Michael J. Heckenberger - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Michael J. Heckenberger

The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 2008

Resumos dos trabalhos, 2007

American Anthropologist, 2001

ABSTRACT Peoples of the Gran Chaco. Elmer S. Miller. ed. Westport, CO: Bergin and Garvey, 1999. v... more ABSTRACT Peoples of the Gran Chaco. Elmer S. Miller. ed. Westport, CO: Bergin and Garvey, 1999. vii. 166 pp., illustrations, maps, photographs, index.

Annals of the Carnegie Museum

The Ecology of Power, 2004

Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology, 2006

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

In Darkness and Secrecy, 2004

Anuário Antropológico, 2014

1550-1650, including widespread forest fallowing that resulted in the closed forest conditions th... more 1550-1650, including widespread forest fallowing that resulted in the closed forest conditions that prevail across the area today (Dull et al., 2010). The Upper Xingu is a "hotspot" of both biodiversity and cultural and historical diversity, including the legacy of large settled Amerindian communities in substantially modified and, in several cases, carefully engineered landscapes. There is a significant disconnect, however, between historical and ecological analyses, including incorporation of indigenous voices and local participants, despite widespread use of the term "socio-ecological" in recent literature (Brondizio et al., 2009). The even more critical point is that these voices must be incorporated into global discourses, and the institutional structure of governance in broader society, not merely as evolutionists have wanted them to be: primitives. To avoid the "willful ignorance" of this imperative in contemporary research, by stranding indigenous groups in a state of "suspended animation," the primitive (Ramos, 1998). They are both stakeholders and partners in contemporary struggles. In Amazonia, and in many parts of the Global South and, particularly, Native America, this depends on archaeology, as much as any other single discipline, to bridge social, historical and ecological perspectives. To address complex issues of economic, social and environmental sustainability in the Amazon, collaborative research networks are needed to produce shared interdisciplinary and multi-scalar understandings of coupled ecological and socio-historical systems. Within these networks, archaeology takes on an expanded role, far greater than many other world areas, to understanding long-term human-natural systems and as a means to promote greater integration between scientific research and broader society needed within the context of sustainability. This is also the unique contribution of the Amazon to archaeology and world history, as the last area of the world to be fully embraced as a global macro-region no less eventful or driven by large-scale forces, including colonialism, native empires, social networks, including large interconnected polities and anthropogenic transformations, and the knowledge production industry itself. Specifically, integrated Xingu basin-wide research coordination networks aimed to document, preserve and monitor cultural heritage and biodiversity resources are a widely anticipated direction for all future research in the region. Research at the meso-scale of regions and large protected areas are needed to articulate local contexts to larger areas, in this case non-indigenous areas, and larger-scale drivers, such as climate and economic development, such as agriculture, hydro-dams and urbanism. Such basin-wide or similar meso-scale regional studies in Amazonia depend on research strategies that articulate indigenous

Proceedings of The 2nd World Sustainability Forum, 2012

In Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902), Ebenezer Howard proposed a model of sustainable urban develo... more In Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902), Ebenezer Howard proposed a model of sustainable urban development, "garden cities." as an alternative to industrial urbanism. A forerunner of the urban green movement, he envisioned a type of galactic urbanism as an alternative to industrial urbanism. The model proposed tightly integrated networks of towns, each gravitating around a central public park, orbiting around a core town. Towns were linked by well-developed transportation and communication networks and the multi-centric form produced a more subtle gradient between urban and rural areas and coupled with well-developed transportation networks. Recent archaeology and indigenous history conducted in the Upper Xingu area has revealed small garden city-like clusters of settlements, composed of a central plaza settlement and four cardinally oriented satellite plaza settlements, tightly integrated by major roads and surrounded by mosaic countryside of fields, orchards, gardens, and forest. Far from stereotypical models of small tropical forest tribes, these patterns were carefully engineered to work with the forest and wetland ecologies in complex urbanized networks. Such multi-centric, networked forms were quite common, if not typical, in many parts of the pre-Industrial world, particularly major forest regions. This paper explores land-use and dynamic change in coupled human-natural systems, or bio-historical diversity, during the past millennium in the Upper Xingu. In particular, it examines how archaeology and historical memory not only provide means to consider what the Amazon was like 500 years ago but also have vital implications to urgent questions of sustainability and cultural heritage and rights in the face of rapid landscape change related to economic development in the southern Amazon, the "arc of deforestation." It promotes grounded or context-specific participatory approaches to sustainable development, which require robust collaboration between diverse stakeholders, each with very different social and cultural values and interests.

