Early Holocene ritual complexity in South America: the archaeological record of Lapa do Santo (east-central Brazil)

• Published in: Antiquity Vol. 90; no. 354; pp. 1454 - 1473
• Main Authors: Strauss, André, Oliveira, Rodrigo Elias, Villagran, Ximena S., Bernardo, Danilo V., Salazar-García, Domingo C., Bissaro, Marcos César, Pugliese, Francisco, Hermenegildo, Tiago, Santos, Rafael, Barioni, Alberto, de Oliveira, Emiliano Castro, Moreno de Sousa, João Carlos, Jaouen, Klervia, Ernani, Max, Hubbe, Mark, Inglez, Mariana, Gratão, Marina, Rockwell, H., Machado, Márcia, de Souza, Gustavo, Chemale, Farid, Kawashita, Koji, O'Connell, Tamsin C., Israde, Isabel, Feathers, James, Campi, Claudio, Richards, Michael, Wahl, Joachim, Kipnis, Renato, Araujo, Astolfo, Neves, Walter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-12-2016
• Subjects: Analysis; Archaeology; Bones; Burials; Cannibalism; Culture; Excavation; Funerals; Grave goods; Historic artifacts; Holocene; Holocene Epoch; Human remains; Human remains (Archaeology); Hunter-gatherers; Hunting and gathering societies; Manipulation; Mortuary practice; Mutilation; Rites & ceremonies; Rituals; Transformation; Brazil; South America; Brazil; early Archaic period; Lapa do Santo; Lagoa Santa; Palaeoindian; mortuary rituals
• ISSN: 0003-598X; 1745-1744
• DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2016.220

Early Archaic human skeletal remains found in a burial context in Lapa do
Santo in east-central Brazil provide a rare glimpse into the lives of
hunter-gatherer communities in South America, including their rituals for
dealing with the dead. These included the reduction of the body by means of
mutilation, defleshing, tooth removal, exposure to fire and possibly
cannibalism, followed by the secondary burial of the remains according to
strict rules. In a later period, pits were filled with disarticulated bones
of a single individual without signs of body manipulation, demonstrating
that the region was inhabited by dynamic groups in constant transformation
over a period of centuries.