated positions of the levels imply at least two to four episodes of abandonment and reoccupation at each of the locations represented. As on the upper Xingu, these sites are relatively recent; four radiocarbon dates extend from ca.580 to 290 B.P., when the first significant European occupation of the region began.

Population Estimates

On the upper Xingu "it seems highly likely that the vil- lage populations ranged into the low thousands, at least 1,000 to 1,500. . . [and] there may have been five con- temporary plaza villages . . . and perhaps even more" (Heckenberger et al.1999:370); in the vicinity of Acu- tuba, "extensive (30 ha or more of TP), generally con- temporaneous sites . . . [provide] further evidence of a high regional population density" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:364). In central Brazil, "precontact ring villages were far more numerous, populous, and diverse than the ones described in the ethnographic literature" (Wust and Barreto 1999:4, 14).

Upper Xingu

The population estimate for the upper Xingu settle- ments is based on total site area, which is up to 10 times greater than that of present-day Kuikuru vil- lages. However, most of the archaeological accu- mulation of 40-50 cm of terra preta appears to correspond to a pre-ditch phase extending from ca. A.D. 80s1200, rather than the post-ditch phase ca. A.D.140(}1500 (Heckenberger et al.1999:367 and Figure 9), and the absence of ceramic seriation pre- vents identifying the locations and dimensions of the settlement at any time during these 400 years. Domestic pottery, described only as exhibiting "marked conservatism," is said to be "distributed across the surface of the sites . . . except in road and plaza areas," although the maps show the highest den-

sities present in the latter locations as well (Heck- enberger et al. 1999: Figures 8, 10). Nor is any evi- dence provided to indicate that "the partitioning of each site, conditioned by the placement of artificial earthworks, created discrete intravillage precincts . . . [that] may well correspond to social divisions," or that "households were more than likely positioned with respect not only to affiliation . . . but also inter- nal rank" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:370).

The contemporaneity of the upper Xingu villages is inferred from their "density and regular place- ment," although the radiocarbon dates from five sites extend from 1000 + 70 to 180 + 60 B.P., and most of them interdigitate sufficiently to suggest sequen- tial rather than simultaneous occupation (Hecken- berger et al. 1999:370, 366).

Central Brazil

The population estimates for central Brazil are based on the number of sites, the diameter of the village ring, the size and number of the houses, and the assumption that "most houses belonging to the same ring are likely to have been occupied simultane- ously" (Wust and Barreto 1999:14). As Wust (1990:412-414) has observed, however, the fact that most of the prehistoric sites are less than 5 km apart and many overlap makes it difficult to consider them as contemporary, especially since smaller Bororo villages occupied during the first half of the twenti- eth century were 14-35 km apart. The differences in the radiocarbon dates from Survey Area 2 also argue against contemporaneity. Three sites along the lower Tadorimana produced dates of 1090 + 60,700 + 70, and 230 + 70 B.P. and three ca. 40 km to the north- east produced dates of 1750 + 65,950 + 60, and 590 + 60 B.P. Another site somewhat to the west was dated 780 + 70 B.P. (Wust and Barreto 1999: Figure 3 and Table 1).

The assumption of simultaneous occupation of all the houses in the same ring is also incompatible with the ethnographic evidence that (1) one-third of the occupants of a Bororo village changed residence during a year and a half and most of the people inter- viewed had lived in some nine different villages and (2) when a house deteriorates or an occupant dies, another is built behind it, nearby, or in a different ring (Wust 1990:321,324-325). Similarreplacementdur- ing the Precolumbian period is suggested by the seri- ated positions of several houses in the Aldeia da Queimada Nova in Piaui (Figure 4).

320 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001]

Given these and other kinds of potential vanables, confirmation of contemporaneity is necessary before the number of dwellings can be used to infer village population. This caveat has been raised for decades (e.g.,Ammerman et al.1976:40; Haviland 1985: 186; Martin et al. 1949:191), and greater awareness of potential duplication has provoked recent reduction of estimates for the Maya area (Becquelin and Michelet 1995), the Cahokia chiefdom (Milner 1998:123), and the southwestern pueblos (Creamer and Haas 1998:50), among others.

Carrying Capacity "It is now clear that archaeological villages in Cen- tral Brazil can be surprisingly large in size, a fact that challenges the belief that low agricultural produc- tivity and protein availability in the tropical South American lowlands have placed relatively low ceil- ings on the maximum size of tribal villages"(Wust and Barreto 1999:13-14,19); "the 'carrying capac- ity' of diverse Amazonian settings is substantially higher than commonly accepted.... The large, seden- tary villages . . . were apparently supported by inten- sive terra firme agriculture" (Heckenberger et al. 1999:371-372).

