The First Record of a Pre-Columbian Domestic Dog (<i>Canis lupus familiaris</i>) in Brazil

Archaeological excavations of the PSG-07 earthen mound at Pontal da Barra in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil have revealed the earliest known evidence for the presence of domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) in Brazil. This is the first reported pre-Columbian example in the country. Analysis of morphology, morphometry, and dental enamel laminae identified a left maxillary molar 1, left maxillary molar 2 and attached fragments of the maxilla of C.l.familiaris. A direct radiocarbon date on a fragment of the maxilla provided an age range between 1701 and 1526cal BP (2σ). This is within the range of other dates for the site, which indicate intermittent occupation between 2024 and 1027cal BP (2σ). Data from carbon isotope analysis indicates a potential marine diet. However, nitrogen isotope analysis values are lower than expected for a marine diet. The sparse records of pre-Columbian C. l.familiaris in the region emphasise the importance of the present work.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

The First Record of a Pre-Columbian Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) in Brazil

Archaeological excavations of the PSG-07 earthen mound at Pontal da Barra in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil have revealed the earliest known evidence for the presence of domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) in Brazil. This is the first reported pre-Columbian example in the country. Analysis of morphology, morphometry, and dental enamel laminae identified a left maxillary molar 1, left maxillary molar 2 and attached fragments of the maxilla of C.l.familiaris. A direct radiocarbon date on a fragment of the maxilla provided an age range between 1701 and 1526cal BP (2σ). This is within the range of other dates for the site, which indicate intermittent occupation between 2024 and 1027cal BP (2σ). Data from carbon isotope analysis indicates a potential marine diet. However, nitrogen isotope analysis values are lower than expected for a marine diet. The sparse records of pre-Columbian C. l.familiaris in the region emphasise the importance of the present work.Fil: Guedes Milheira, R.. Universidade Federal de Pelotas; BrasilFil: Loponte, Daniel Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación. Dirección Nacional de Cultura y Museos. Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano; ArgentinaFil: García Esponda, C.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Acosta, Alejandro Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación. Dirección Nacional de Cultura y Museos. Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano; ArgentinaFil: Ulguim, P.. Teesside Univeristy; Reino Unid

The First Record of a Pre-Columbian Domestic Dog (<i>Canis lupus familiaris</i>) in Brazil

Archaeological excavations of the PSG-07 earthen mound at Pontal da Barra in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil have revealed the earliest known evidence for the presence of domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) in Brazil. This is the first reported pre-Columbian example in the country. Analysis of morphology, morphometry, and dental enamel laminae identified a left maxillary molar 1, left maxillary molar 2 and attached fragments of the maxilla of C.l.familiaris. A direct radiocarbon date on a fragment of the maxilla provided an age range between 1701 and 1526cal BP (2σ). This is within the range of other dates for the site, which indicate intermittent occupation between 2024 and 1027cal BP (2σ). Data from carbon isotope analysis indicates a potential marine diet. However, nitrogen isotope analysis values are lower than expected for a marine diet. The sparse records of pre-Columbian C. l.familiaris in the region emphasise the importance of the present work.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Understanding the chronology and occupation dynamics of oversized pit houses in the southern Brazilian highlands

A long held view about the occupation of southern proto-Je pit house villages of the southern Brazilian highlands is that these sites represent cycles of long-term abandonment and reoccupation. However, this assumption is based on an insufficient number of radiocarbon dates for individual pit houses. To address this problem, we conducted a programme of comprehensive AMS radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling at the deeply stratified oversized pit Houe 1, Baggio 1 site (Cal. A.D. 1395-1650), Campo Belo do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The straigraphy of House 1 revealed an unparalleled sequence of twelve well preserved floors evidencing a major change in occupation dynamics including five completely burnt collapsed roofs. The results of the radiocarbon dating allowed us to understand for the first time the occupation dynamics of an oversized pit house in the southern Brazilian highlands. The Bayesian model demonstrates that House 1 was occupied for over two centuries with no evidence of major periods of abandonment, calling into question previous models of long-term abandonment. In addition, the House 1 sequence allowed us to tie transformations in ceramic style and lithic technology to an absolute chronology. Finally, we can provide new evidence that the emergence of oversized domestic structures is a relatively recent phenomenon among the southern proto-Je. As monumental pit houses start to be bulit, small pit houses continue to be inhabited, evidencing emerging disparities in domestic architecture after AD 1000. Our research shows the importance of programmes of intensive dating of individual structures to understand occupation dynamcis and site permanence, and challenges long held assumptions that the southern Brazilian highlands were home to marginal cultures in the context of lowland South America