Practicing Anthropology, 2004

Not so long ago, most anthropologists held a view of pre-Columbian Amazonian peoples as fairly un... more Not so long ago, most anthropologists held a view of pre-Columbian Amazonian peoples as fairly uniform across the region and roughly identical to 20th century ethnographic groups- a view based on very scanty direct evidence. Attention was therefore directed at contemporary social forms and singlesited ethnography, which seemed well suited to studying the small, dispersed, and autonomous villages of the region. In recent decades, archaeology and ethnohistory document much greater variability through time and space, notably complex, regional social formations and broad regional social networks. At the same time, contemporary issues of cultural ‘property’ rights have drawn attention to the agency and dynamism of indigenous social formations. In light of new views on Amazonia, as dynamic, diverse, and unpredictable, the unique ability of archaeologists to consider longterm change provides a critical perspective in regional ethnology, although in-depth archaeological investigations are r...

Annual Review of Anthropology, 2009

Amazonian archaeology has made major advances in recent decades, particularly in understanding co... more Amazonian archaeology has made major advances in recent decades, particularly in understanding coupled human environmental systems. Like other tropical forest regions, prehistoric social formations were long portrayed as small-scale, dispersed communities that differed little in organization from recent indigenous societies and had negligible impacts on the essentially pristine forest. Archaeology documents substantial variation that, while showing similarities to other world regions, presents novel pathways of early foraging and domestication, semi-intensive resource management, and domesticated landscapes associated with diverse small- and medium-sized complex societies. Late prehistoric regional polities were articulated in broad regional political economies, which collapsed in the aftermath of European contact. Field methods have also changed dramatically through in-depth local and regional studies, interdisciplinary approaches, and multicultural collaborations, notably with ind...

Global Journal of Human-Social Science, 2020

The nature and degree of human modifications of humid tropical forests in Amazonia have been wide... more The nature and degree of human modifications of humid tropical forests in Amazonia have been widely debated over the past two decades. Many regions provide significant evidence of late Holocene anthropogenic influence by settled populations, but the antiquity of human interventions is still poorly understood due to a lack of earlier archaeological sites across the broad region, particularly pertaining to the mid-Holocene. Here we report on Amerindian occupations spanning the period from ca. 6000-3000 BP along the middle Berbice River, Guyana, including early evidence in Amazonia of cultural practices widely considered indicative of settled villages, notably terra preta or “black earth” soils, mound construction, and ceramic technology. These more settled occupations of the mid-Holocene initiated a trajectory of landscape domestication extending into historical times, including larger-scale late Holocene social formations. Collaborative research with local indigenous communities, inc...

Ecology and Society, 2017

Human Ecology, 2017

This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contempo... more This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contemporary indigenous peoples. Through semi-structured interviews and quantitative analyses of long-term changes in artistic knowledge among three geographically displaced Kaiabi (Kawaiwete) we found an association between language proficiency and gender with greater IK retention, and formal schooling with IK erosion. Six mechanisms of innovation in knowledge of basketry and textiles among men and women were documented. A mixed mode of collaborative learning and knowledge transmission involving diverse actors emerged from community workshops and group forums. Innovative mechanisms for cultural transmission have taken advantage of media, technology, and non-indigenous support organizations to expand weaving knowledge of basketry designs. Our results illustrate how indigenous peoples actively shape cultural transmission and change, as well as the role that public policies and academic research may play in these processes.

