EAA 2022: Abstract

The study of shellmounds can shed light in to human occupation and adaptations at coastal environments worldwide. In South America, human groups occupied the territory close to the Atlantic Ocean for millennials (at least 8000 to 1000 ca. years BP), building hundreds of shellmounds, some with impressive dimensions. It is assumed that these populations disappeared when an environmental change occurred and that new ceramicist populations arrived from the inland. We aim here is documenting the mobility of the shellmounds’ populations before and after the arrival of ceramic and to study their subsistence strategies in order to test the aforementioned hypothesis. To do so, we conducted a combination of non-traditional and traditional isotope analyses (d13C and d15N of bulk collagen and amino acids, d88Sr, d66Zn and 87/86Sr of hydroxyapatite) as well as trace element ratio on fauna and human’s bones and teeth of 8 Brazilian archaeological sites. Our preliminary results have shown that non-traditional isotopes can elucidate and improve our understanding on food webs, environment and diet of ancient populations, especially in cases where collagen is not preserved. We demonstrate that shellmound’s people had a remarkable adaptation to the coast and weren’t replaced by inland populations after the arrival of pottery.

South America archaeology, Shellmounds, Isotopes, Diet, Mobility

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Jessica Cardoso^3,4

Danaé Guiserix²
Klervia Jaouen^1,3
Andre Strauss⁴