humanities Archaeology y The peoples of Lagoa Santa

Human burial sites in reveal a succession of customs from 10,000 to 8,000 years ago

Maria Guimarães

Published in September 2016

Lapa do Santo, a rockshelter in the midst of the Cerrado savannah, appears to have been an important center for rituals associated with death

100 z july 2017 Lagoa Santa

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Lapa do Santo

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. n opening in the face of a steep cliff in the midst of

the Cerrado savannah in . the Lagoa Santa region of Matozinhos the Brazilian state of Minas Confins AGerais has presented archeologists, bi- Airport ologists and anthropologists with a sur- . prising revelation. The , a rockshel- .

ter known as Lapa do Santo, was once Lagoa Archeological Santa an important center for funerary rituals, sites in as revealed by the excavations described Cities in an article published in the Antiquity journal, one of the most prominent pub- lications in that field. The cave housed complex burial patterns featuring dis- membered corpses arranged according covered human bones alongside those of to precise rules, revealing a succession of large animals in a cave in Lagoa Santa, very distinct cultures during a period— setting in motion a tradition of excava- approximately 10,000 years ago—that tion that made it one of the most long- had previously been considered to be lasting archeological regions in . homogeneous. “The greatest benefit was Five years later, during his master’s re- in discovering these cultural changes search under Neves, Strauss observed over time, which for some reason no one some order in the apparent confusion at had noted before,” says André Strauss, a the site: what appeared to be a meaning- Brazilian archeologist and visiting pro- less jumble of bones did, in fact, follow fessor at the University of Tübingen in a pattern. “It’s difficult to perceive the , a doctoral candidate at Ger- subtleties. The burials are very complex.” many’s Max Planck Institute, and the “This was made possible because Wal- article’s lead author. The study goes be- ter reversed the usual order of the field yond the deaths themselves and provides procedures,” Strauss notes. Brazilian ar- a glimps of who these people were and cheology, he says, generally focuses on how they lived. artifacts, and only calls in specialists in Strauss felt that there was something human fossils when bones are found. special about this place during his first “Many skeletons are damaged in the pro- year in the geology program at the Uni- cess.” Neves has been analyzing human versity of São Paulo (USP). He went on evolution in the Americas since 1988, his first field expedition in 2005 as an in- conducting a case study in this region. tern for bioanthropologist Walter Neves In his projects, bioanthropologists coor- of USP’s Biosciences Institute (IB-USP). dinate the excavation, document every- “I was at the bottom of a two-meter- thing they find, and rely on specialists to deep trench, digging and sifting through analyze the artifacts—in the case of Lapa what I found.” It was from that vantage do Santo, the stone fragments and tools point that Strauss became fascinated made of bone, such as spatulas, chisels with the potential discoveries to be made and, on rare occasions, fishhooks. there and decided that he wanted to do In the cave, the walls of which are something other than focus on skull decorated with relief drawings indica- measurements and search for signs of tive of fertility rituals (phallic images), coexistence with large animals, known the findings were striking. Strauss, Neves as megafauna. That was the focus of the and their colleagues identified three dis- io de paiva de io c research conducted in the 19th century, tinct periods of human occupation, the

mauri when Danish naturalist Peter Lund dis- oldest from 12,700 to 11,700 years ago.