Typological Studies in Language, 2008

In this article we present results from interdisciplinary research among the Kuikuro of the Upper... more In this article we present results from interdisciplinary research among the Kuikuro of the Upper Xingu (Brazil). The project integrates linguistic, ethnographic and archaeological data as a means to reconstruct the processes through which peoples speaking languages of the three largest South American linguistic groupings (Arawak, Carib, and Tupi), as well as a language isolate (Trumai), came to create a unique social system: the Upper Xingu sociocultural complex. We address the following questions: how did this system – spanning from the 9th century AD until the present and formed by peoples with distinct cultures and origins – come into being? Which cultural bases and historical circumstances led to its structuring? What role did language and multilingualism play in this process?

The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 2008

Resumos dos trabalhos, 2007

American Anthropologist, 2001

ABSTRACT Peoples of the Gran Chaco. Elmer S. Miller. ed. Westport, CO: Bergin and Garvey, 1999. v... more ABSTRACT Peoples of the Gran Chaco. Elmer S. Miller. ed. Westport, CO: Bergin and Garvey, 1999. vii. 166 pp., illustrations, maps, photographs, index.

Annals of the Carnegie Museum

The Ecology of Power, 2004

Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology, 2006

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

In Darkness and Secrecy, 2004

Anuário Antropológico, 2014

1550-1650, including widespread forest fallowing that resulted in the closed forest conditions th... more 1550-1650, including widespread forest fallowing that resulted in the closed forest conditions that prevail across the area today (Dull et al., 2010). The Upper Xingu is a "hotspot" of both biodiversity and cultural and historical diversity, including the legacy of large settled Amerindian communities in substantially modified and, in several cases, carefully engineered landscapes. There is a significant disconnect, however, between historical and ecological analyses, including incorporation of indigenous voices and local participants, despite widespread use of the term "socio-ecological" in recent literature (Brondizio et al., 2009). The even more critical point is that these voices must be incorporated into global discourses, and the institutional structure of governance in broader society, not merely as evolutionists have wanted them to be: primitives. To avoid the "willful ignorance" of this imperative in contemporary research, by stranding indigenous groups in a state of "suspended animation," the primitive (Ramos, 1998). They are both stakeholders and partners in contemporary struggles. In Amazonia, and in many parts of the Global South and, particularly, Native America, this depends on archaeology, as much as any other single discipline, to bridge social, historical and ecological perspectives. To address complex issues of economic, social and environmental sustainability in the Amazon, collaborative research networks are needed to produce shared interdisciplinary and multi-scalar understandings of coupled ecological and socio-historical systems. Within these networks, archaeology takes on an expanded role, far greater than many other world areas, to understanding long-term human-natural systems and as a means to promote greater integration between scientific research and broader society needed within the context of sustainability. This is also the unique contribution of the Amazon to archaeology and world history, as the last area of the world to be fully embraced as a global macro-region no less eventful or driven by large-scale forces, including colonialism, native empires, social networks, including large interconnected polities and anthropogenic transformations, and the knowledge production industry itself. Specifically, integrated Xingu basin-wide research coordination networks aimed to document, preserve and monitor cultural heritage and biodiversity resources are a widely anticipated direction for all future research in the region. Research at the meso-scale of regions and large protected areas are needed to articulate local contexts to larger areas, in this case non-indigenous areas, and larger-scale drivers, such as climate and economic development, such as agriculture, hydro-dams and urbanism. Such basin-wide or similar meso-scale regional studies in Amazonia depend on research strategies that articulate indigenous

