Jorge G. Marcos’s predecessor investigations at the Marajó Island mounds

Record summary

Archaeological work and museum collecting on Marajó Island during the first half of the twentieth century expanded knowledge of Marajoara ceramics, mound settlements and elaborate funerary vessels. The lead matters for comparisons of Amazonian population history, environmental adaptation and claims that complex societies required outside migration. Earlier scholarship often used migrationist explanations for Amazonian monumental remains, whereas later research emphasizes local social organization and ecological diversity. Many objects lack secure excavation records because collecting preceded modern field methods.