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Geometric Earthworks in the State of Acre, Brazil: Excavations at the Fazenda Atlântica and Quinauá Sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sanna Saunaluoma
Sanna Saunaluoma*
Affiliation:
Institute for Cultural Research, Department of Archaeology, P.O. Box 59, FI-00014 University of Helsinki (sanna-kaisa.saunaluoma@helsinki.fi)
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Abstract

Geometric earthworks located in the interfluvial zone of the Upper Purús and Madeira river tributaries in the southwestern Amazon are formed by ditches of varying shapes and sizes along with contiguous exterior embankments and roads terraced with low backfill banks. The earthworks in the Brazilian state of Acre were used from 1200 B.C. to the fourteenth century A.D., indicating a continuous, collective cultural institution, a generalized regional phenomenon characterized by local variants and alterations and probably not exclusively restricted to a specified ethnic group. The carefully planned position of the earthworks in the landscape and the recurring geometric forms represented in this earthwork architecture suggest functions that were part of a tradition of shared ideology related to rituals and/or the sociopolitical activities of ancient Amazonian peoples. Recent archaeological fieldwork on two composite earthwork sites, Fazenda Atlântica and Quinauá, situated in the core location of the geometric earthworks, provides further evidence for the predominantly ceremonial use of these constructions.

Las estructuras geométricas de tierra situadas en la zona interfluvial de los afluentes del Alto Purús y del Río Madeira en el suroeste de la Amazonia están formadas por zanjas de formas y tamaños diversos junto con terraplenes exteriores y caminos con bajos bancales de relleno. Las obras de tierra en el estado brasileño de Acre fueron utilizadas a partir de 1200 a.C. hasta el siglo catorce A.D., lo que indica una institución cultural colectiva, un fenómeno generalizado regional caracterizado por las variantes locales y probablemente no exclusivamente restringido a un grupo étnico específico. La ubicación cuidadosamente planificada de las obras de tierra en el paisaje y las formas geométricas recurrentes representadas en esta arquitectura de construcciones de tierra sugieren funciones que formaban parte de una tradición ideológica compartida relacionada con rituales y/o las actividades sociopolíticas llevadas a cabo por las poblaciones prehistóricas amazónicas. Las investigaciones arqueológicas realizadas recientemente en los sitios de Fazenda Atlântica y Quinauá, compuestos de obras de tierra circulares y cuadradas y situados en la área central de las estructuras geométricas de tierra, proporcionan más evidencia para el uso predominantemente ceremonial de estas construcciones.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 565 - 583
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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