Proceedings of The 2nd World Sustainability Forum, 2012

In Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902), Ebenezer Howard proposed a model of sustainable urban develo... more In Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902), Ebenezer Howard proposed a model of sustainable urban development, "garden cities." as an alternative to industrial urbanism. A forerunner of the urban green movement, he envisioned a type of galactic urbanism as an alternative to industrial urbanism. The model proposed tightly integrated networks of towns, each gravitating around a central public park, orbiting around a core town. Towns were linked by well-developed transportation and communication networks and the multi-centric form produced a more subtle gradient between urban and rural areas and coupled with well-developed transportation networks. Recent archaeology and indigenous history conducted in the Upper Xingu area has revealed small garden city-like clusters of settlements, composed of a central plaza settlement and four cardinally oriented satellite plaza settlements, tightly integrated by major roads and surrounded by mosaic countryside of fields, orchards, gardens, and forest. Far from stereotypical models of small tropical forest tribes, these patterns were carefully engineered to work with the forest and wetland ecologies in complex urbanized networks. Such multi-centric, networked forms were quite common, if not typical, in many parts of the pre-Industrial world, particularly major forest regions. This paper explores land-use and dynamic change in coupled human-natural systems, or bio-historical diversity, during the past millennium in the Upper Xingu. In particular, it examines how archaeology and historical memory not only provide means to consider what the Amazon was like 500 years ago but also have vital implications to urgent questions of sustainability and cultural heritage and rights in the face of rapid landscape change related to economic development in the southern Amazon, the "arc of deforestation." It promotes grounded or context-specific participatory approaches to sustainable development, which require robust collaboration between diverse stakeholders, each with very different social and cultural values and interests.

Practicing Anthropology, 2004

Not so long ago, most anthropologists held a view of pre-Columbian Amazonian peoples as fairly un... more Not so long ago, most anthropologists held a view of pre-Columbian Amazonian peoples as fairly uniform across the region and roughly identical to 20th century ethnographic groups- a view based on very scanty direct evidence. Attention was therefore directed at contemporary social forms and singlesited ethnography, which seemed well suited to studying the small, dispersed, and autonomous villages of the region. In recent decades, archaeology and ethnohistory document much greater variability through time and space, notably complex, regional social formations and broad regional social networks. At the same time, contemporary issues of cultural ‘property’ rights have drawn attention to the agency and dynamism of indigenous social formations. In light of new views on Amazonia, as dynamic, diverse, and unpredictable, the unique ability of archaeologists to consider longterm change provides a critical perspective in regional ethnology, although in-depth archaeological investigations are r...

Annual Review of Anthropology, 2009

Amazonian archaeology has made major advances in recent decades, particularly in understanding co... more Amazonian archaeology has made major advances in recent decades, particularly in understanding coupled human environmental systems. Like other tropical forest regions, prehistoric social formations were long portrayed as small-scale, dispersed communities that differed little in organization from recent indigenous societies and had negligible impacts on the essentially pristine forest. Archaeology documents substantial variation that, while showing similarities to other world regions, presents novel pathways of early foraging and domestication, semi-intensive resource management, and domesticated landscapes associated with diverse small- and medium-sized complex societies. Late prehistoric regional polities were articulated in broad regional political economies, which collapsed in the aftermath of European contact. Field methods have also changed dramatically through in-depth local and regional studies, interdisciplinary approaches, and multicultural collaborations, notably with ind...

Global Journal of Human-Social Science, 2020

The nature and degree of human modifications of humid tropical forests in Amazonia have been wide... more The nature and degree of human modifications of humid tropical forests in Amazonia have been widely debated over the past two decades. Many regions provide significant evidence of late Holocene anthropogenic influence by settled populations, but the antiquity of human interventions is still poorly understood due to a lack of earlier archaeological sites across the broad region, particularly pertaining to the mid-Holocene. Here we report on Amerindian occupations spanning the period from ca. 6000-3000 BP along the middle Berbice River, Guyana, including early evidence in Amazonia of cultural practices widely considered indicative of settled villages, notably terra preta or “black earth” soils, mound construction, and ceramic technology. These more settled occupations of the mid-Holocene initiated a trajectory of landscape domestication extending into historical times, including larger-scale late Holocene social formations. Collaborative research with local indigenous communities, inc...

