TY - JOUR
T1 - Out of Amazonia: Late-Holocene climate change and the Tupi–Guarani trans-continental expansion
AU - Iriarte, José
AU - Smith, Richard J.
AU - Gregorio de Souza, Jonas
AU - Mayle, Francis Edward
AU - Whitney, Bronwen
AU - Cárdenas, Macarena Lucia
AU - Singarayer, Joy
AU - Carson, John F.
AU - Roy, Shovonlal
AU - Valdes, Paul
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - The late-Holocene expansion of the Tupi–Guarani languages from southern Amazonia to SE South America constitutes one of the largest expansions of any linguistic family in the world, spanning ~4000 km between latitudes 0°S and 35°S at about 2.5k cal. yr BP. However, the underlying reasons for this expansion are a matter of debate. Here, we compare continental-scale palaeoecological, palaeoclimate and archaeological datasets, to examine the role of climate change in facilitating the expansion of this forest-farming culture. Because this expansion lies within the path of the South American Low-Level Jet, the key mechanism for moisture transport across lowland South America, we were able to explore the relationship between climate change, forest expansion and the Tupi–Guarani. Our data synthesis shows broad synchrony between late-Holocene increasing precipitation and southerly expansion of both tropical forest and Guarani archaeological sites – the southernmost branch of the Tupi–Guarani. We conclude that climate change likely facilitated the agricultural expansion of the Guarani forest-farming culture by increasing the area of forested landscape that they could exploit, showing a prime example of ecological opportunism.
AB - The late-Holocene expansion of the Tupi–Guarani languages from southern Amazonia to SE South America constitutes one of the largest expansions of any linguistic family in the world, spanning ~4000 km between latitudes 0°S and 35°S at about 2.5k cal. yr BP. However, the underlying reasons for this expansion are a matter of debate. Here, we compare continental-scale palaeoecological, palaeoclimate and archaeological datasets, to examine the role of climate change in facilitating the expansion of this forest-farming culture. Because this expansion lies within the path of the South American Low-Level Jet, the key mechanism for moisture transport across lowland South America, we were able to explore the relationship between climate change, forest expansion and the Tupi–Guarani. Our data synthesis shows broad synchrony between late-Holocene increasing precipitation and southerly expansion of both tropical forest and Guarani archaeological sites – the southernmost branch of the Tupi–Guarani. We conclude that climate change likely facilitated the agricultural expansion of the Guarani forest-farming culture by increasing the area of forested landscape that they could exploit, showing a prime example of ecological opportunism.
KW - Amazonia
KW - human ecology
KW - language expansion
KW - late-Holocene climate change
KW - palaeoclimate
KW - Tupi–Guarani
U2 - 10.1177/0959683616678461
DO - 10.1177/0959683616678461
M3 - Article
VL - 27
SP - 967
EP - 975
JO - Holocene
JF - Holocene
SN - 0959-6836
IS - 7
ER -