Nukak: Ethnoarchaeology of an Amazonian People (UCL Institute of Archaeology Publications)

From Gustavo Politis, one of the most renowned South American archaeologists, comes the first in-depth study in English of the last “undiscovered” people of the Amazon. His work is groundbreaking and urgent, both because of encroaching guerrilla violence that makes Nukak existence perilously fragile, and because his work with the Nukak represented one of the last opportunities to conduct research with hunger-gatherers using contemporary methodological and the theoretical tools. Through a rich and comprehensive ethno-archaeological portrait of material culture “in the making,” this work makes methodological and conceptual advances in the interpretation of hunter-gather societies. Politis’s conclusions, based on six years of original research and on comparative analysis, are integrative and contribute to the identification of the multiple factors involved in the formation of hunter-gatherer archaeological assemblages. From Gustavo Politis, one of the most renowned South American archaeologists, comes the first in-depth study in English of the last “undiscovered” people of the Amazon. His work is groundbreaking and urgent, both because of encroaching guerrilla violence that makes Nukak existence perilously fragile, and because his work with the Nukak represented one of the last opportunities to conduct research with hunter-gatherers using contemporary methodological and the theoretical tools. Through a rich and comprehensive ethno-archaeological portrait of material culture “in the making,” this work makes methodological and conceptual advances in the interpretation of hunter-gather societies. Politis's conclusions, based on six years of original research and on comparative analysis, are integrative and contribute to the identification of the multiple factors involved in the formation of hunter-gatherer archaeological assemblages. CONTENTS......Page 8 Preface......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Illustrations......Page 18 Tables......Page 24 1. Introduction......Page 26 2. Theory and Methods: Ethics and Techniques......Page 56 3. Sociopolitical Organization and Cosmology......Page 78 4. Shelters and Camps......Page 100 5. The Use of Space and Discard Patterns......Page 132 6. Residential and Logistical Mobility: Daily Foraging Trips......Page 162 7. Traditional Technology......Page 190 8. Subsistence......Page 238 9. Animal Exploitation, Processing, and Discard......Page 292 10. Final Considerations......Page 326 Appendix I. Sample of Daily Foraging Trips......Page 346 Appendix II. Patterns of Bone Representation and Surface Bone Modification Caused......Page 358 Bibliography......Page 378 Index......Page 408 About the Author......Page 413 "From Gustavo Politis comes the first in-depth study in English of the last "undiscovered" people of the Amazon. Through a comprehensive ethnoarchaeological portrait of material culture "in the making," this work makes methodological and conceptual advances in the interpretation of hunter-gatherer societies. Politis's conclusions, based on six years of original research and on comparative analysis, are integrative and contribute to the identification of the multiple factors involved in the formation of hunter-gatherer archaeological assemblages."--BOOK JACKET