**4. Conclusion**

This chapter has shown that the pre-colonial Amazon peoples were well adapted to the environment and produced a rich art of strong social cohesion. Two types of the artefact of mobiliary art and one of the graphic art stand out in the conception of the indigenous art of stilt villages. The mobiliary art corresponds to the figurines, generally representing animals (zoomorphic design) and sometimes human beings mixed with animals and the appliques showing different animal shapes, especially mammals, amphibians and birds. Therefore, the art reveals the Perspectivism associated with the cosmologies involving mythical concepts. From the graphic art stands out the black and red paintings on white and cream engobe of the ceramic vessels. They contain geometric shapes which take up two distinct geometric fields, forming motifs resembling the skin of predatory animals.

Guss [45] has pointed out when postulating the relationship between myth and artefacts, that objects act as "subtexts" that provide an understanding of the functioning of society bringing them closer to their origins. In this sense, the artefacts imitate primaeval objects, as they are copies of this primordial world. This concept refers to what Gell [9] would call the object's enchantment.

Very likely the representation of animals in appliques and painting of Stilt Houses ceramics have a close connection with the creation myths among the precolonial peoples in Amazon. Snakes are mainly dwelling in the river, and therefore associated with the origin of human life. The Amazonian rivers, on the other hand, have many meanders remembering the shape of the undulating movement of the snakes. Serpents are also associated with fertility and in an aquatic environment where stilts were found, these myths could be very important as social cohesion.

In the river environment of Amazon frogs are other important animals [46]. These amphibians were associated with the fertility and they produce hallucinogenic substances that allowed the shamans to make their spiritual journeys [47]. Many Indian ceramics have frog-shaped appliques and the small size of these vessels indicates their use for the consumption of liquid drinks. Some scholars have argued that the abstract drawings in ceramics paintings and appliques could originate from the view of the visual illusions (phosphenes) caused by hallucination.

**155**

**Author details**

Alexandre Guida Navarro

provided the original work is properly cited.

Professor of Archaeology at Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: altardesacrificios@yahoo.com.br

*Ecology as Cosmology: Animal Myths of Amazonia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94177*

vessels alluded only the skin of these animals.

hierarchy, appearing only in painting and not in effigies.

with the pinnacle of the precolonial Amazonian societies.

On the other hand, the representation of mammals at the top of the food chain such as jaguars and monkeys may be associated with Amerindian perspectivism. Animals with aggressive characteristics in the ceramic appliques likely represented for the Indians a metaphor of power. It is also possible that these ceramics belonged to the chiefs. Often the animal itself was not represented, but the paintings of the

The bright colours of the Anacondas, as well as their ecological characteristics such as constriction and their large size, played an important role in their choice to symbolise the canoe snake. Nothing better than a strong and large animal to be used as a transport vehicle to populate the villages. The fact of knowing how to swim, like a canoe, corroborates that Anaconda has adequate properties for its appropriation as a narrative. In this sense, the Anaconda had a higher status in the animal

Finally, it has to be considered that the contemporary Stilt Houses, most of them

comprise the temporality of 800 to 1000 AD. So the long-range of their artistic ideologies in an extensive area, indicating firstly a cultural homogeneity of these societies, and, secondly, makes us think, even if hypothetically, that the existences of these chiefdoms of large regional scale between the 8th and 10th AD coincide

#### *Ecology as Cosmology: Animal Myths of Amazonia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94177*

*Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia*

**4. Conclusion**

**Figure 5.**

This chapter has shown that the pre-colonial Amazon peoples were well adapted to the environment and produced a rich art of strong social cohesion. Two types of the artefact of mobiliary art and one of the graphic art stand out in the conception of the indigenous art of stilt villages. The mobiliary art corresponds to the figurines, generally representing animals (zoomorphic design) and sometimes human beings mixed with animals and the appliques showing different animal shapes, especially mammals, amphibians and birds. Therefore, the art reveals the Perspectivism associated with the cosmologies involving mythical concepts. From the graphic art stands out the black and red paintings on white and cream engobe of the ceramic vessels. They contain geometric shapes which take up two distinct geometric fields,

Guss [45] has pointed out when postulating the relationship between myth and artefacts, that objects act as "subtexts" that provide an understanding of the functioning of society bringing them closer to their origins. In this sense, the artefacts imitate primaeval objects, as they are copies of this primordial world. This concept

Very likely the representation of animals in appliques and painting of Stilt Houses ceramics have a close connection with the creation myths among the precolonial peoples in Amazon. Snakes are mainly dwelling in the river, and therefore associated with the origin of human life. The Amazonian rivers, on the other hand, have many meanders remembering the shape of the undulating movement of the snakes. Serpents are also associated with fertility and in an aquatic environment where stilts were found, these myths could be very important as social cohesion. In the river environment of Amazon frogs are other important animals [46]. These amphibians were associated with the fertility and they produce hallucinogenic substances that allowed the shamans to make their spiritual journeys [47]. Many Indian ceramics have frog-shaped appliques and the small size of these vessels indicates their use for the consumption of liquid drinks. Some scholars have argued that the abstract drawings in ceramics paintings and appliques could originate from

the view of the visual illusions (phosphenes) caused by hallucination.

forming motifs resembling the skin of predatory animals.

*Vessel frog appliqué of the stilt villages. Photograph: Fábio Matta.*

refers to what Gell [9] would call the object's enchantment.

**154**

On the other hand, the representation of mammals at the top of the food chain such as jaguars and monkeys may be associated with Amerindian perspectivism. Animals with aggressive characteristics in the ceramic appliques likely represented for the Indians a metaphor of power. It is also possible that these ceramics belonged to the chiefs. Often the animal itself was not represented, but the paintings of the vessels alluded only the skin of these animals.

The bright colours of the Anacondas, as well as their ecological characteristics such as constriction and their large size, played an important role in their choice to symbolise the canoe snake. Nothing better than a strong and large animal to be used as a transport vehicle to populate the villages. The fact of knowing how to swim, like a canoe, corroborates that Anaconda has adequate properties for its appropriation as a narrative. In this sense, the Anaconda had a higher status in the animal hierarchy, appearing only in painting and not in effigies.

Finally, it has to be considered that the contemporary Stilt Houses, most of them comprise the temporality of 800 to 1000 AD. So the long-range of their artistic ideologies in an extensive area, indicating firstly a cultural homogeneity of these societies, and, secondly, makes us think, even if hypothetically, that the existences of these chiefdoms of large regional scale between the 8th and 10th AD coincide with the pinnacle of the precolonial Amazonian societies.
