Rock art, trade routes, and languages in prehistoric Amazonia: Exploring correlations through GIS
Författare
Summary, in English
The aim of this paper is to investigate how Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping of materialized aspects of human culture in pre-conquest Amazonia can increase our understanding of the distribution of indigenous languages and ethno-linguistic entities. The main objective of the project is to build a GIS database for correlating geography, linguistics, material culture (e.g., ceramic styles, rock art styles, horticultural systems, etc.), trade routes, and political projects over time, in order to gain further understanding of the forces behind the extraordinary linguistic diversity in Amazonia. This presentation will exemplify this methodology, focusing on the relationship between symbolism (as expressed in the frog motive in rock art and green stone amulets), trade routes, and language families. By correlating the distribution of symbolic expressions, such as the frog motive, with known trade routes and the distribution of language families at the time of contact, it is possible to test or at least illuminate various hypotheses on the emergence and history of specific ethno-linguistic groups. One such hypothesis, offered here as an example, is that the wide distribution of Arawakan languages in greater Amazonia (from the Antilles to Bolivia) is the imprint not so much of ancient migrations as of a network of trade routes spanning much of the continent several centuries before European contact.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2007
Språk
Engelska
Fulltext
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Dokumenttyp
Konferensbidrag
Ämne
- Social and Economic Geography
Nyckelord
- trans-disciplinary analyses
- Prehistoric Amazonia
- archaeology
- geographical information system
- GIS
- material culture
- ecology
- ethno-linguistic groups
- regional system integration
- human ecology
- humanekologi
Conference name
The Origin of Man, Language and Languages (OMLL) - Final Conference
Conference date
2007-12-12
Status
Unpublished