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Sometimes only coincidences can open the way to certain findings. A tree that falls and the eyes attentive to a place can be the spark that gives rise to an unexpected discovery.
Spherical urns. A group of archaeologists assisted by local communities has been responsible for finding curious ceramic spheres buried in an alluvial plain in the middle of Amazonas. These are seven funeral urns, two of them of important size, which were found between the roots of a fallen tree.
Within these polls, fragments of human bones were found, as well as remains of Fish and turtles that suggest funeral rites linked to food. These polls can reveal important data on the indigenous cultures that inhabited this region of the Amazon basin.
“They are large, without visible ceramic tapas, which could indicate the use of organic materials to seal them, which would have already broken down. They were buried at 40 cm deep, probably under old houses,” explained in a press release Geórgea Layla Holland, member of the team responsible for the finding.
Lake Do Cochila. The discovery of these unique polls was made in the surroundings of Lago do Cochila, in the municipality of Fonte Boa, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Located in the alluvial plains of the basin, this archaeological site was once part of a group of artificial islands built centuries ago (Maybe millennia) by the ancient inhabitants of the area.
Archaeological remains found in this environment suggest that these elevations in flooded field would have allowed the construction of households and the development of social activities even in the flood time, explains the team. The artificial islands would have been created taking material from other places and transporting it to the plain. “It is a very sophisticated and ingenious engineering technique, which demonstrates land management and a significant population density in the past,” The archaeologist points out Márcio Amaral.
A fundamental cooperation. The collaboration between archaeologists of the research group in Archeology and Cultural Heritage of the Amazon of the Mamirauá Institute and the local communities was instrumental in the development of archaeological prospecting, explains the team.
The detection of these artifacts would not even have been possible without this collaboration: according to the team, it was the locals who initially detected ceramics Among the roots of a fallen tree. While initially they did not give importance to the finding, their photos caught the attention of archaeologists who got to work in the extraction and analysis of objects.
Height excavation. The excavation of these polls was a technical challenge. The horizontal position of the tree that buried them left them suspended at height, which implied that their excavation had to be done in a not very conventional way. These local communities attended the team with the construction of a high structure that as a scaffold allowed access to these artifacts as well as their manipulation safely.
Rumbo to Tefé. Among the challenges that the team had to face was also transport, which had to be done river. Depending on the river and transportation conditions used, traveling the 190 kilometers in a straight line that separate the deposit of the headquarters of the Mamirauá Institute may require between 10 and 12 hours of travel.
We will have to wait for the polls to be studied at the facilities of the Mamirauá Institute to learn about new details about the finding. For now, the initial analyzes reveal the greenish color of the clay with which these urn were created, a clay that would have been identified in other contexts. A type of ceramic of great rarity that adds to the mystery of these strange funeral urns.
Image | Marcio Amaral / Georgea Holland
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