Native Americans of Middle and South America

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People and Languages

At the time of European contact major indigenous groups of the Brazilian Highlands culture area included the Krahó, Apinayé, Shavante, Akwé-Shavante, Sherente, Bororo, southern Kayapó, Guayakí (Aché), Kaingang, Guaraní, and Tupinambá. Major language groups included Ge and Tupian; the most widespread of the Tupian language families was Tupí-Guaraní. When Europeans arrived in Brazil in 1500, the Tupinambá occupied nearly the entire Atlantic coast of Brazil, as well as some inland areas. Ge-speaking groups lived in the interior, south of the jungles of the Amazon Basin.

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Early Peoples

Of the small number of early human settlements found to date in the Brazilian Highlands, the most interesting is Pedra Furada rock shelter, located near the São Francisco River in the heart of the northern caatinga. Discovered in the early 1970s and noted for its beautiful multicolored pictographs, which are clearly prehistoric in date, this site is nevertheless controversial because of claims made by its principal excavator that stone tools dating from 14,300 to more than 48,000 years ago were found in its lowest levels. During a visit to the site in the late 1990s, a group of archaeologists examined these “tools” and concluded they were more likely to be naturally formed rocks that had been washed by rainfall off the top of a cliff above the site. However, other materials recovered from Pedra Furada—hearths that contain charcoal, animal bones, wood, and plant remains—provide good evidence of human occupation of the site between 10,400 and 6,150 years ago.

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Diet and Subsistence

The arid, relatively unproductive soils of the Brazilian Highlands supported limited slash-and-burn agriculture based on manioc, sweet potatoes, and maize (see corn). The major portion of the diet was provided by hunting and gathering. Among the animals hunted were birds, rabbits, armadillos, peccaries, deer, and tapirs. Wild plant foods included palm fruits, pine nuts, and seeds from various plants. Insect larvae and wild honey were both considered delicacies.

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Social and Political Organization

Most cultures of the Brazilian Highlands were egalitarian, village-level societies similar to those of the Amazon Basin, usually consisting of hundreds of people. Yet many villages had complex social systems. For example, the Ge-speaking peoples (Kayapó, Sherente, and Bororo) of the southern highlands divided their villages in two halves, called moieties, which were further divided into a complex system of clans, age grades, and gender groups. The moieties were often structured so that a person could only marry someone of the opposite moiety. Kayapó men and women were divided into a series of seven age grades, or categories, that reflected the differing responsibilities and statuses of people throughout their lives. The youngest age grade included small children and the oldest included people who were more than 45 years of age and had grandchildren.

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Warfare

Warfare was common among most indigenous groups of the Brazilian Highlands. The Tupinambá were among the fiercest warriors and engaged in cannibalism as a form of revenge against their enemies. Before an attack, villagers checked the necessary omens, prepared themselves with magical rites, then fell on their enemies with flaming arrows and clubs. Captured warriors were brought back to the village, where they were mocked and jeered. They made no attempt to escape because the rules of war dictated that they would be killed by the people of their home village if they attempted to return there. The ultimate fate of captives was always the same. Sooner or later the captors prepared an elaborate feast, the captive was decorated and led out to join in the singing and dancing, an executioner killed him with a special club, and he was eaten in a cannibalistic banquet.

Ge-speaking peoples also undertook wars for vengeance or the continuation of traditional feuds, but they did not take prisoners or eat their enemies. Instead, a man who had killed an enemy was required to go into seclusion and observe ritual food restrictions for 10 to 30 days. At the end of this period, the man took a ceremonial bath and his heroic exploit was announced to the village from a central plaza.