CRASSH | Reclaiming indigenous history from Amazonian soil and palaeobotany

Описание: An event by the Decolonising Plant Knowledge Research Network.

In the last decades, archaeological research has transformed perceptions of the Amazon rainforest, revealing the extent of anthropogenic soils (dark earths) and inviting a critical rethinking of early plant use in South America. This seminar presents the work of three archaeologists whose research is not only pioneering on account of their findings but also because they link it to the lives of contemporary local dwellers. What constitutes cultural heritage and how can it have different layers of meaning relevant to various audiences, without alienating indigenous interests? People living in ‘voluntary isolation’ can illuminate strategies of sourcing food from plants that challenge linear evolutionary schemes. Fibre artefacts, still in use today for carrying goods and babies in many parts of the world, raise questions not only about the early emergence of material culture but also about gender and relationality past and present.

About the speakers

Manuel Arroyo-Kalin is Associate Professor of Geoarchaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. He leads the EarthLab research group and heads the Geoarchaeology Lab, using earth science approaches, including soil micromophological analysis, to study past anthropic landscape modification and anthropogenic soil formation. With a British Academy/Global Challenges Research Fund grant in Sustainable Development and in partnership with Brazilian museums Manuel coordinated the Memories of Ancestral Landscapes exhibition, curated by Musa, in São Gabriel da Cachoeira (Brazilian State of Amazonas) in 2023, to promote an intercultural dialogue about archaeological research and heritage with local indigenous communities.

Laura Pereira Furquim is a postdoctoral researcher in Archaeology at the University of São Paulo after completing a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute of Geo-anthropology. She has co-authored ‘Life in three scenarios: plant controversies between Jamamadi gardens and Hi-Merimã palm orchards (Middle Purus River, Amazonas, Brazil’), Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2021.

Camila Alday Mamani (University of Cambridge) is a postdoctoral researcher investigating the deep history of plant technologies and textiles in Pre- Columbian South America, with particular attention to earliest evidence and uses of textile plants and their role in facilitating social, economic, and ecological systems along the Pacific desert coast. Ancient fibre technologies such as basketry, nets, garments, bags, and other forms were central to reproducing complex technological and economic advancements for clothing, textile production and cultivation still in use in present times in South America. Drawing together archaeology, material science, and findings from ethnographic research, my research locates across and within the borders of Science and Humanities to understand plant uses for crafts, situating these practices within broader debates about materiality and plant-people relationships beyond food.

https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/4...