Archaeological hunting patterns of Amazonian horticulturists: The Guarani example

Abstract

We analyse the hunting patterns based on faunal records of horticultural groups fromthe Atlantic Forest grouped in the Guarani archaeological unit, which are the materialand behavioural expression of populations of Amazon origin who practiced slash‐andburnagriculture in the Atlantic Forest of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay.The analysed temporal block ranges from ca. 1373 to 1698 of the Common Era.The characteristics of the faunal assemblages are the high level of the taxa richnessand the equitability, where no taxa predominate over the others. The capture decisionwas probably guided primarily by the weight of the potential prey (preferentiallyterrestrial mammals) considering thresholds above 10 kg per individual, which haveprovided the greatest biomass. Nevertheless, small preys are numerically importantand taxonomically very diverse. Fish mostly comprise small individuals, with no taxonomicselectivity. The hunted animals were transported completely to the villages.Terrestrial prey and fish were preponderantly boiled in ceramic containers. All thebest ranked preys locally available were hunted, so in the long term, there were noexceptions to consumption. The hunting strategies are concordant with historicaland ethnographic observations that include a broad diet with low taxonomic selectivity,small foraging range, and garden hunting.