pESQUISA FAPESP z 101 Between 2001 and 2009, they exhumed and analyzed 26 human burials dating Successive cultures back to approximately 10,500 and 8,000 Burial patterns have changed over time years ago, which revealed a variety of funerary practices never before discov- ered in the lowlands of South America. These practices were described in an article in Antiquity and a second arti- cle of which André Strauss was the sole author, published in the January-April 2016 issue of Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. “There were highly sophisticated funerary practices in the Andes,” says Neves, “but the previously studied Chil- ean mummies are more recent than the material found in Lapa do Santo”. An- other distinction is that the cave in Minas Gerais contains no funerary offerings, while the customary practice of hunter- gatherers was to bury the dead along 10,600 to 9,700 years with their belongings. “The complexity 1 of the practices discovered at Lapa do Simple graves with no signs of manipulation of body parts manipulation. Santo resides not in the objects, but in a The two skeletons pictured are of a man and a woman high degree of manipulation of the body and the skeleton, in a very sophisticated manner,” says the USP professor. The third burial pattern, dating from Funerary rituals 8,600 to 8,200 years ago, involves nine The oldest burial pattern, dating back heaps of completely disarticulated bones to between 10,600 and 9,700 years ago, The findings arranged in circular pits with diame- included a man and a child who was ap- represent a ters of 30 or 40 centimeters and and a proximately five years old — both buried depth. of 20 centimeters. Each pit was intact. The child was placed in a seated paradigm shift fully occupied by the remains of a single position, with the legs folded and the individual. In the case of adults, the lon- knees close to the head. The open jaw, in how we ger bones were generally broken after which causes the mouth to look agape, death to allow their placement in these indicates that the pit was not completely view human small tombs. filled in. habitation in Despite so many recorded cases of dis- The removal of body parts after death memberment, there are no signs that vi- is characteristic of the following period, this area during olence in life was a common practice. between 9,600 and 9,400 years ago. This “We read the bones; everything is record- period is represented at seven burials, that period ed in them,” Strauss says. In addition, plus a few disarticulated bones, and is the bones show extremely low levels of described as the second pattern. Some of healed fractures, which are indicative of the skeletons were articulated, but had injuries sustained while the subject was missing parts. One striking case was that alive. Generally, Strauss believes that the of a man whose head appeared to have ied only removal of the flesh and going findings represent a paradigm shift in been removed hours after his death and through a drying process. Many of the how we view human habitation in the who was buried with his hands (also sev- isolated bones had also undergone treat- area during that period—the early Ho- ered, as indicated by cut marks on the ments such as burning, cutting, the ap- locene. “For a long time, the big ques- wrist bones) covering his face—one hand plication of red pigment and the removal tion was whether Luzia was the oldest pointing upwards and the other hand of teeth. In some cases, the bones of one skull in the Americas and whether it downwards, as Strauss and colleagues de- or two children were combined with the resembled Africans,” he says, referring scribed in 2015 in the PLOS ONE journal. skull of an adult, or vice-versa, in a man- to the 11,000-year-old skull described Other skeletons were completely dis- ner suggesting very precise rules for how by Neves, which redefined the way hu- membered and arranged in bundles, the burial should be carried out. Teeth man occupation in the region should be indicating that the bones were stored which had been removed were also bur- viewed (see the 50th Anniversary issue together,possibly wrapped up, and bur- ied with the remains of a different person. of FAPESP at bit.ly/AmLuzia). “We now

102 z july 2017 8,600 to 8,200 years

3 9,600 to 9,400 years Shallow circular pits contained bones of a single person 2 and were covered by stone blocks Bodies were dismembered and might be buried along with parts from several people. A head arranged with its severed hands is the most striking example

know that there was not just one Luzia til the 19th century.” Such is the case, for mous mammals that were believed to people in Lagoa Santa; it was actually a example, of the Botocudo Indians, who have been associated with the humans of succession of peoples who inhabited the were decimated during the colonial pe- Lagoa Santa ever since Peter Lund found region, with clear cultural transforma- riod, according to skulls stored at the Na- proof of association in a different cave in tions.” In fact, the period was approxi- tional Museum of Brazil, as maintained by the region, between 1835 and 1844. This mately 5,000 years long—a long enough Strauss, Neves and colleagues in a paper is not always the case, it would seem. period for occupation by very diverse published in 2015 in the American Jour- “They even ate rock cavy,” Neves ex- populations, even if they were, to some nal of Physical Anthropology. claims, referring to a rodent slightly larg- extent, descended from one another. er than a guinea pig. In his opinion, no DNA studies are soon expected to start Life practices diet is more precarious than one consist- yielding results and providing answers Since the beginning of his PhD stud- ing of these animals, indicating that bet- about how these groups succeeded one ies in 2011, Strauss has coordinated the ter sources of protein were not available another and what the relationship be- work at Lapa do Santo, with German to the groups in Lagoa Santa, who ap- tween them was. “Cranial morphology funding. The archeological riches in the parently existed at a borderline subsis- shows that they had the same general area sustain both countries’ interest in tence levels. While this is only a theory, architecture,” Walter Neves notes. There these collaborative efforts, which in- the scarcity of personal belongings at is continual variation in this large group, cludes partnerships for genetic studies. the burial sites may indicate that there which he defines as Paleoamerican. Ac- The Brazilian counterpart for the proj- was no room for waste, and tools—such cording to his theory, which posits that ect is Walter Neves, whose Laboratory as fishhooks, only seven of which were ives h two distinct migrations gave rise to the in- for Human Evolutionary and Ecologi- found at Lapa do Santo—were basic life rc

