Muyrakyta ou muiraquita: um talismã arqueológico em jade procedente da amazônia: aspectos físicos, mineralogia, composição química e sua importância etnogeológica

Abstract

RESUMO -Os muiraquitãs são artefatos líticos com formas batraquianas confeccionados principalmente em pedra verde, tipo jade, utilizados pelos povos Tapajó/Santarém e Conduri do Baixo Amazonas, dizimados pelos colonizadores europeus. Eram utilizados como amuletos e como símbolo de poder e ainda como objeto de troca. Supunha-se que o jade viera da Ásia. Estudos mineralógicos e químicos em dez peças do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG), do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnografia (MAE) da Universidade de São Paulo e profa. Amarilis Tupiassu mostram que os muiraquitãs do MPEG e da profa. Amarilis são confeccionados em tremolita e os do MAE em actinolita, talco e pirofdita. Tremolita e actinolita são os minerais mais comuns de jade nefrítico, que não é assim tão raro. As microanálises químicas confirmam as determinações mineralógicas e ainda mostram que o jade do MAE contém sulfato e ferro ferroso. Tanto o jade do MPEG como do MAE diverge daquele de Baytinga (Amargosa-BA). Rochas ricas cm tremolita e actinolita são muito comuns no Proterozóico da Amazônia, encontrados tanto ao norte como ao sul da bacia, próximo na região do Baixo Amazonas, sendo desnecessário invocar uma fonte asiática para o jade dos muiraquitãs. Portanto se tornam vulneráveis às interpretações etnográficas e antropológicas com base em área asiática como fonte para a matéria-prima destes artefatos. Palavras-chave:Muyrakytã, muiraquitã, jade, nefrita, Amazônia, tremolita, actinolita Muyrakytã or Muiraquitã, an Archcological Jade Talisman from Amazonia: Physical Aspects, Mineralogy, Chemistry and its Etnographic and Geological Importance.ABSTRACT -Muiraquitãs arc frogshape stone artifacts made mainly in greenstones like jade, used by peoples of Tapajó/Santarém and Conduri tradition/culture from Lower Amazon region, which were extinguished by european colonizators. They used as amulets, symbol of power and as trade materials. The majority of studiers believe that the greenstone jade come from Asia and reinforce the peopling of South America from Asia through North America. Mineralogical and chemical analyses over ten pieces of muiraquitãs from Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG), Museu de Arqueologia e Etnografia from Universidade de São Paulo and from prof. Amarilis Tupiassu show that they are made of tremolite for MPEG and prof. Amarilis and actinolite, talc and pyrphyllite for MAE. Tremolite and actinolite are the most common minerals of the nephritic jade, which is not too rare. The microchemical analysis aggree with the min differ from the jade of muiraquitã of MPEG. Both jade can not be correlated with the jade of Baytinga (Amargosa-BA). Tremolite and actinolite are common minerals in proterozoic muiraquitãs as well as the interpretation of a peopling move from Asia to South America trough North America.

Lapidary production in the eastern Caribbean: a typo-technological and microwear study of ornaments from the site of Pearls, Grenada

“…However, the sources of most raw materials remain uncertain. For instance, nephrite sources may be located in the Brazilian Amazon (Costa et al 2002) or in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Acevedo Gómez et al 2018). Turquoise veins have been reported from St. John (Virgin Islands) (Alminas et al 1994;Knippenberg 2007, 152) and from near the mouth of the Amazon River (Costa et al 2004).…”

Mineralogy and chemistry of the green stone artifacts (muiraquitãs) of the museums of the Brazilian State of Pará

“…The main constituents can be one or even two of the following minerals: quartz (SiO 2 ), tremolite to tremoliteactinolite Ca 2 (Mg,Fe) 5 Seven muiraquitãs from these museums (catalog numbers 504, 508, 510, 516, 517, 526, and 527) were registered as being made of jadeite, but they were in fact sculpted in quartz, a material distinct from jade. However, in contrast with the analyses of Costa et al (2002a), which concluded that none of the specimens analyzed from the MAE and Museu Goeldi were made of jadeite, four pieces from the Museu do Encontro (catalog numbers 518, 519, 523, and 524) are made of this material. Another seven pieces (catalog numbers 512-515, 521, 522 and 523) are constituted of albite, plus microcline and quartz, rather than amazonite, as recorded in the collection.…”

“…Most of the reports and publications on these artifacts (Rodrigues, 1899;Moraes, 1932;Koehler, 1951;Barata, 1954;Boomert, 1987;Silva et al, 1997;Costa et al, 2002aCosta et al, , 2002b indicate that the muiraquitãs are generally made of nephritic jade, a hard, greenish, microfibrous material normally considered to be a rock, rather than a mineral. Jade may be constituted either of jadeite (NaAlSi 2 O 6 ) or nephrite, which is normally formed by tremolite or tremolite-actinolite Ca 2 (Mg,Fe) 5 (Si 8 O 22 )(OH) 2 .…”

“…This hypothesis was nevertheless rejected by a number of subsequent authors (Fischer, 1884;Moraes, 1932;Kohler, 1951;Boomert, 1987). The jade of the muiraquitãs may have been originated in the Amazon basin, given the abundance of rocks rich in tremolite and/or tremolite-actinolite in many of the region's geological domains (Costa et al, 2002a).…”

“…The first mineralogical investigation of the muiraquitãs (Costa et al, 2002a) was restricted to the MAE collection and pieces owned by private collectors from the city of Belém. More recently, it has been possible to examine a much larger number of specimens available in the collection held by the Pará State museums providing a much more reliable sampling for the mineralogical analysis of these artifacts, and the discussion of their probable origin and use.…”