page_title: Marajoara culture
section_title: Artifacts
hierarchical_section_title: Marajoara culture / Artifacts
caption_attribution_description: English: Large funerary vessel. Marajo island, Brazil, Joanes style, Marajoara phase. Français&#160;: Grande urne funéraire. Île de Marajo, Brésil, Groupe des agriculteurs subandins, style Joanes peint, phase Marajoara.
context_page_description: The Marajoara or Marajó culture was a pre-Columbian era society that flourished on Marajó island at the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. In a survey, Charles C. Mann suggests the culture appeared to flourish between 800 AD and 1400 AD, based on archeological studies. Researchers have documented that there was human activity at these sites as early as 1000 BC. The culture seems to have persisted into the colonial era.
context_section_description: Travelers in the 1800s noted both the presence of mounds and the beauty of the ceramics found inside them or exposed on their sides. Museums in Europe and the United States began to collect some of the larger and more beautiful pieces, the largest of which are funerary urns. Buried in house floors constructed on the tops of the mounds, the elaborately decorated urns contain the remains of significant individuals. When the individuals died, the flesh was cleared from their bones and the remains were placed in the urns, which were topped with a bowl or platter.
  The people on Marajo produced many diverse artifacts (Roosevelt 1991: 59-60).
  Pottery vessels
  Urns, jars, bottles, cups, bowls, plates, dishes
  Three functions (Roosevelt 1991: 402)
  Utilitarian pottery for everyday use
  Everyday food containers
  Elaborate containers
  Figurines, large statues, pubic covers, pendants, ear and lip jewelry, whistles, spindle whorls, and ceramic miniatures of axes, mashers, hammers, and other tools
  Lithics were very rare because Marajo island has no source of suitable stone (Roosevelt 1991: 9, 348; Meggers 1957: 371)
  Lithics that have been found suggest they were used as high-status items and gifts, or they were used in craft production (Roosevelt 1991: 396)
  Basketry, woodworking, pottery-manufacture, food preparation
  Elaborate pottery vessels were found in garbage fills between houses and in graves, but not around hearths, which contained only plain domestic wares (Roosevelt 1991: 37, 402)
  Additionally, the low mound and non-mound sites contain very little if any fineware (Roosevelt 1991: 37)
  Some artifacts are found only at specific sites
  Teso dos Bichos contains thousands of small ceramic and sandstone abraders, which are very rare or absent from other sites (Roosevelt 1991: 37)
  The general pattern of change found throughout artifacts on Marajo, especially in ceramics, is one that moves toward more complex, elaborate, and specialized wares through the Marajoara Phase. But later in the Marajoara Phase, specialization and complexity declined. (Roosevelt 1991; Meggers 1957).
caption: Funerary urn, Collection H. Law
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