The Marajoara culture
After the latest discoveries made in Pedra Furada (Piauí, Brazil), Santa Elina (Mato Grosso, Brazil) and Monte Verde (Chile), it is estimated that human presence in South America dates back to about 60 millennia before Christ. However, it is assumed that these human groups, which probably came from Africa, were not very numerous.
However, twelve thousand years ago, the presence of man in South America increased considerably. Indeed, several cave paintings and bone discoveries located throughout the continent and, in particular, in the Amazon, belong to that period. It is likely that around this time the first flow of Amerindians from North America (and even previously from Northern Asia) arrived in South America. These mixed with the aborigines of South America and influenced their different cultures.
Conclusive proof of this ancient human presence in the Amazon is the Pedra Pintada cave, located near the city of Monte Alegre, in Pará (Brazil), which was studied by the American archaeologist Anna Roosvelt.
In the cave area you can admire several cave paintings that represent anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, as well as representations of the sun, which was worshiped as a god.
In the Amazon there are other cave paintings and some petroglyphs, such as the so-called Morro das Araras, in the town of Carolina, in Maranhao.
In the millennia that followed, the ancient inhabitants of the Amazon colonized vast areas and began cultivating corn and cassava. One of the signs of its presence is the “archaeological terra preta”, (terra preta means black earth in Portuguese).
Terra preta is a particular type of soil, modified by man, in which remains of food (such as fish scales and bones) and remains of ceramic material and firewood can be found.
Other indications of the presence of the ancient Amazonian colonizers are the sambaquis, deposits of shells, carved stones and turtle shells. They are tall mounds up to 10 meters and are found in many places in the Amazon.
For example, in Tapeirinha, in the state of Pará, remains of shells and pottery were found dating back to approximately 5 millennia BC.
Indeed, the technological evolution of these towns was very slow. They were peaceful and not threatened by other ethnicities. According to some studies, the so-called Sambaqueiros were much shorter than the current indigenous people of the Amazon area, and their height varied between 1.35 and 1.50 meters. They were robust, and their upper limbs were very developed, probably because they swam a lot.
The first relevant culture that was studied in the Amazon area was called Guarita. This town occupied the banks of the Amazon River and produced elaborate pottery. In some funerary urns (made of clay), remains of women, men and children were found buried next to the elderly, proof that Guarita was an egalitarian society, where there were no dominant classes.
Therefore, from an archaeological point of view, it was a very backward society.
The most evolved cultures in the area, those that produced sophisticated ceramic creations, were the Tapajoara and the Marajoara.
The first was located at the mouth of the Tapajois River into the Amazon River, where the city of Santarem stands today.
On the other hand, the Marajoara people lived on the island called Marajó, in the estuary of the Amazon River, in a period between the fourth and the fourteenth century of the era of Christ.
Marajó Island, with an area of 47,000 square kilometers, is the largest island in the world surrounded by both fresh water and sea water. During the rainy season, the island is surrounded by fresh water, while during the dry season (July-December), the water in the northern part of the island is salty.
The island is almost completely flat and its soils are not very suitable for agriculture.
This problem was solved, in part, by the Marajoara people, who built embankments with the aim of channeling and diverting waters. During the rainy seasons, crops were grown on top of the embankments, thus avoiding flooding.
After in-depth archaeological studies, large quantities of wonderful polychrome ceramics could be found.
Marajoara ceramics were made for ritual, decorative, funerary and utilitarian (food preservation) purposes.
These findings suggest groups of specialized artisans and therefore, a certain stratification of their society.
Typically, clay vessels were painted white and then decorated with fine red or black drawings representing zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figures.
Anthropomorphic statues and others that represented animal totems, generally felines, were also found.
The bones of the deceased were placed in ceramic urns, which had varied shapes: some had anthropomorphic engravings, others had cylindrical or spherical shapes. Inside the urns were placed offerings such as bones of particular animals painted red, teeth and semi-precious stones or small carefully carved ceramic objects.
The mounds that were erected not only had the function of channeling water, but were also used as a burial place for the dead and as a construction base for wooden huts.
The first archaeologists to study the Marajoara culture in depth were the Americans Betty Meggers and Clifford Evans. The two scientists were astonished when they verified that the oldest ceramic remains, or those located most deeply, were the most elaborate. This means that in the Marajoara culture there was a setback, a passage from a phase of great culture to a dark period, a kind of middle ages, a time during which ancient knowledge transmitted over the centuries was lost.
Is it possible that the island of Marajó has been invaded by other aggressive and violent peoples of Caribbean origin? For now we have no evidence to support this thesis, but it is possible that, over time, several cultures have established themselves in the estuary area of the largest river on the planet, annihilating the peaceful Marajoara people.
When the first Europeans entered the estuary, starting in 1499, the tribes that lived there were open, non-hierarchical societies, and had almost completely lost the culture of the ancient Marajoara people.
YURI LEVERATTO
