Sao Paulo, Brazil – The fall of a tree deep in the center of the Amazon rainforest reveal A valuable secret is now carefully analyzed by a team of Brazilian researchers and archaeologists.
In October 2024, fishermen in the Arumanduba community deep in the Brazilian Amazon state in Fonte Boa, located in the Amazon state of Brazil, encountered an exposed tree and noticed that there were much more soil, leaves and branches under it.
They discovered what appeared to be an ancient funeral made of ceramics.
The fishermen were interested in the materials they found and reported the discovery to local leaders, who then informed the town of Catholic priests. The priest came into contact with the archaeological laboratory Mamirauá Institute of Sustainable Development Research institution funded by the Ministry of Science.
Brazil Report In-depth speeches were made with Márcio Amaral and Geórgea Layla Holanda, two archaeologists from the institute who were engaged in excavations at the site.
They detailed their hard work, the novel materials they found and shared the discoveries so far after analyzing artifacts several months later.
Complex ancient engineering
According to archaeologists, a team of researchers from the Mamirauá Institute set out from their headquarters in the Amazon Tefé on January 3 to Arumanduba.
It took 24 hours to take a boat ride along the Amazon River.
Once arrived, the team was welcomed by the local community. They are about an hour's walk from the location of the fallen trees, and it turns out to be a charming archaeological site, nestled under 40 cm (about 16 inches) of the earth.
The tree once stood in the Medio Solimis area and has been well known to researchers since 2015.
This particular site is believed to consist of artificial islands, which date back hundreds or even thousands of years, forming huge embankments – a demonstration of advanced architectural and engineering capabilities of the area’s past residents, researchers show.
“So far, we have identified 70 of these islands at a very large location, but in this particular area, we have not documented this type of structure,” Amaral explained. He told these artificial structures are called “Atrados E Cavadas” (loose landfills and excavations) are native peoples because of how the past population changed the landscape.
“The indigenous population of the past had many aspects of knowledge systems, including specific technologies for construction and agroforestry management,” Amaral said. “These people chose to live permanently in floodplain and achieved that goal – they developed technology and construction projects to do so.”
The complexity of manipulating this rugged terrain has not disappeared from the researchers.
“Everyone sees Egypt's pyramids as the most beautiful and grandest thing in the world, but the construction of these 'aperrados' is equally impressive, even more,” Hollanda said. “They live on these islands, manage the landscape, bring the plants closer to them, and modify the plants. It takes tremendous knowledge.”
funeral
After a month of intensive field work, the team left the excavation site and brought the artifacts back to their lab at Tefé.
Overall, the Mamirauá team found seven funerals under the fallen tree. According to Holanda, the largest ur bone measures 90 cm (about 35 inches) across the entire opening and 55 cm (about 22 inches) tall.
It is estimated that the container weighs about 770 pounds due to the interior full of sediment. The smallest urn has a 60 cm (24 inches) opening, 30 cm (12 inches) high and weighs about 400 pounds.
All urns will be restored before further measurements are made.
Preliminary analysis shows that the funeral ur is made of ceramics, using a mixture of clay and non-plastic additives consisting mainly of a sponge called freshwater Caseyand Karai – Ashes of the bark.
“Both materials are very commonly used in Amazon ceramics because they contain a lot of silica, which makes the ceramics more light and drug-resistant,” Amaral explains.
Archaeologists also pointed out the interesting shapes of the ship. “Usually, we find other types of shapes here. In these funerals, there are open boats, and many of the ash at the funerals have human-like forms. But these are huge boats.”
In addition to identifying the materials used to make the urn, the researchers also confirmed that bones were found in it, possibly human bodies.
“The funeral urn is like a corpse designed to receive another body,” Hollanda said.
According to the researchers, they believe a complex process is being carried out to fit the body inside the body. “A primary burial is performed, burying individuals on the ground or in baskets in a river to allow the fish to consume soft tissue. After that, the bones are removed, cremated, passed through the funeral, and then placed in a new body – urn – urn – sealed and buried urn,” she said.
Lack of funds to slow down research
As tedious analytical work develops within the lab, new works are often added to the puzzle.
For example, although archaeologists believe that these urs belong to the Amazonian multi-tone tradition of pre-Colombian ceramics found in the region due to red and white on a white background, it is still impossible to determine the exact age of the craft.
The team currently estimates that their history may be between 200 and 3,000 years. Reducing this timeframe is one of their major challenges in the future.
Another important scope of investigation is the possible relationship between the materials studied and the indigenous peoples in the areas in which they live today.
“This is a bigger step in research development because we can’t yet associate discoveries with current indigenous groups because there are many people, and many in Amazon are weakened.”
This type of research is time-consuming and requires funding, she added. “We currently do not have the financial means to perform these lab tests,” she admitted.
Mamirauá Institute accepts DonateThis is used directly to fund its projects and to achieve important progress in research, such as its current study of funerals.
According to the institute’s researchers, each contribution helps to sustain this work, which plays a crucial role in preserving important chapters of our collective history.
“Archaeology is a way to tell stories that history books don't have,” Hollanda said. “These are stories of silence, truths that are buried. It provides the protagonists that the indigenous peoples deserve – those who really built the Amazon and were already in Brazil before the invasion.”
Featured image: Archaeologist Geórgeaholanda at the scene of the funeral discovery (Photo source: Geórgea Holanda/Mamirauá Institute)