P a P habitants of America, the first people with cal Studies (LEEEH) receives the ma- necessities. “Their time was devoted to US Asiatic features likely arrived at the are terials collected on the expeditions. No facilitating the existence of the group,” approximately 7,000 years ago—though vestiges of ceramics have been found in Neves speculates, and by his estimates, there are no human remains in Lagoa recent years—a strong indication that they were large groups. Santa that date back to between 7,000 these were hunter-gatherers who lived Their way of life may now be more p 2 andH- 3 LEEE

a /us and 2,000 years. Nonetheless, the exist- there part-time, rather than farmers, clearly delineated, but these conclusions ing clues from the area and other sites thus corroborating the established the- also present an enigma. Chemical analy- are gradually refining the hypothesis. “I ories. They hunted for fish, lizards, ro- ses that reveal diets by quantifying carbon o e. oliveir g thought the second migratory group had dents, armadillos, wild pigs and small and nitrogen isotopes, carried out by the odri

R replaced the Luzia people,” he admits. , all of which they carried back to Brazilian biologist Tiago Hermenegildo s 1 “But today we have very strong evidence the cave intact. There is no evidence of during his PhD studies at the University of

pho t o that this morphology survived intact un- larger animals such as tapirs or the enor- Cambridge in the , have

pESQUISA FAPESP z 103 shown that the inhabitants of the region Skull with teeth consumed large amounts of vegetables removed (right), and supplemented their diet by hunting. fishhooks made of bone Such a high consumption of vegetables is (opposite page) unexpected for hunter-gatherers, espe- and scenes from cially with a diet rich in carbohydrates, as the field and indicated by the high incidence of cavities laboratory in the teeth found in the area. Rodrigo Elias de Oliveira, a dentist and researcher in Neves’ group, has co- authored a paper with lead author Pedro Tótora da Glória, also of LEEEH, on den- tal health at Lapa do Santo. Their study will be published in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences journal. Elias, who has partnered with Strauss since 2006 in the excavations at Lapa do Santo, explains that the discrepancies be- tween the incidence of cavities they have 1 observed and those of other documented so one could say that a person replaces Ximena Villagran of USP’s Museum of hunter-gatherer populations, are de- his skeleton every 10 years. An adult’s Archeology and Ethnology (MAE). Her rived from the fact thatLagoa Santa has teeth, however, are evidence of the pe- microscopic analyses of the cave sedi- a tropical climate with Cerrado vegeta- riod in one’s life when teeth take their ment revealed a large quantity of ashes, tion. “The other examples we have are permanent form. Oliveira hopes that the up to a depth of 1 meter, as published in a from temperate climates,” he says. “Here isotopic studies currently underway, con- paper published in the Journal of Archae- food which is naturally available—various ducted in collaboration with Hermene- ological Science website in July 2016. The types of fruit and tubers—can cause more gildo, will help them to delve deeper into inhabitants of the region not only con- cavities.” He is focusing on the fruit of such detailed dietary aspects of these trolled fire, they apparently planned its the Brazilian pequi and cherry trees, still people, such as the types of plants they use by storing decomposing wood. This widely used in the region, as a possible consumed, the migratory movements detailed understanding is made possible source of food at that time. These fruits during their lifetimes, and how long chil- by organic petrology analysis, a technique are rich in carbohydrates, and carbon- dren were breastfed. The dentist adds that has recently come into use in arche- ized fragments have been found at the that the presence of strontium isotopes, ology and to which Villagran had access Lagoa Santa sites. as well as the shape of the femur, which through her partnership with the French Oliveira, who conducted his PhD re- responds to muscle activation, indicate geologist Bertrand Ligouis during a post- search under Walter Neves and is now a that the people found at Lapa do Santo doctoral fellowship at the University of postdoctoral researcher in periodontics were natives of Lagoa Santa. “They had Tübingen, where he heads the Labora- at the USP School of Dentistry, brings mobility, but they were not nomadic.” tory for Applied Organic Petrology. to the project a detailed knowledge of Another cutting-edge technique used teeth—which are abundant at archeo- A Floor of ashes by Villagran was the Fourier transform logical sites because they are made of The inference of intense human occupa- infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), normally stronger material than bone. “A tooth tion arises from the confirmation that used in the analysis of loose . is like a time capsule, it is packed with many bonfires were lit at Lapa do Santo. Villagran placed her samples on glass information,” he says. He explains that “They used fire all the time; they knew slides, which enabled her to investigate bones renew themselves continuously, what they were doing,” says archeologist exactly why the sediment is composed

