Anthropology 224
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NEOTROPICS
FALL 1998
READING SYLLABUS
September 10: Introduction: Six Myths about the Neotropics
Roosevelt: Educating Natural Scientists about the Environment (handout)
September 15: The Neotropical Environment and Tropical Forest Culture
Moran: Chapter 1; Chapter 4; Chapter 3
September 17: The Amazon in 1492 and after
Moran: Chapter 2; Chapter 5
Lathrap: Tropical Forest Culture
Meggers and Evans: [Excerpt] Archaeological Investigations at the Mouth of the Amazon
Carneiro: Indians of the Amazon Forests
September 22: Hunting, Gathering, and Fishing in the Neotropics
Lathrap: The "Hunting" Economies of the Tropical Forest Zone of South America
Bailey et al.: Hunting and Gathering in Tropical Rain Forests: Is it possible?
Colinvaux and Bush: The Rain-Forest Ecosystem as a Resource for Hunting and Gathering
September 24: Earliest Peoples of the Neotropics
Gibbons: First Americans: Not Mammoth Hunters, but Forest Dwellers?
Roosevelt et al.: Paleoindian Cave Dwellers in the Amazon
Cook and Piperno: Native American Adaptations to the Tropical Forests
September 29: The Ecologically Noble Savage?
Reichel-Dolmatoff: Cosmology as Ecological Analysis
Chernela: Indigenous Forest and Fish Management in the Uaupes Basin of Brazil.
Redford: The Ecologically Noble Savage.
Stearman: Only Slaves Climb Trees
Alvard: Conservation by Native Peoples: Prey Choice in a Depleted Habitat
October 1: Domesticating People and Plants
Politis: Moving to Produce: Nukak Mobility and Settlement Patterns in Amazonia.
Lathrap: Our Father the Caiman, Our Mother the Gourd.
October 6: Transforming and Managing the Forest
Balée: The Culture of the Amazonian Forest
Denevan: The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492.
Clement: Native American Fruits and Nuts
Treacy: Bora Indian Agroforestry
October 8: Beer and the Competitive Politics of Feasting
Lathrap: The Antiquity and Importance of Long-Distance Trade [section on manioc]
Hugh-Jones and Hugh-Jones: The Storage of Manioc
Dufour: The Bitter is Sweet
Denevan: Stone vs. Metal Axes
October 13: Early Settled Life: Communities, Villages, Towns and Regions
Roosevelt et al.: Eighth Millennium Pottery from a Prehistoric Shell Midden.
Gibbon: New View of Early Amazonia
Smith: Anthrosols and Human Carrying Capacity in Amazonia.
October 15: Pottery, Language and People: The Spread of Tropical Forest Culture
Gross: Protein Capture and Cultural Development in the Amazon Basin
Beckerman: The Abundance of Protein in Amazonia: A Reply to Gross
Carneiro: A History of Ecological Interpretations of Amazonia.
October 20: Riverine People Past and Present: Making a Living on the Amazon
Moran: Chapter 2; Chapter 4 (skim)
Myers: Agricultural Limitations of the Amazon in Theory and Practice
Denevan: The Bluff Model of Riverine Settlement in Prehistoric Amazonia.
October 22: MIDTERM EXAM
October 27: Shamans and the Pharmaceutical Cornucopia
Zeidler et al.: Shamanistic Elements in a Terminal Valdivia Burial.
Reichel-Dolmatoff: Cosmology as Ecological Analysis (skim)
October 29: Tropical Forest Culture and the Origins of Andean Civilization
Lathrap: The Moist Tropics, The Arid Lands, and the Appearance of Great Art Styles.
November 3: Trade and Exchange with Neighbors and Beyond
Lathrap: The Antiquity and Importance of Long-Distance Trade Relationships.
November 5: Long Distance Contacts and Trade Networks
Lathrap: The Moist Tropics, The Arid Lands, and the Appearance of Great Art Styles (skim)
November 10: Raiding, Pillage, and Head-taking: the Nature of Neotropical Warfare
DeBoer: Pillage and Production in the Amazon.
November 12: Chiefs and Chiefdoms: the Evolution of Political Complexity
Carneiro: The Nature of the Chiefdom as Revealed by Evidence from the Calca Valley
Carneiro: A History of Ecological Interpretations of Amazonia (skim)
Myers: Agricultural Limitations of the Amazon in Theory and Practice (skim)
November 17: Chiefdoms of the Northern Andes: The Gold of the Gods
Bray: Emblems of Power in the Chiefdoms of the New World.
November 19: Transforming the Wetlands and Savannas: Raised Field Agriculture
Moran: Chapter 5
Parsons and Denevan: Pre-Columbian Ridged Fields.
November 24: High Civilization in the Amazonian Basin? Marajoara and Sangay
Meggers and Evans: [Exerpt] Archaeological Investigations at the Mouth of the Amazon
Roosevelt: The Rise and Fall of Amazonian Chiefdoms.
November 26: Thanksgiving Break!
December 1: Prehispanic Roads and Settlements in the Amazon
Denevan: Prehistoric Roads and Causeways of Lowland Tropical America.
December 3: class cancelled--Am. Anthropological Association Meetings in Philadelphia
December 8: Colonizing the Caribbean: The Tairona
Rouse: The Tainos.
[start readings for December 10]
December 10: The Neotropical Garden of Eden Revisited: Nature, Culture, and the Disappearing Forest.
Moran: Chapter 6
Hunter: Benchmarks for Managing Ecosystems: Are Human Activities Natural?
Stahl: The Significance of Anthropogenic Landscapes in Prehistoric South America
Coordinating Body: We are Concerned.
Conklin and Graham: The Shifting Middle Ground: Amazonian Indians and Eco-Politics.
December 12-14: Reading Days
December 15: FINAL EXAM Tuesday 8:30-10:30am Anthropology 224
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