TESTING THE SUBSISTENCE MODEL FOR THE ADOPTION OF CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY AMONG COASTAL SAMBAQUI FORAGERS OF SOUTHERN BRAZIL A Dissertation by MARIA SHANNON PARKS CROUCH Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Lori E. Wright Committee Members, Suzanne Eckert Ethan Grossman Alston Thoms Head of Department, Cynthia Werner December 2013 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2013 Maria Shannon Parks Crouch ABSTRACT This research tests the subsistence model for the adoption of ceramic technology among coastal fisher-hunter-gatherers of the southern Atlantic coast of Brazil (5000 to 600 BP). The subsistence model correlates the appearance of ceramic vessels at coastal sambaqui (shell mound) sites with changes in diet and/or food processing techniques. An alternative model, the prestige model, argues that prehistoric populations initially use pottery as status-bearing items in competitive feasting or as serving vessels for elite group members. To test the subsistence model, I conducted a stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis and a dental microwear texture analysis using skeletal remains from sambaqui sites located in Santa Catarina and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The results of the stable carbon isotope analysis indicate no significant difference between Pre-Ceramic and Ceramic occupations when all individuals were considered. However, when only sexed individuals were considered, males of the Pre-Ceramic period show greater consumption of marine foods than Pre-Ceramic occupation females. This difference between males and females is not significant for the Ceramic period. Results of the nitrogen isotope analysis indicate a significant increase in the consumption of marine foods among all individuals during the Ceramic period compared to the Pre-Ceramic period. The results of the dental microwear texture analysis indicate no significant difference between the Pre-Ceramic and Ceramic periods when all individuals were ii considered. However, Pre-Ceramic occupation males show significantly greater tooth enamel complexity (Asfc) than males of the Ceramic period. I found no statistically significant differences between time periods for anisotropy (epLsar); however, a plot containing epLsar measurements and nitrogen isotope ratios reveals a relationship between the data. Individuals from the Ceramic period tend to plot lower for measurements of anisotropy and higher for marine food consumption, while Pre- Ceramic occupation individuals plot higher for anisotropy and lower for marine food consumption. This study partially supports the subsistence model for the adoption of ceramic technology at sambaqui sites, as tests show significant differences based on sex. However, there is room in the data to explore ideas related to changes in social and political organization with the arrival of ceramic technology at these sites. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A great many people supported me throughout this process, and I feel tremendous gratitude for each person mentioned here. I especially want to thank Lori Wright. Dr. Wright has taught me many things, including how to prepare bone samples for stable isotope analysis, make dental casts, identify bone pathologies, and think critically about a research problem, but she has also shown me steady, unflinching encouragement that has made a profound difference for me, particularly during the past several years. Thank you, Lori. I want to thank my husband Mike for listening to me talk for hours and hours about nitrogen isotope ratios, hunter-gatherers, and dental microwear. Thank you for being so understanding and supportive on weekends that I had to write, and evenings that I had to work, and thank you for making sure I ate something. You have done everything possible to help me finish my work, and you have kept me on an even keel. I also want to thank my boys, William and Wyatt, for offering me comic relief at the end of a long day of writing, as well as trips to the park and the ice cream shop. Your laughter makes everything worthwhile. My parents, Doug and Karen Parks, have supported me in every aspect of my life, and I could not have finished this dissertation without their help. They have seen me through the thick and thin, and I thank them for their constant encouragement and love. iv My sister, Anna Lee McNelis, phoned me nearly every day for the past year to hear how I was doing and to listen to me talk about this dissertation. She has offered me sound advice, as well as made me laugh, and she has made this process so much easier for me, in turn. I want to thank Sheila Ferraz Mendonça de Souza for helping facilitate much of the paperwork that was needed to complete this study, as well as welcoming me to the Nation Museum of Rio de Janeiro to conduct my work. I also thank Dione Bandeira of the Museu Arqueológico de Sambaqui de Joinville for helping me with the collections and discussing sambaqui research with me. I thank my committee members, Ethan Grossman, Alston Thoms, and Suzanne Eckert for their thoughtful input on my work and their valuable advice during this process. Thank you for your time and patience. I also thank my former committee member, Dr. Robson Bonnichsen, for his help facilitating my early research in Brazil, and making everything possible. Janaina Santos, thank you for helping me navigate the city of Recife and becoming one of the best friends I have ever had. I met Janaina through Heleno Licurgo Amaral, a good friend and colleague who has been of tremendous help to me for my work in Brazil. I also thank Noeli Pertile, who offered to house me over the summer in Florianópolis and guide me through the city those first few days. Thank you all for your friendship. To my cohorts and friends Cassady Yoder Urista and Eric Bartelink: thank you for your encouragement and support, and for helping me process some of my collagen v samples when I had no time left to spare. You really came through for me, and I thank you deeply for your help. Cassady and Andy Scherer, our years at A&M as great friends and roommates are some of my happiest. Eric, your enthusiasm for anthropology is contagious, and you are one of the most generous persons I know. Dr. Stan Vitha, thank you for all of the hours you spent training me in the microscopy lab, and for all of your effort to help make my project work. Dr. Kristen Krueger, thank you for your expertise and willingness to execute the confocal microscopy and assist with the texture analysis; your input was invaluable, and I could not have completed the microscopy without your help. I also thank Katie Custer, who helped me clean bone samples in the stable isotope lab, and Piotrek Bojakowsi, who helped me keep my collagen samples safely frozen in the conservation lab. Katie and Piotrek, thank you for opening your home to me those nights I had to work in the lab. I also thank Sheela Athreya and Masha Sukovic for allowing me to stay in their homes while I was traveling between College Station and Austin. Thank you, as well, to Ryan and Jill Dewey. To all of my friends and colleagues in the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University, and the University Writing Center, thank you for the community, the exchange of ideas, and the engaging, and sometimes raucous, conversations. This is what it is all about. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. x LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 1 What are Sambaquis? .................................................................................................. 2 Research Models, Hypotheses, Expectations ............................................................ 3 Overview of the Dissertation ...................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER II THE ADOPTION OF CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY, HUNTER- GATHERER COMPLEXITY, AND COASTAL ADAPTIONS ........................................ 8 The Research Model ................................................................................................... 8 Utilitarian Properties of Pottery ................................................................................. 9 Feasting and Social Networks .................................................................................. 12 Sedentism and the Adoption of Pottery ................................................................... 16 Complex Hunter-Gatherers: What Defines Complexity? ....................................... 18 Coastal Adaptations and Recent Case Studies ........................................................ 27 CHAPTER III PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN BRAZIL.................................................................................................................................. 33 Description of the Study