Nature and Culture in Prehistoric Amazonia Using G.I.S. to reconstruct ancient ethnogenetic processes from archaeology, linguistics, geography, and ethnohistory Eriksen, Love 2011 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Eriksen, L. (2011). Nature and Culture in Prehistoric Amazonia: Using G.I.S. to reconstruct ancient ethnogenetic processes from archaeology, linguistics, geography, and ethnohistory. Human Ecology Division, Lund University. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Nature and Culture in Prehistoric Amazonia Using G.I.S. to reconstruct ancient ethnogenetic processes from archaeology, linguistics, geography, and ethnohistory Love Eriksen Copyright © Love Eriksen Illustration on rear cover by Kristina Anshelm Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Human Geography Human Ecology Division ISBN 978-91-7473-113-2 ISSN 1403-5022 Printed in Sweden by Media-Tryck, Lund University Lund 2011 ii Till Morfar Hans Hansson 1928-2009 iii Abstract This thesis investigates the socio-cultural and linguistic development of pre-Columbian Amazonia, with a particular focus on the period between 500 BC and AD 1500. In assembling and analyzing data from archaeology, linguistics, ethnohistory, ethnography, and geography in a Geographical Information System (G.I.S.), it synthesizes large amounts of empirical data from several fields to facilitate long-term, macro-scale reconstructions of pre-Columbian socio- cultural processes in the region. These reconstructions focus on identifying the socio-economic and socio-cultural mechanisms underlying processes of cultural and linguistic expansion and subsequent patterns of ethno-linguistic diversity. The thesis thus addresses long-standing debates on the role of migration, ecology, subsistence strategies, trade, language, and ethnicity in such processes, and offers new explanations of the distribution of language families and ethno-linguistic groups in Amazonia. The thesis focuses on one of the major linguistic expansions in pre-Columbian South America, that of the Arawak language family. It identifies some of the cultural mechanisms in the interaction between Arawak- and non-Arawak-speaking societies, emphasizing the role of regional integration through long-distance travel and trade. The ambition is to transcend notions of bounded and essentialized ethnic identities that have characterized earlier attempts to account for the spatial distribution of indigenous languages and varieties of material culture. Emphasis is rather on the various factors that have conditioned active processes of ethnic identity construction, and on the methodological possibilities of identifying such conditions and processes at specific points in time and space. Key words: Amazonia, archaeology, linguistics, anthropology, geography, ethnohistory, Arawak, GIS, ethnogenesis, terra preta, pre-Columbian, ethnicity, regional exchange system, material culture. iv Acknowledgements This dissertation is the product of ten years of university studies conducted between 2001 and 2011. In trying to summarize my own experiences during this decade in order to complete this final section of the dissertation, I realize that much has changed during this time period, both locally (in my life) and globally (in the world). In the process of applying to my first course at the university, “The Forest as a Cultural Landscape”, during Spring 2001, I was frequently travelling by aircraft between northern and southern Sweden and had no problem of keeping my shoes on when entering the plane or carrying large amounts of liquid with me onboard. Although long-distance travelling certainly has changed a lot since 2001, I can still enjoy opening the same books when I travel today as I did ten years ago. Indeed some things change while other remains constant. My work on the thesis has been conducted within the project “The Prehistory of Amazonian Languages: Cultural and Ecological Processes Underlying Linguistic Differentiation”, a subproject of the EUROCORES programme “Origin of Man, Language, and Languages” (OMLL). The subproject was co-sponsored by the Swedish Research Council. My thanks go to these funding agencies for providing me with the economic opportunity to conduct this work. One thing that has remained constant since 2005, when I first started to engage with Amazonian studies, has been the support from Alf Hornborg, professor of Human Ecology, project manager for the above mentioned research project, and the supervisor of both my Master and PhD thesis. Providing the links to the theoretical and empirical knowledge that has served as the basis for this work, Alf has remained an invaluable part of this thesis, while at the same time always supporting my own exploration of the Amazonian material in order to complete the investigation. This book is as much your baby as it is mine, and I’m happy to share the custody of it. I would like to extend my thanks to all Amazonian field researchers whose data I have used as the empirical basis of my thesis, without their material this work would not have been possible, thank you. Many academics have provided comments and insights, based on their own expertise in specific areas of research, that have proven valuable for the final outcome of this publication. Niclas Burenhult provided comments on the linguistic sections; Warren DeBoer on chapter 2 (“Western Amazonia”); Michael Heckenberger read chapter 3 (“Southern Amazonia”) and 4 (“The middle and lower Amazon”). Chapter 4 was also read by Eduardo Neves, while chapter v 5 (“The Orinoco-Guiana area”) was read by Neil Whitehead. Finally, Jonathan Hill read and commented on chapter 6 (“The northwest Amazon”). You have all provided valuable comments and insights on the regional chapters covering the territories of your own expertise, thank you! However, as is custom in these contexts, I assure readers that I am solely responsible for any errors or mistakes that might occur in this book. Many other academic colleagues have also influenced the thesis work and I will here go to the utmost effort to thank all of them. At the Human Ecology Division many people have provided significant input, both as teachers and colleagues. Per Johansson provided comments on my first draft of a project plan and acted as an inspiration for my engagement with transdisciplinary studies during the first part of my thesis work, thank you Per. Thomas Malm, another constant factor at the division, has provided steady support of my work, broadening my experiences with teaching assignments as well as personal stories about tiny details of the world that very few people know very much about. Thank you Thomas, and congratulations on your newly received professorship. Also at the Human Ecology Division, Sabina Andrén has been a constant little working bee that has provided me with a more nuanced view on the relationship between work and private life, as well as many other insightful comments on the world and our being in it. Rest now in your World Wide Flower (WWF), you deserve it. Another encouraging woman at Human Ecology is Pernille Gooch, who has not only provided constant support, but also inspiration for alternative lifestyles, thank you Pernille, you also deserve to rest now. Other researchers in Human Ecology that I have had the opportunity to meet at the division include Ragnheiður Bogadóttir, Carina Borgström Hansson, John Brolin, Kenneth Hermele, Nabi Jha, Ebba Lisberg Jensen, Carl Nordlund, Andreas Malm, Michael Moon, Carl Nordlund, Pernilla Ouis, and Susan Paulson (whose husband Paul also provided significant input during a crucial football game in Helsingborg during autumn 2010), thank you all for our encounters – long or short. At the Department of Human Geography, to which the Human Ecology Division has been affiliated since 2009, a number of people have assisted me in my research. Niclas Guldåker provided expertise during my first stumbling steps into the world of GIS back in 2005 and has continued to act as support, particularly during our weekly sessions at Gerdahallen, where he and Thomas Germundsson (the latter sometimes by a significant bending of the rules) has continued to provide constant physical challenges far away from our desktop duties. On the 1st floor, Ingrid Erlandsson and Sanna Händén-Svensson have provided invaluable support in a diverse range of fields, ranging from the wanderings of academic bureaucracy to everyday philosophies about life and work – thank you for making it all a little more tangible. Other colleagues in this academic environment that