Challenges of archaeological practices and preservation: sociocultural dynamics on and around archaeological sites in the Amazon

Abstract

People’s relationships with things and with archaeological sites in the Amazonian context are extremely plural and contextual. In each community, researchers learn other ways of thinking about the intrinsic relationships between the past and present. The Mamirauá Institute’s Archaeology Laboratory has excelled at an interdisciplinary approach to developing activities and research together with riverine communities in protected areas. In this article, we discuss archaeological practices and the challenges of preserving archaeological heritage in community contexts. Through archaeology, archaeological conservation, and education, we reflect on our role as professionals working from different knowledge and interest groups, where values, meanings, and results are revisited every time new collaborations are established (whether these involve academic research or community agents). To do so, we examine the work carried out in the Boa Esperança community, located in the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve, which has been receiving archaeologists since 2006. This research is considered to have been transformed by the community context and by broader engagement with different agents, reorienting efforts to find medium- and long-term alternatives for collaborative and sustainable management of the Amazon’s archaeological heritage.

Keywords Amazonian archaeology; Archaeological heritage; Archaeological preservation; Amanã Lake; Riverine community; Protected area