Monte de Teso dos Bichos

The Monte de Teso dos Bichos (Teso dos Bichos Mount) is an embankment that forms an artificial mound,[1][2][3][4] located at the archaeological site of Camutins on the island of Marajó in Brazil,[2][5][6] a place where one of the most elaborate civilizations of the pre-Columbian Amazon existed (the indigenous Marajoara),[4][7][8] occupying 2.5 hectares.[7][8]

Monte de Teso dos Bichos
Geography
LocationMarajó, Pará, Brazil

A teso is an elevated piece of land built with embankment, for protection in periods of flooding of the rivers (high tide), which flooded for several months in some areas of the island of Marajó.[2][3][4][9]

The tesos were erected by the Marajoara, a society of indigenous potters and fish farmers who inhabited the region approximately between the years 500 and 1300 (before Portuguese colonization).[4] They understood the climatic and topographical situation of the region and knew how to use natural resources for survival.[4]

At the archaeological site of Camutins,[5][6] which extends for 10 km along the Amazon River, about 30 tesos have been identified,[9] the "Teso dos Bichos" being one of the best known examples of this type of mound.[4]

Anthropogenesis

One of the distinguished features of the Marajoara is the use of "tesos", large artificial embankments with evidence of dwellings. The large scale of these structures would have required an amount of work consistent with societies of complex organization.[7][8]

The civilization responsible for the work was estimated to have a population of 500,000 people. The inhabitants of this civilization belonged to a society of tuxauas, lords of the mouth of the Amazon River. There was a division of labor between men and women, a diet rich in protein (animal and vegetable) and fermented refreshments (such as aluá).[7][10]

River sedimentation

In October 2009, a group of geologists proposed that the tesos could be mainly natural structures, formed initially by processes similar to the fluvial formation of mounds elsewhere, and then harnessed and expanded by human activity in shallower layers.[11] Because they required significantly less human activity for their formation, complex societies would not have been necessary for their creation.[11] This hypothesis would partially invalidate interpretations about the existence of complex societies in the Amazon.[12] However, archaeologists responsible for previous excavations have questioned the team's methodology, pointing out sediment columns too thin to ascertain the presence of artifacts and possible evidence of human activity unnoticed in the samples, but some admit that the new hypothesis could contribute to discussions about the lack of evidence of large-scale agriculture in the region, an open question of great importance in the study of the scale of Marajoara society.[12]

See also

References
  1. gentedeopiniao.com.br. "Os Tesos de Marajó". Gente de Opinião (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  2. Neves, Eduardo (2006). Arqueologia da amazônia. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar. ISBN 9788571109193. OCLC 71308131.
  3. Prous, André. (2006). O Brasil antes dos brasileiros : a pré-história do nosso país. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar. ISBN 9788571109209. OCLC 80946412.
  4. "Teso dos Bichos e a complexa civilização que habitou a Ilha de Marajó". Mega Curioso. No Zebra Network (NZN). 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  5. Fausto, Carlos (2000). Os índios antes do Brasil, Descobrindo o Brasil. Schwarcz, Companhia das Letras. ISBN 9788537803707.
  6. Capucci, Victor Zappi (2008). Fragmentos de cerâmica brasileira. Biblioteca Pedagógica Brasileira. Brasiliana. Vol. 5. Editora Nacional. ISBN 9788504002119. OCLC 18948854.
  7. Roosevelt, Anna Curtenius. (1991). Moundbuilders of the Amazon : geophysical archaeology on Marajo Island, Brazil. Academic Press. OCLC 318175173.
  8. "IstoÉ Amazônia".
  9. Lopes, Reinaldo José Lopes (2017). 1499: O Brasil antes de Cabral (2 ed.). HarperCollins Brasil. ISBN 9788595081925.
  10. Márcio Souza. "Breve história da Amazônia".
  11. Rossetti, Dilce de Fátima; Góes, Ana Maria; Toledo, Peter Mann de (2009). "Archaeological mounds in Marajó Island in northern Brazil: A geological perspective integrating remote sensing and sedimentology". Geoarchaeology (1): 22–41. doi:10.1002/gea.20250. ISSN 1520-6548. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  12. "Povos antigos não fizeram aterros no Pará, diz grupo". Folha de S. Paulo. 19 October 2009.
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