Interacciones humanos-tiburones en libros de crónicas de los siglos XVI y XVII: Una rica fuente de información para los estudios de zooarqueología brasileños

Abstract

Sharks teeth are abundant in Brazilian coastal archaeological sites. The interaction between natives and sharks, including the capture and differentiated use of this resource, however, has been little discussed probably due to the lack of consistent material evidences and methodologies of analysis that supports more elaborate inferences. In the face of gaps in the data obtained for archaeological contexts, the use of travelling chroniclers' accounts of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a rich source of information is a common methodology among social scientists who study the past. The objective of this article is to present the reports available in the traveller's literature about the interaction between native groups of the south and southeast Brazilian coast and sharks, demonstrating their importance as useful data sources for discussions on the matter.

Ornament, Weapon, or Tool? Microwear Analysis of Shark Teeth from the Rio Do Meio Site in Florianópolis, Brazil

“…The use of shark teeth as arrowheads by Brazilian coastal groups was also acknowledged by Hans Staden (1525-1576), a German gunner hired by the Portuguese Crown who was a captive of the Tupinambá natives for nine months. The Jesuit priest Fernão Cardim (1548Cardim ( -1625, who lived for several years in Rio de Janeiro (Gilson and Lessa 2019a), also mentioned the use of shark teeth as arrowheads. In this study, we confirm this function through the identification of typical breakage patterns.…”

“…Catching sharks was more than a mere subsistence activity, and we should consider other uses for shark bones and teeth in archaeological assemblages. These uses were described as early as the sixteenth century in the chronicles of Gabriel Soares de Souza, who mentioned shark fishing by Brazilian native groups in 1587 (Gilson and Lessa 2019a). The Portuguese explorer and naturalist suggested that the main goal of this dangerous activity was to obtain the teeth of the animals, although he did not specify for what uses.…”

“…The authors suggested that the north bay of Santa Catarina Island was the most likely capture area, where sharks were abundant until the 1970s. Regarding capture techniques, at least two can be posited: (1) hunting in shallow water with sharpened wooden sticks used as stabbing weapons, as described in ethnohistorical records (Gilson and Lessa 2019a, 2021b); and (2) netting as suggested by a recent zooarchaeological study (Gilson and Lessa 2021b). Both techniques may have flourished concurrently, along with other possible techniques such as water poisoning and the use of projectiles (Gilson and Lessa 2021b).…”

“…More recently, analysis of ethnohistoric documents has undergirded the development of an anthropological perspective on the relationship between sharks and humans on the Brazilian coast. European chroniclers who traveled along the coast during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries described the use of shark teeth as arrowheads by ancient populations (Gilson and Lessa 2019a).…”