Eastern Brazil in the Ancient World
Eastern Brazil in the Ancient World is characterized by complex migrations and cultural developments that date back thousands of years. The earliest inhabitants, known as Paleo-Indians, are believed to have arrived in the region around 12,000 years ago, possibly from various origins, including Africa and Australia, rather than solely from Asia. Over time, a second wave of migration occurred from North Asia, adding to the diversity of the population. Significant archaeological sites, such as Caverna da Pedra Pintada and Serra Da Capivara, reveal evidence of established communities engaged in fishing, hunting, and gathering.
By about 7000 B.C.E., settled cultures began to emerge, with groups like the Tupi-Guarani developing complex social structures and engaging in practices such as slash-and-burn agriculture. These groups were known for their skills in pottery and weapon crafting, and they inhabited diverse ecological niches throughout the region. A multitude of distinct cultural groups, each adapting to their environment, proliferated in eastern Brazil, with population densities increasing significantly over centuries. While evidence of cannibalism exists, the motives remain unclear. Overall, the ancient societies of eastern Brazil exhibit a rich tapestry of cultural and environmental adaptations, reflecting a long and dynamic history.
Eastern Brazil in the Ancient World
Related civilizations: Tupi-Gusrani, Macro-Jes.
Date: 8000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.
Locale: Amazon Basin, Brazil, South America
Eastern Brazil in the Ancient World
Experts agree that all early South American populations most likely differentiated from a single source: non-Asian Paleo-Indians who arrived in eastern Brazil by at least 12,000 years ago. These Paleo-Indians were the source of all later populations in most of the Western Hemisphere. Evidence indicates they are as likely to have come from Africa, Australia, or the South Pacific as from Siberia and Asia.
The same studies indicate the arrival of a second wave of migration from north Asia, during the Early Archaic period, arriving in South America by approximately 7000 b.c.e. This group could have fused with or wiped out the earlier populations. The most ancient sites, such as those at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, near Monte Alegra, Brazil; Belo Horizonte, north of Rio; Lapa Vermelha in Minas Gerais; and Serra Da Capivara in the remote northeast, clearly indicate that established populations of Paleo-Indians were living in the area thousands of years before the arrival of later Mongoloid populations. The Mongoloid mastered big-game hunting in North America and primitive slash-and-burn agriculture in their migrations into the southern Americas. Estimates continue to be pushed further back in time as cave paintings, such as those of giant armadillos, extinct before the last Ice Age, and other remains suggest the intriguing possibility that the ancestors of later humans might have first arrived in eastern Brazil as much as 50,000 years ago, by sea from Africa or Australia. They would have then migrated northward along the coast.
Early bands of hunter-gatherers eventually developed the first fishing villages and made the oldest known pottery in the Americas, dated between 7500 and 5000 b.c.e. The vegetation and climate of this area are classified as typical closed canopy forests and humid tropical monsoon, respectively, with rainfall averaging upward of 80 inches (203 centimeters) a year. The Paleo-Indians made extensive use of all available resources, including rodents and bats, snakes and other reptiles, tortoises and turtles, large and small fishes, mollusks, amphibians, large and small game, nuts, seeds from leguminous trees, fruits, palms, and whatever else they could find. Some of the plants they used can still be found in remaining pristine tropical forests in the region. They did not use crop plants, nor is there any evidence that they brought plants from cooler climates to the north.
Many cave paintings have been found in the area, indicating the presence of cultures much older than previously expected. Some authorities believe the Amazonian cave dwellers are related to or descended from Clovis technological complex peoples. That theory is highly speculative, especially as it would have required a southward migration rate twice that of accepted models. Whether arriving by sea or land, from whatever direction, the original inhabitants of eastern Brazil were distinct peoples, quite different from the north Asians who came later. Genetic and biological evidence at the molecular level suggests three clearly defined waves of migration, with at least eleven lineal subdivisions, came into the Americas at different times between 10,000 and 7000 b.c.e. All of them, and perhaps other waves not yet discovered, were together responsible for the initial peopling of the Western Hemisphere. Archaeological and anthropological findings continue to uncover many possible points of origin other than those commonly assumed to be the exclusive geographic and cultural sources for the first peoples in South America and eastern Brazil.
The fact that sites predating all others in the Western Hemisphere have been found in the Amazon Basin and across eastern Brazil lends credence to theories indicating that the original inhabitants of South America and eastern Brazil did not necessarily come from the north at all, or all at once, but could have come from across the oceans or could even have migrated from the south, in multiple waves. Such theories are highly speculative, but mounting evidence suggests they may eventually be proved valid.
After 7000 b.c.e., settled cultures gradually developed in the Amazon Basin and eastern Brazil. The Tupi-Guarani are a group of tribal cannibals that lived along the coast and inland south of the Amazon River, all the way to the Andean foothills to the west. They lived in small communal villages. Their environmental practices and uses indicate they primarily combined hunting, fishing, and gathering with some primitive slash-and-burn agriculture focused on the growth of roots and tubers. Remains indicate the Tupi were expert potters, jewelry and weapons makers, and stone workers. They were a warring people, engaging in constant battles with their neighbors the Macro-Jes, a somewhat less developed hunter-gatherer group. Tupi peoples, including the Tupine, Tupinamba, Tupinikin, Tomoio, Tobajara, and Potiguar eventually drove the Macro-Jes out of most of the eastern coastal region.
Environmental conditions in the eastern Brazilian ecosystem remained relatively stable, with minor variations occurring in rainfall, mean average temperature, and elements of the resource base. Over several centuries, the populations increased so much that hundreds of distinct cultural groups developed to occupy the microclimates and various ecological niches such as inland savannahs of the area. However, their lifestyles remained remarkably consistent and constant, relying on skills developed during earlier periods: hunting and fishing; gathering fruits, nuts, and seeds; and slash-and-burn agricultural practices that required each group to move periodically within its territory to new ground once a site’s food-growing potential was exhausted. Tens of thousands lived along the coastline, and hundreds of thousands came to occupy interior areas, especially along or near rivers. Settlements in more productive areas were home to as many as eight thousand people.
Some of the major tribal groups of this area of Brazil include the Yanomami, Omagua, Tapajos, Munduruku, Mawe, Mura, Ingarika, Wapixama, Taurepang, Waimiri-Atroarim Nambiqwara, Kreen-Akarore, Kawahib, Urubu-Kaapor, Surui, Cintas Largas, Crao, Guaja, Guajajara, Urubu-Kaapor Krikate, Timbira, Pataxo Ha Ha Hae, and Makuxi. Their lifestyles were similar, and their scant material remains indicate the process of innovation to be slow and unremarkable among them. There are some indications of cannibalism, but as to whether it was used as ritual practice or for survival is not clear. Without environmental changes requiring adaptive response or conflicts with peoples from elsewhere, there was little need to make the kinds of advances seen elsewhere in South America up to 700 c.e.
Bibliography
Fagan, B. The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1987.
Sorenson, J. Pre-Columbian Contact with the Americas Across the Oceans. Provo, Utah: Research Press, 1990.