This paper briefly reports on the initial results of a new Leverhulme-sponsored four-year archaeological project (RPG 234-2014) centred on the Átures Rapids area of the Middle Orinoco River, Amazonas State, Venezuela (Fig. 1). The Cotúa Island Reflexive Archaeology Project seeks to establish the longue durée historical processes that by early colonial times culminated in the region's reputation for being a key crossroads-where diverse ethno-linguistic groups from far-flung regions converged to trade (Oliver et al. 2014). Harnessing new evidence, it aims to elucidate how interaction between such diverse indigenous groups unfolded and the role it played in forging ethnogenesis. Through archaeological research, it seeks to gain new insights into its history and elucidate regional patterns of exchange through the study of technical and stylistic dimensions of material culture. It also aims to investigate the abundant pre-colonial rock art and its relationships to the landscape and aboriginal oral traditions. Finally, it seeks to understand how Western and Non-western archaeological knowledge is produced by engaging with the current indigenous groups as partners in (re) constructing history.

La arqueología del medio río Caquetá, en la Amazonía colombiana, se conoció recién en los 1970s a partir de los resultados de proyectos de investigación pioneros en Araracuara y La Pedrera. Estas investigaciones identificaron secuencias cerámicas diferentes en cada localidad, documentaron una gran cantidad de petroglifos y, por primera vez, registraron suelos antrópicos negros y pardos en el Noroeste Amazónico. Investigaciones posteriores enfatizaron el estudio de archivos ambientales (arqueobotánicos y geoarqueológicos) y registraron ocupaciones pre-cerámicas del Holoceno temprano y medio. Éstas son particularmente importantes debido a que los datos arqueobotánicos asociados sugieren que las poblaciones de la región cultivaron tempranamente una variedad de plantas comestibles, varias de ellas domesticadas en otras regiones. Sin embargo, la arqueología del medio río Caquetá todavía presenta una serie de interrogantes importantes respecto de las ocupaciones del pre-cerámico y de los extensos sitios de habitación de grupos alfareros. Con respecto a estos últimos, es particularmente importante evaluar hasta qué punto estas ocupaciones se pueden enmarcar en las grandes tradiciones cerámicas conocidas para la Amazonía y la cuenca del Orinoco. En este artículo resumimos la información existente sobre la arqueología del medio río Caquetá y presentamos nuevos datos preliminares producidos en los últimos años, ello con el objetivo de evaluar el estado de nuestros conocimientos y fomentar el desarrollo de futuras investigaciones arqueológicas en la región.

The area of the Atures Rapids in the Middle Orinoco River (Venezuela), where multiple Indigenous communities gathered to trade goods, has been identified as a prominent center of commerce since early colonial times. However, the exchange activities taking place there between local and nonlocal actors before European colonization are poorly understood, based only on the ethnohistoric record. This article presents an archaeometric analysis of stone beads and ceramic roller stamps, items previously associated with trade practices, from two recently excavated sites in the region, Picure (AD 1030–1480) and Rabo de Cochino (AD 1000–1440); it assesses their provenance, production, and value. We propose that Picure was a site of a bead-manufacturing workshop and a place where roller stamps were exchanged. The stamps were acquired and produced by different potting groups. Analysis of the chaîne opératoire and production techniques shows processes of adaptation and emulation associated with the multiple, multiethnic communities during the period from AD 1000 to 1480. Both beads and stamps are linked to identity regalia that were likely used as part of ceremonies taking place in the area of the Rapids, as indicated by the numerous and monumental petroglyphs found on the islands.

The Culebra site, located in close proximity to the Atures Rapids, is one of the very few open-air occupations in the entire Orinoco valley that is thought to date to the early Holocene. Following renewed excavations in this location, we characterize the stone technology in unprecedented detail and perform both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the assemblage deposited in the first cultural layers. Additionally, we directly date the sediment forming the depositional context of the assemblage using stratigraphically stable components of soil organic matter. Coupled with our stratigraphic and paedological data, the deposit is, contrary to established estimates, shown to date to the late Holocene, well after the appearance of ceramics in the region. The toolkit identified through the lithic analysis, therefore, does not reflect an Archaic hunter–gatherer adaptation as previously assumed. Our findings are placed in the context of previous research in the Orinoco and lowland South America more broadly. More work is needed to understand the changing role of different stone tool reduction sequences with reference to adaptational strategies and bioclimatic variability.

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