Intensive Terra Firme Agriculture Neither citations nor tangible evidence are provided for "heavy dependence on agriculture" in any of the three regions, nor is its feasibility documented by eco- logical or ethnographic observations. On the contrary, Wust describes the predominate soils in central Brazil as low in phosphorous, nitrogen, and potassium, high in aluminum, and even the best as often unsuitable for traditional cultivation because of relief or physical condition (Wust 1990:33-34). Those on the upper Xingu are rated high in phosphorous, calcium, and magnesium, very low in potassium, and have a pH of 5.2-6.8 (Setzer 1967), and the amount of cultivable land available has been disputed (Gregor 1977: 13-14). The nutrient deficiency and high erodability of most terra firme soils in the vicinity of Acutuba are con- sidered serious obstacles to agricultural use (Blum and Magalhaes 1987:86; Schubart 1977:565). The assumption that dense sedentary pre- columbian populations could have achieved long- term intensive exploitation of local soils is also contrary to the judgment that, even with modern technology, "in Amazonia, there are no land-use sys- tems in existence today for agricultural purposes

which fulfill all the prerequisites for sustainability" (Serrao 1995:262;cf.Jordan 1987:105;Walkeretal. 1995:9) and incompatible with the conclusion based on a 23,600 ha study area with typical or better than average soils ffiat "atmostO.24persons ha-l andpos- sibly substantially less, could be supported" (Fearn- side 1990). It is thus not surprising that phytoliths identified in cores taken north of Manaus indicate that the forest was "never significantly altered by humans" (Piperno and Becker 1996:207).

Sustainable Hunting

Although some anthropologists deny the existence of limitations on protein, biologists have estimated maximum human carrying capacity at ca. 0.2/lim2 and documented the efficacy of traditional methods of sustainable exploitation (Bodmer 1995; Hill and Padwe 2000:100; Robinson and Bennett 2000). There is abundant ethnographic evidence that the permanence even of relatively small settlements depends on their periodic abandonment. In central Brazil, for example, the 285 inhabitants of a Mekra- noti village spent 22 percent of their time away on treks lasting a few weeks to several months (Werner 1983), and similar behavior has been reported for the Kalapalo (Basso 1973), Kaiapo (Verswijver 1992), and Bororo (Wust 1998:666). In Amazonia, a Yanomami community of less than 100 spent 4>60 percent of the year trekking (Good 1995). Although fish management is poorly documented, Tukanoan groups in southeastern Colombia employ sophisti- cated strategies to maintain sustainable populations of fish (Chernela 1989).

Subsistence depletion and environmental degra- dation are universal consequences of sedentism on the terra firme, even when settlements are small and local resources are compensated by periodic absences, domestic animals, and imported food (e.g., Carneiro 1970; Clark and Uhl 1984; Eden 1974; Fajardo and Torres 1987; Frechione 1990; Gross 1983:438; Henley 1982:51-53; Murrieta et al.1992; Yost 1981:687). It has also been suggested that the absence of cases of Chagas disease in lowland Ama- zonia, in spite of the universal presence of the infec- tious agent and invertebrate host, is due to settlement mobility, which prevented the carriers from adapt- ing to human dwellings (Coimbra 1988).

Risk-Reduction Strategies The number and variety of risk-reduction strategies

COMMENTS 321

dozens of seriated sequences has permitted recog- nizing consistent patterns with social, cultural, and climatological significance. None of these discover- ies is the result of projecting ethnographic models onto the archaeological record. Instead, the archae- ological evidence has revealed social and settlement behavior that has seldom been reported ethnograph- ically, such as permanent affiliation of the same site with the same moiety and avoidance by later com- munities of locations occupied by previous groups. Seriated sequences provide more precise chronolo- gies than radiocarbon dates for identifying contem- porary sites and the number of contemporary houses during successive occupations of the same site, per- mitting more reliable estimates of village size and permanence and population density.

Drought sufficiently intense to disrupt well- adapted communities has rarely been observed, giv- ing ethnographers the impression that surviving indigenous groups under-exploit their subsistence resources, whereas pollen profiles and charcoal in the soil document the infrequent occurrence of severe droughts. The coincidence between the dates for these episodes, the glottochronological estimates for differentiation in the major language families, and the timing of discontinuities in the archaeological sequences provides an explanation for the dispersals reflected in the exceptional heterogeneity of lin- guistic and genetic distributions across the lowlands (Meggers 1994). It also explains the multiple kinds of risk avoidance behavior reported among indige- nous Amazonians. Rather than the projection of an ethnographic model onto the archaeological record, our approach permits projecting Precolumbian set- tlement, social, and subsistence behavior onto the ethnographic record. Instead of prejudging surviv- ing groups as decimated and decultured remnants, we can identify the extent to which they have pre- served their Precolumbian heritage.

