A review of the Tupi expansion in the Amazon

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139003308.024

21 - A review of the Tupi expansion in the Amazon

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2012

Lilian Rebellato and

William I. Woods

Edited by

Michael H. Crawford and

Benjamin C. Campbell

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Michael H. Crawford: Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Benjamin C. Campbell: Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

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Summary

“The Araweté say that the souls of the dead, once they have arrived in the heavens, are devoured by the Maï, the gods, who then resuscitate them from the bones; they then become like gods, immortal.” Eduardo Viveiro de Castro, 1992

Introduction

This chapter discusses the relationship between the largest language stock in the lowlands of South America and its correlation with the archaeological evidence recovered in Amazonia. In spite of many descriptive and ethnohistorical reports, the correlation and association between language and archaeological material still is a difficult problem to solve (Moore and Storto, 2002). Verifying the material culture with the language of extinct societies is a challenge, but advances in archaeological research are improving the resolution of the past view.

During the last two decades research in the region is gaining support from different Amazonian researchers through a mixing of disciplines that is increasing the amount of data related to ancient human occupation in the area. By combining information from ethnohistorical research, archaeological survey, geography, linguistics, and other social sciences, it has been possible to develop an explanation of the center of the origin of the Proto-Tupi languages and other linguistic groups, as well as their expansion through the lowlands of South America (Balée, 1993, 1994; Balée and Erickson, 2006; Caycedo, 2005; Denevan, 2001; Gomes, 2002, 2008; Heckenberger, 2005, 2008; Neves, 1999, 2008; Noelli, 1998, 2008; Pärssinen et al., 2009; Rodrigues, 2005, 2007; Rostain, 1994; Roosevelt, 1991; Schaan, 2004, 2008; Versteeg and Rostain, 1997; Woods et al., 2009). First, a presentation of a background is necessary, followed by the results of the research in the Central Amazon. Details of excavations and associated coring and soil chemical analyses will not be presented here, but indications will be provided of their results.

Type: Chapter
Information: Causes and Consequences of Human Migration
An Evolutionary Perspective
, pp. 436 - 448

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139003308.024 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2012

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