120 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 146 
dependable and soils are sufficiently fertile to make agriculture feasi- 
ble. In aboriginal times, slash-and-burn technique characteristic of the 
Amazon Basin was practiced, resulting in a similar pattern of rela- 
tively small and frequently moved settlements, except along the shore 
where the added subsistence resources of the sea appear to have made 
larger and more permanent population concentrations possible. 
The attempt to summarize prehistoric cultural development in Bra- 
zil throws into sharp focus the geographical contrasts within the pres- 
ent political boundaries. A kind of cultural continental divide sep- 
arates the east-central and southern parts of the country from the 
Amazon Basin. Because of the contrasting environments and exposure 
to different sources of diffusion, it is difficult to relate the archeo- 
logical sequences in one region to those in the other. A summary of 
Brazilian prehistory must therefore be organized into two geographi- 
cal parts, the Amazon Basin and the coastal uplands from the State 
of Piaui southward to Rio Grande do Sul. 
THE AMAZON BASIN 
In proportion to its area the Amazon Basin has received less atten- 
tion from archeologists than any other part of the New World. Most 
of the work that has been done is concentrated in the vicinity of San- 
tarem and on the island of Marajo. However, we are now in possession 
of chronological information from eastern Peru (Lathrap, 1958), 
the middle Amazon (Hilbert, 1955, 1959b) and the lower Amazon 
(Hilbert, 1959a; Meggers and Evans, 1957), making possible a few 
suggestions about the origin and development of aboriginal culture. 
Throughout this vast region there is no reliable evidence as yet of 
human occupation prior to the introduction of the first pottery. Since 
Paleo-Indian materials have been reported in most of the surround- 
ing area, it must be concluded that the Amazon Basin was also in- 
habited in preceramic times. The alluvial nature of the soil, which re- 
stricts the availability of raw materials suitable for the manufacture 
of stone tools, and the density of the concealing vegetation could ac- 
count for the absence of such remains. Anything of bone or wood 
composition would not survive the tropical climate. Thus, while we 
may accept the hypothesis that the area was inhabited by wandering 
hunters and gatherers for undetermined thousands of years prior to 
the introduction of pottery, the archeological record begins at present 
only when pottery making is introduced. 
The earliest ceramic complex, represented so far at four sites dis- 
tributed from eastern Peru to the mouth of the Amazon (Tutish- 
cainyo, Yasuni, Jauari, Ananatuba), is characterized by broad-line in- 
