Exploitation, Management and Cultivation of Plants by Holocene Populations of the Cerrado of Brazil (South America)

Abstract

In the Cerrado, a Savannah-like environment of Brazil, ancient indigenous peoples have been exploiting, managing, and cultivating plants for thousands of years. This chapter presents an archaeological perspective with a summary of what is known of the archaeobotanical evidence in the region, both in terms of macro remains – for example, charcoal and seed fragments – and micro remains – such as starch, phytoliths, and pollen. We review the evidence from the first hunter-gatherer societies of the Early Holocene (around 12 kya) to the transition and development of ceramist groups that implemented diverse strategies for plant cultivation. The archaeological evidence suggests that a marked change in the occupation of the Cerrado took place around 4 kya, when settlements shifted from rock shelters to open-air sites or villages, with the first appearance of ceramics. In the eastern Cerrado, abundant desiccated macro-botanical remains have been documented after ca. 4 kya, including domesticated plants, such as maize. In recently excavated rock shelters, the evidence for ceramic production appears later, after ca. 2 kya, with pottery associated with storage pits containing plant remains of several domesticated and wild plants, including maize, manioc, and beans. The current summary of archaeobotanical evidence shows that, since the Early Holocene, the indigenous peoples of the Cerrado used wild plants typical of this biome with the subsequent addition of a diversity of cultivated and domesticated species by the Late Holocene. The diversity of species that have been identified in many archaeological sites highlights, not only the diversity of plant use by early human populations in the Cerrado, but also the enormous potential of future archaeobotanical studies in Central Brazil.