Ecology and Society, 2017

Human Ecology, 2017

This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contempo... more This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contemporary indigenous peoples. Through semi-structured interviews and quantitative analyses of long-term changes in artistic knowledge among three geographically displaced Kaiabi (Kawaiwete) we found an association between language proficiency and gender with greater IK retention, and formal schooling with IK erosion. Six mechanisms of innovation in knowledge of basketry and textiles among men and women were documented. A mixed mode of collaborative learning and knowledge transmission involving diverse actors emerged from community workshops and group forums. Innovative mechanisms for cultural transmission have taken advantage of media, technology, and non-indigenous support organizations to expand weaving knowledge of basketry designs. Our results illustrate how indigenous peoples actively shape cultural transmission and change, as well as the role that public policies and academic research may play in these processes.

Typological Studies in Language, 2008

In this article we present results from interdisciplinary research among the Kuikuro of the Upper... more In this article we present results from interdisciplinary research among the Kuikuro of the Upper Xingu (Brazil). The project integrates linguistic, ethnographic and archaeological data as a means to reconstruct the processes through which peoples speaking languages of the three largest South American linguistic groupings (Arawak, Carib, and Tupi), as well as a language isolate (Trumai), came to create a unique social system: the Upper Xingu sociocultural complex. We address the following questions: how did this system – spanning from the 9th century AD until the present and formed by peoples with distinct cultures and origins – come into being? Which cultural bases and historical circumstances led to its structuring? What role did language and multilingualism play in this process?

Science, 2008

The archaeology of pre-Columbian polities in the Amazon River basin forces a reconsideration of e... more The archaeology of pre-Columbian polities in the Amazon River basin forces a reconsideration of early urbanism and long-term change in tropical forest landscapes. We describe settlement and
land-use patterns of complex societies on the eve of European contact (after 1492) in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. These societies were organized in articulated clusters,
representing small independent polities, within a regional peer polity. These patterns constitute a “galactic” form of prehistoric urbanism, sharing features with small-scale urban polities in other
areas. Understanding long-term change in coupled human environment systems relating to these societies has implications for conservation and sustainable development, notably to control
ecological degradation and maintain regional biodiversity.

Science, 2003

Archaeology and indigenous history of Native Amazonian peoples in the Upper Xingu region of Brazi... more Archaeology and indigenous history of Native Amazonian peoples in the Upper Xingu region of Brazil reveal unexpectedly complex regional settlement patterns and large-scale transformations of local landscapes over the past millennium. Mapping and excavation of archaeological structures document pronounced human-induced alteration of the forest cover, particularly in relation to large, dense late-prehistoric settlements (circa 1200 to 1600 A.D.). The findings contribute to debates on human carrying capacity, population size and settlement patterns, anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and the importance of indigenous knowledge, as well as contributing to the pride of place of the native peoples in this part of the Amazon.

As Terra Pretas de Índio da Amazônia: Sua Caracterização e Uso deste Conhecimento na Criação de Novas Áreas, 2009

A pesquisa está sendo desenvolvida no contexto de uma tese de doutorado e faz parte de um projeto... more A pesquisa está sendo desenvolvida no contexto de uma tese de doutorado e faz parte de um projeto mais amplo intitulado Southern Amazon Ethnoarchaeology que incorpora arqueologia, história oral e etnografia. Seu principal objetivo é entender a pré-história e a história da sociedade xinguana,com ênfase no uso de recursos, cultura material, organização espacial, padrões de assentamentos regionais e organização política e ritual. O projeto tem o apoio do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi e o do Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Nos anos de 2002-2005 foi realizado o mapeamento e caracterização dos sítios pré-históricos dentro do território da etnia Kuikuro (Xinguano). A área possui aproximadamente de 1.200 km² e foi definida através de levantamentos regionais, mapeamentos de sítios e estudos cronológicos iniciados 1 O doutorado está sendo desenvolvido por Morgan J. Schmidt no Departamento de Geografia da Universidade da Flórida com orientação Nigel J.H. Smith e Michael J. Heckenberger do Departamento de Arqueologia.