THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY EARLY INHABITANTS OF THE AMAZONIAN TROPICAL RAlN FOREST A STUDY OF HUMANS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAMICS BY Santiago Mora A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRAOUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGUEE OF DOCTOR IN PHYLOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY CALGARY, ALBERTA January, 2001. @Santiago Mora 2001 National Library üiiliothéque nationale 1+1 ofCanada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliogaphic Services senrices bibliographiques The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence dowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bïb liothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriibuîe or seli reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfrche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format éIectronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conseme la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othewise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. EARLY INHABITANTS ûF THE AMAZONIAN TROPICAL RALN FOREST A SNOY OF HUMANS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAlUlCS ABSTRACT Prior to the 60's Hunter-Gatherers in tropical forest ecosystems were considerd as unmodified representatives of earfy tropical forest adaptive strategy. 'Their way of Iik was somewhere between the incipient slash-and-bum agricuthJnsts and the rudimentary Stone Age populations. This view was challerrged in 1968 when O. Lathrap (ï968) proposed that tropical forest hunter-gatherers were descendants of unsuccessful tropical forest cultures that muld not maintain their sociopolitical levei due to resource cornpetition with other populations. Groups forced into environments unsuitabte to intensive agriculture suffered significant population loss and adapted to a more mobile existence. One logical extension of Lathrap's argument is that tropical forest hunter-gatherers are uninteresting in terms of their long history and that their recent history cm be understood in relation to the control of resources by farmers. This led anthropologists to focus on faming adaptations with strong emphasis on resource availability (Meggers 1954;Meggers and Evans 1983; Myers1988; Lattirapl970). Recenüy some researdiers (Headland 1986; Headland and Reid 1989, Sailey et al 1989, Bailey and Headland 1991, Sponsel 1989) have proposed that hunter- gatherers adaptation to tropical forest ecosystems prior to the introduction or development of agriculture was impossible due to carbohydrate deficiencies. il Ethnugraphic data recovered in different tropical regions illustrates this dependency (Mitton 1984; Peterson 1W8a, 19788b, Politis and Rodriguez 1994, Sil;rerwaad-Cope 1972). However, Headland and Bailey's hypothesis is based on a mode1 that does not consider the high variability of adaptations among hunter- gatherers while assumed the equivalence between the ethnographie present and the archaeological past adaptations. This text encompasses detailed archaeological information of one earty site in Amazonia: Pefia Roja. Pefia Roja is the most fully documented archaealogical site dealing with information belonging to the late Pleistocene and early Holocene in Amazonia. The paleoenvironmental and archaeological data recovered in this site, and in the middle Caqueta Rier show a human population inhabiting a tropical min forest before the introduction or development of agricuiture. Consequenüy, Pelia Roja's data allow us to evaluate the carûohydrate deficiency hypothesis Rom an archaeological perspective while contributes to the developrnent of new directions in the interpretation and understanding of landscape evolution. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people and institutions have cantributed to this research. Fieldwark was canied out thanks to the support of Colciencias, the Tropenbos-Colombia program, the Instituto Colombiano de Antropologia and the generous support of the Fundacibn Erigaie. The H.J. Heinz III Charitable Trust provided the funding needed to analyze the liiic material from Pena Roja 10, while Colciencias and Tropenbos-Colombia paid the 14 C charma1 and soi1 analysis. A thesis Research Grant from the University of Calgary allowed me to visa Colombia to wmplete the stone-tool artefact analysis in 1999. A Killam scholarship, held from 1998 to 2000, "created" the space and time needed to write this dissertation. A Silver Anniversary Graduate fellowship from the University of Calgary supported the final stages of the Ming process and correction of the text. The Pefia Roja community, through their chief - José Moreno -, enabled us to cary out the excavations and gave us reliable help during the months of our fieldwork. Esteban Moreno and his family gave us support and advice during the time we had the privilege of sharing life with them. Their stories of everyday life and supematural beings told in the 'mambeadero" enlightened us, showing us another perspective of the world. Students from various universities took part in this research. Juan Manuel Uanos, Ligia Vélez and Ninfa Isabel Quintem from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Sanna Saunalouma from the University of Helsinki participated in v the Stone twl analysis - description and classification - under the supervision of Camilo Rodriguez. The lithic anaiysis was based on the format used by the Fundacidn Erigaie, which was developed with the aid of Anthony Ranere - Temple University. Pedro Botero - lnstituto Geogrhfico Agustin Codani - helped us with soi1 analysis interpretation hile Omar Vargas - Universidad Nacional geologist - helped us with identification of raw materials. Gaspar Morcote and David Fldrez analyzed the botanical macroremains while at the same tim they worked at building the botanical reference collection of the Fundaeidn Erigaie. Later, Sneider Rojas and Fernando Montejo took over this complex duty. Juan Manuel Llanos worked the ground lithic materials from PeiSa Roja as part of his bachelor's thesis. The menders of my committee Dr. J. Raymond, Dr. R. Callaghan, Dr. B. Kooyrnan and Dr. C. Erickson helped me with written comrnents and cnticisrn that irnproved the quality of the text in both its formal presentation and its content. Dr. Richard Callaghan, Brian Kooyrnan and Or. Clark Erickson forrnulated during the defense of this dissertation questions about the assumptions I useci, the way I interpreted the archz-ological data and the fogic I used that will keep me busy in the years to come. I am grateful for this stimulus. Luz Esther Rodriguez typed a great deal of data into our database. Augusto Gomer and Franz Florés provided books, articles and references difficuk to find and kept me up to date on new important publications. In& Cavelier and Luisa vi Femanda Herrera provided critical support during the wriüng process of this text, sharing new information and allowing access to the Fundacian Erigaie database. Claudia Rocha and David Blower helped to impmve the English in a previous version of this dissertation. Scott Raymond gave me practical and theoretical advice, crucial in the formulation and writing of this dissertation. He also gave to my family and me his friendship, making us feel at home. Eivira Camargo helped with her "excavationn and organization of the lithic material formats. She also sent important information to complete the present text. Claudia Rocha, Esteban Mora, Manuela Mora and Federico Mora helped with many different aspects of the dissertation. But more than that I am grateful to them for coming with me on this trip and providing me with the wamth that one needs when moving from the tropics to the exotic polar areas of the planet. vii To my band, TABLE OF CONTENTS -* Approval Page.............................................................................................. ...II Abstract .......................................................................................................... III Acknowledgements ................................................................................. ...v Dedication......................................................................................................... VIII Table of Contents............................................................................................... ix List of Tables ..................................................................................................... xi.. List Figures........................................................................................................ XII CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER TWO: THE ECOLOGICAL EXPUNATION OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS ........................ ...9 Foundations........................................................................................... ;9 The Archaeological Exploration............................................................. 13 Landscape Revaluation: Ecology and Culture..................................... 23 CHAPTER THREE: HUNTER-GATHERERS OF THE TROPICAL RAlN FOREST............ ..,... ..32 From Prehistory Last Representatives to Oisplace Thieves and Beggars.................................................................................................. 32 Hunter-gatherers: dependence or