Between Amazonian ancient history and its ethnographical present: colonialism and persistences in long term indigenous trajectories of the Middle Solimões, Amazonas

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a dialogue between Amazonian historical and archaeological records from the perspective of the long-term Indigenous History of the Middle Solimões area, especially its last period associated with the occupations of the Amazonian Polychrome Tradition (TPA). To this end, we will deal with the history of the relationships between written sources and archaeological data in the Amazon, noting how the Archaeology of Colonialism and Documentary Archaeology can strengthen the contextual understanding of the archaeological record and elucidate the later period of occupations associated with TPA in the region. Then, the contexts and sources analyzed and the methods used, as well as the results obtained, are briefly presented. The results obtained extend until the beginning of the 20th century, but focus will be given to the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The objective of the final discussion is to reevaluate the history of TPA and its periodization. The conclusion leads to a debate on ways to expand the possibilities of dialogue between History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Amazon and on the archaeology of Amazonian Colonialism.

Keywords
Amazonian archaeology; Amazonian Polychrome Tradition; Archeology of colonialism; Documentary archaeology