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104 z july 2017 the fire, the particles would be subject- more layers of time and human customs. ed to temperatures of 800°C to 1000°C. According to the American archeologist During her analysis of the microstruc- Kurt Rademaker, a professor at Northern ture of the sediment surrounding the Illinois University and an expert on hunt- burial sites, Villagran noted a continu- er-gatherers, the work at Lagoa Santa, ity that had been disturbed at certain combined with the work being done in points, as if someone had been digging the Andes region, is revealing consider- a grave. She intends to continue con- able cultural diversity. “Strauss and his ducting analyses in order to produce a interdisciplinary team are doing cutting- detailed description of how the burials edge archeological science and enrich- were made. Strauss also wants to know ing our knowledge about the physical whether the sophisticated funerary prac- appearance, ancestry and ways of life of 2 tices existed exclusively in Lapa do San- ancient South Americans, particularly of aggregates of several shades of yellow, to. He supports the hypothesis that these their highly interesting ritual practices,” orange and red. During her classifica- burials were part of a more disseminated he says. It is impossible to know what tion of the inside and around culture. “I looked through past publica- was going on in the minds of these an- the cave, it became clear that the ashes tions, and the signs are there; they just cient inhabitants of what is now called had been produced inside the rockshel- needed an analysis of this kind,” says the Minas Gerais, but the team involved in ives h ter. She also identified termite mound archeologist, who wants to expand the the research is committed to painting an

P ArcP fragments, indicating that the material study to other regions of Brazil. approximate picture. n US was brought inside the cave for a reason. One limitation is the fact that that

H- LEEE “Perhaps they used these fragments as what has already been excavated cannot hot stones for cooking or as outdoor ov- be recovered, unless it has been docu-

rini 6 a rini Project b ens, like the ones used by the Xavante mented with extreme meticulousness. am Origins and microevolution of man in the Americas: a Indians to bake maize cakes,” she specu- Until recently, the records kept were paleoanthropological approach (III) (No. 2004/01321-6); no G a no lates. Following this microscopic-scale flawed, possibly due to a lack of resourc- Grant Mechanism: Research Grant – Thematic Project;

Adri Principal Investigator: Walter Alves Neves (IB-USP); 5 revelation, it became apparent that the es. “Excavating is like reading a book and Investment: R$2,032,930.19. en g grasslands of Lagoa Santa were replete then burning the pages,” says Strauss,

übin with termite mounds. who specialized in archeological docu- Scientific articles An enigma presented itself when Vil- mentation. He says that removing the STRAUSS, A. et al. Early funerary complexity lagran confirmed that the dark red color contents of a grave takes 20 to 25 days, in South America: The archaeological record of Lapa do Santo (east-central Brazil). Antiquity. V. 90, No 354, p. niversity of T she had observed in certain parts of the as the sediment is gradually removed 1454-73. Nov. 2016. DA-GLORIA, P. J. T. et al. Dental caries at Lapa do Santo,

uss / U sediment would have required tempera- while a three-dimensional model of the a central-eastern Brazil: An Early Holocene archaeological tr tures of over 600 degrees Celsius (°C), finding is generated, and everything pho- site. Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. V. 89, to be formed. Through experiments in tographed and filmed. An archeologist’s No 1. Jan-Mar. 2017. which she lit fires and inserted a long- logbook, he says, should convey the in- STRAUSS, A. et al. Os padrões de sepultamento do sítio stem thermometer into the flames, Vil- formation and observations in detail and arqueológico Lapa do Santo (Holoceno Inicial, Brasil). Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências a 3 and 4 André S

iv lagran verified that the soil beneath the should be made public, not written like Humanas. V. 11, No. 1, p. 243-76. January-April 2016. a fire was not subjected to such high tem- a personal diary. “This perception is still STRAUSS, A. et al. The oldest case of in the peratures. The explanation literally fell growing within Brazilian archeology.” (Lapa do Santo, east-central Brazil). PLOS One. Sept. 2015. uricio de P a upon her during her second visit to the Since 2011, another 11 burial sites were STRAUSS, A. et al. The cranial morphology of the Boto- archeological site: “I realized that sed- exhumed, corroborating the patterns cudo Indians, Brazil. American Journal of Physical Anth- iment rains down from the rock wall described earlier, and they are now be- ropology. V. 157, No. 2, p. 202-16. June 2015. 1, 2 and 7 M VILLAGRAN, X. S. et al. Buried in ashes: Site formation pro- s

o above the cave’s entrance,” she said. If ing studied. The excavations continue at t cesses at Lapa do Santo rockshelter, east-central Brazil.

pho this sediment were to fall directly into Lapa do Santo and promise to reveal even Journal of Archaelogical Science. Online. July 26, 2016.

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