Pottery is the only widespread and abundant source of archaeological evidence throughout most of tropical lowland South America. As such, it behooves us to try to extract the maximum infor- mation possible from its characteristics and their spa- tial and temporal distributions. Observation of gradual changes in pottery and other cultural traits among contemporary groups as a consequence of res- idential isolation and evolutionary drift provides the- oretical justification for equating seriated ceramic sequences with endogamous communities. Apply- ing this theoretical perspective to the archaeological

practiced by indigenous Amazonians are further tes- timony to subsistence uncertainty (Brack Egg 1997; Ceron Solarte 1988). Although ethnologists often assert underutilization of resources, this view is not shared by their informants, who frequently express anxiety over potential scarcity (e.g., Descola 1994:214; Wagley 1977:24). The discovery thatAma- zonia is subject to infrequent, unpredictable long- term droughts that severely diminish the productivity of both wild and cultivated plants provides an expla- nation for their apprehension (Meggers 1994).

"Vacant" Ceremonial Centers

Instead of rejecting all of the environmental, eco- logical, ethnographic, and experimental evidence for limitations on settlement size and permanence, we need to find explanations for the extensive archaeo- logical sites that accommodate it. In addition to mul- tiple reoccupation by relatively small communities, a second possibility is suggested by the long history of "vacant ceremonial centers" elsewhere in South America, extending back into the Formative Period in the Andes. A possible prehistoric example in east- ern Ecuador is provided by the multi-mound Sangay site, where the existence of at least two loci with dis- tinct ceramic sequences suggests that dispersed autonomous communities may have collaborated in its construction and use (Porras 1987).

An ethnographic example is provided by the con- temporary Cayapa of north coastal Ecuador, who are divided among four main territories, each contain- ing a permanent "vacant" ceremonial center. During most of the year, the population is dispersed among nuclear family dwellings. One family moved 16 times during four generations (100 years), returning 12 times to a previous location. Based on this case, the author warns that "the longevity of generally vacant ceremonial centers . . .can create the archeo- logical appearance of large, sedentary settlements" and produce a "wildly inflated" estimate of popula- tion density (DeBoer 1989, 1997). This function could be assessed at A,cutuba by quantitative analy- sis and seriation of pottery from a dozen or more stratigraphic excavations across the site, and attempt- ing to interdigitate the results with one another and with seriations from the surrounding region.

Conclusion

Applying quantitative analysis to samples of pottery from surface collections and excavations at hundreds of sites throughout Amazonia and constructing

Rol. 12, No. 3, 2001] 322 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

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data permits detecting territorial boundaries, village movement, site reoccupation, and matrilocal resi- dence and correlating these features with subsistence resources and other aspects of the local environment. It seems likely that seriated sequences can provide other clues for reconstructing past cultural behavior and I hope that a few readers will be stimulated to accept rather than reject the challenge.

As the future of Amazonia becomes increasingly threatened, the potential contibution of archaeology becomes more significant. Natural scientists in every field are supplying detailed evidence that the complex inorganic and organic interactions that maintain the tropical forest ecosystem are incompatible with inten- sive exploitation, and their conclusions are supported by the repeated failure of well-Elnanced efforts. Whereas archaeologists working elsewhere in South America, as well as in other parts of the world, are giving increasing attention to the influence of envi- ronmental conditions on cultural development and change, those working in Amazonia reject "environ- mental determinism" and accuse the natural scientists of being misinformed (Roosevelt 1995; also Hecken- berger et al. 1999:372; Wust and Barreto 1999:19). Nearly 15 years ago, aforesterwithglobalexperience in the tropics observed that, "Misunderstandings among anthropologists, particularly regarding the problem of soil depletion, must be resolved if this aca- demic literature is to make a significant contribution to the transformation of development strategies before this basic resource has been destroyed" (Lamb 1987:429). Unfortunately, the message remains unheeded. Adherence to "the lingering myth of Ama- zonian empires" not only prevents archaeologists from reconstructing the prehistory of Amazonia, but makes us accomplices in the accelerating pace of environ- mental degradation (Foresta 1991:265).

Acknowledgments. The fieldwork during the PRONAPABA and the pottery analysis have been conducted by Ondemar F. Dias, Instituto de Arqueologia Brasileira, Rio de Janeiro; Eurico Th. Miller, Eletronorte, Brasilia; Mario F. Simoes, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem; Celso Peroto, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Vitoria, and Bernardo Dougherty, Museo de La Plata, Argentina. Long-term funding has been provided by the Neotropical Lowland Research Project of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA and Eletronorte, Brasilia DF, Brasil.

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