Archaeology as Indigenous Advocacy in Amazonia

Abstract

Not so long ago, most anthropologists held a view of pre-Columbian Amazonian peoples as fairly uniform across the region and roughly identical to 20th century ethnographic groups- a view based on very scanty direct evidence. Attention was therefore directed at contemporary social forms and singlesited ethnography, which seemed well suited to studying the small, dispersed, and autonomous villages of the region. In recent decades, archaeology and ethnohistory document much greater variability through time and space, notably complex, regional social formations and broad regional social networks. At the same time, contemporary issues of cultural ‘property’ rights have drawn attention to the agency and dynamism of indigenous social formations. In light of new views on Amazonia, as dynamic, diverse, and unpredictable, the unique ability of archaeologists to consider longterm change provides a critical perspective in regional ethnology, although in-depth archaeological investigations are rare.

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