Nature and Culture in Prehistoric Amazonia : Using G.I.S. to reconstruct ancient ethnogenetic processes from archaeology, linguistics, geography, and ethnohistory

Présentation de l'éditeur : "This thesis investigates the socio-cultural and linguistic development of pre-Columbian Amazonia, with a particular focus on the period between 500 BC and AD 1500. In assembling and analyzing data from archaeology, linguistics, ethnohistory, ethnography, and geography in a Geographical Information System (G.I.S.), it synthesizes large amounts of empirical data from several fields to facilitate long-term, macro-scale reconstructions of pre-Columbian socio-cultural processes in the region. These reconstructions focus on identifying the socio-economic and socio-cultural mechanisms underlying processes of cultural and linguistic expansion and subsequent patterns of ethno-linguistic diversity. The thesis thus addresses long-standing debates on the role of migration, ecology, subsistence strategies, trade, language, and ethnicity in such processes, and offers new explanations of the distribution of language families and ethno-linguistic groups in Amazonia. The thesis focuses on one of the major linguistic expansions in pre-Columbian South America, that of the Arawak language family. It identifies some of the cultural mechanisms in the interaction between Arawak- and non-Arawak-speaking societies, emphasizing the role of regional integration through long-distance travel and trade. The ambition is to transcend notions of bounded and essentialized ethnic identities that have characterized earlier attempts to account for the spatial distribution of indigenous languages and varieties of material culture. Emphasis is rather on the various factors that have conditioned active processes of ethnic identity construction, and on the methodological possibilities of identifying such conditions and processes at specific points in time and space" Abstract Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 1.1 The problem: Rethinking previous research on prehistoric Amazonia 1.2 Introducing the Arawak language family 1.3 Aims and theoretical points of departure 1.3.1 Aims 1.3.2 Theoretical points of departure 1.4 Methodology and material: Constructing the database 1.4.1 Methodology 1.4.2 Material /Regional studies 2. Western Amazonia 2.1 Physical geography 2.2 Archaeology 2.3 Historical linguistics 2.4 Ethnohistory 3. Southern Amazonia 3.1 Physical geography 3.2 Archaeology 3.3 Historical linguistics 3.4 Ethnohistory 4. The middle and lower Amazon 4.1 Physical Geography 4.2 Archaeology 4.3 Historical Linguistics 4.4 Ethnohistory 5. The Orinoco-Guiana area 5.1 Physical geography 5.2 Archaeology 5.3 Historical linguistics 5.4 Ethnohistory 6. The northwest Amazon 6.1 Physical geography 6.2 Archaeology 6.3 Historical linguistics 6.4 Ethnohistory 7. Conclusions 7.1 Regional integration, ethnogenesis, and the Arawak phenomenon 7.2 Regional interaction reflected in the early development of agriculture, earthworks, and ceramics 7.2.1 Western Amazonia 7.2.2 Southern Amazonia 7.2.3 The middle and lower Amazon 7.2.4 The Orinoco-Guiana area 7.2.5 The northwest Amazon 7.3 The relation between ceramic styles, language families, and socio-cultural organization 7.3.1 Western Amazonia298F 7.3.2 Southern Amazonia 7.3.3 The middle and lower Amazon 7.3.4 The Orinoco-Guiana area 7.3.5 The northwest Amazon 7.4 General conclusions: The Arawak phenomenon 7.4.1 The expansion of the Arawak regional exchange system 7.4.2 The Arawak matrix and the nature of the Arawak expansion References Subject Index Scholars Index