Brazilian Archeology

Straw basket

This basket was internally coated with resin, only partially conserved. It is a rare piece, due to the difficulty of preserving organic materials in tropical climates. It belongs to the Balbino de Freitas Collection and was collected in a non-identified sambaqui in the central coast of Brazil.

Zoolite in the shape of a catfish

The piece presents a small slump situated almost always in the ventral region of the represented animals, which is assumed to have been intended for the processing of substances capable of producing sensorial stimuli, used in ceremonies and rites.

Zoolite in the shape of a fish

The piece presents a small slump situated almost always in the ventral region of the represented animals, which is assumed to have been intended to the processing of substances capable of producing sensorial stimuli, used in ceremonies and rites.

Axe Blades

The semilunar axes were produced by horticultural groups in the Brazilian prehistory, in different raw material, for ceremonial purposes.

Projectile Tip

Projectile tips with peduncle and fins made of flint and hyaline quartz, fabricated and utilized by hunter-gatherer groups of Brazilian prehistory.

Anthropomorphic Vase

In this piece of ceremonial use the theme of the two serpents — recurrent in Marajoara iconography, perhaps related to some myth — appears in a relief, conforming a human face. The two heads represent the eyes. Their bodies compose the typical V-shaped eyebrows. A button in the junction of the two tails configures the nose. The bulge, bathed in white, is decorated with incisive geometric forms.

Container

Ceremonial bowl decorated internally with a polychromatic painting, in red and white over a white background, with geometric motifs and stylized representations of the human figure. The non painted border, received its decoration in relief, with representations of serpents and human faces displayed alternately. The back of the piece presents an exuberant plastic decoration with geometric motifs made with the technique of excision.

Hollow statuette in the shape of a phallus

This ceremonial piece appears to have been broken on purpose — which was a frequent practice in the Marajoara society — maybe to deter its reutilization. With scorpion-shaped eyes, a recurrent attribute in anthropomorphic figures associated with shamans, high and waxed foreheads, with a head shape that suggests a cranial deformation, the statue was decorated with facial and body painting in red geometric motifs over a white background. The Marajoara iconography, as attested by the characteristics of this piece, indicate that women occupied positions of elevated status, which in other cultures are generally reserved to men.

Loincloths

Painted in red and black over a white background, these female sex covers were modeled individually, following the pubic anatomy of their bearers. Geometric patterns, many of which corresponded to stylized representations of the human figure, filled their four decorative fields, which in some exemplars are reduced to only three. While the upper band varies little, the following as well as the lower one present higher variability. The bigger, central field, is never repeated. In each of the extremities are presented orifices for tying, many of them worn down from use.

Small anthropomorphic recipient

Decorated with geometric forms made with an excision technique, this piece, of ceremonial use, probably served for the ingestion or inhalation of substances capable of producing strong sensorial stimuli, used in communal rituals.

Anthropomorphic piece in the shape of a phallus

The body and the head, which presents the typical T-shaped eyebrows, were decorated with geometric motifs made with the technique of excision.

Anthropomorphic Vase

Ceremonial Vase that represents a seated female figure, with inflected legs, totally covered by body paint with geometric motifs in black and red over a white background.

Anthropomorphic vase representing a seated man

The body posture, the pierced lobes, and other ornaments suggest that this individual who presents atrophied members, especially the lower ones, had a distinguished social position. Restored piece, with fractured and absent phallus.

Head of anthropomorphic female statuette

With eyes closed in the shape of coffee beans, typical of the Santarém culture, this head, which was detached from its body, presents several attributes: besides ear adornments, its hair was carefully combed and it bears an elaborate headwear, made up of a nape-cover and wreath adorned with three bat heads on each side. Presents circular orifices in the nostrils and ears.

VASE

Ceremonial vase decorated with geometric incisions and reliefs, with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures displayed alternately.

Muiraquitã

Green stone
Óbidos, Pará.

The muiraquitãs — common in the shape of frogs and, more rarely, of birds, fish, and other animals — were fabricated almost always in green stones, with jadeites, nephrites, and amazonites.
Used as pendants, they also appear adorning female headset in ceramic statuettes of Santarém. Surrounded by legends, the muiraquitãs are, long-standing, considered powerful amulets against all types of curses. It seems that, Santarém was its production center, although it had a considerable dispersion of pieces of this type, maybe as a consequence of extensive trade and ideological dissemination. These networks reached the Caribbean region where artifacts produced in Santarém can be found.