Arqueologia e história indígena no Pantanal

O artigo apresenta uma síntese dos dados arqueológicos sobre o Pantanal e o seu entorno, principalmente em Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul. Elaborado com base na noção de arqueologia como história indígena de longa duração, o artigo considera as trajetórias de estabelecimento e consolidação territorial da ocupação indígena regional, os processos de formação da configuração etnográfica encontrada pelos europeus e os impactos do colonialismo. O principal objetivo consiste em mostrar que a diversidade cultural característica do cenário etnográfico pantaneiro está associada à dinâmica histórica e cultural da ocupação indígena desde períodos anteriores à chegada dos conquistadores e colonizadores de origem europeia.The article presents an overview of the archaeological data on the Pantanal and its surrounding areas, mainly in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Prepared based on the notion of archeology as long term indigenous history, the article considers the trajectories of territorial establishment and consolidation of the regional indigenous occupation, the formation processes of ethnographic setting found by Europeans and the impact of colonialism. The main objective is to show that cultural diversity characteristic of the Pantanal ethnographic scenario is associated with historical and cultural dynamics of indigenous occupation from periods prior to the arrival of the conquistadors and settlers of European origin

Disease: A Hitherto Unexplored Constraint on the Spread of Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Pre-Columbian South America

Although debate continues, there is agreement that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were first domesticated in Eurasia, spreading from there to other parts of the world. However, while that expansion already extended as far as Europe, China, and North America by the early Holocene, dogs spread into (and south of) the tropics only much later. In South America, for example, the earliest well attested instances of their presence do not reach back much beyond 3000 cal. BC, and dogs were still absent from large parts of the continent – Amazonia, the Gran Chaco, and much of the Southern Cone – at European contact. Previous explanations for these patterns have focused on cultural choice, the unsuitability of dogs for hunting certain kinds of tropical forest prey, and otherwise unspecified environmental hazards, while acknowledging that Neotropical lowland forests witness high rates of canine mortality. Building on previous work in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mitchell 2015) and noting that the dog’s closest relatives, the grey wolf (C. lupus) and the coyote (C. latrans), were likewise absent from South and most of Central America in Pre- Columbian times, this paper explores instead the possibility that infectious disease constrained the spread of dogs into Neotropical environments. Four diseases are considered, all likely to be native and/or endemic to South America: canine distemper, canine trypanosomiasis, canine rangeliosis, and canine visceral leishmaniasis caused by infection with Leishmania amazonensis and L. colombiensis. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which the hypothesis that disease constrained the expansion of dogs into South America can be developed further

Food and diet of the pre-Columbian mound builders of the Patos Lagoon region in southern Brazil with stable isotope analysis

A constant and intense debate in South American archaeology stands on the origin and patterns of food production of ancient populations and the correlation of both aspects with demographic growth and social complexity. Some studies associated population growth with the shift from foraging to agricultural practices in hotspots on the continent. This association has been confronted by a number of studies performed in recent years that reconstructed dietary patterns for several tropical and subtropical areas of eastern South America. However, there is still a lack of information on the diet for Late Holocene populations in the wetlands of the Pampa Biome. In order to access the paleodiet of earthen-mound builders from southern Patos Lagoon (Brazil), this study combined bulk collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes analysis of faunal and human remains with Bayesian Stable Isotope Mixing Models. The paleodiet of 20 human and one dog remains from six sites was reconstructed. The Bayesian mixing model on collagen δ13C and δ15N values revealed variable subsistence strategies with high consumption of marine/estuarine protein for some individuals. Other individuals’ diets relied on terrestrial/freshwater resources as protein sources. In southeastern South America, such patterns reinforce the resource-rich aquatic environment as a facilitator for the endurance of mixed economies. In addition, our results suggest that the Patos Lagoon surroundings was a “hub of interactivity” characterised by a remarkable intra-site dietary variability