Suspect 1: Tupian-Gê tribes
Suspect 5: Themselves?
Great! We'll start with number 1.
Suspect 1: Tupian-Gê tribes
Heckenberger devotes a great deal of his focus to assessing the likelihood of the presence of significant Tupian-Gê because, as we mentioned in the previous post, they are the only group of peoples that the Kuikuru cite as having attacked them in living memory. Heckenberger also characterizes these groups as being rather belligerent--a historical pattern, he furthers. Personally, such generalizations typically make me skeptical; can one really (fairly) paint an entire society as behaving a certain similar way? But the route of Heckenberger's analysis of this aspect was an interesting one: he examined their settlement patterns and compared these to those implicated by the prehistoric ruins. As someone who is using settlement patterns of a sort (the defensive ditches) to provide insight into a prehistoric culture, this angle is definitely one to which I can relate.
Let's start with the baseline: the Arawak settlement tendencies and the subsequent inferences that can be made about their lifestyles. The prehistoric Arawaks are renowned for their consistent tendency to adopt sedentary lifestyles. They form communities and invest quite a bit of time and effort in agricultural endeavours, especially in planting and harvesting manioc. Arawaks, and men in particular, would essentially fall under the career categories of "fisherman" and "gardener," then. And, we must not forget, Heckenberger's insistence that the Arawaks lived by a Xinguano-wide spirit of hospitality toward others.
Now, on the opposite side of the spectrum lie the Tupian-Gê tribes. Before we discuss their more detailed characteristics, I'd first like to explain what exactly is meant by "Tupian-Gê" (better late than never, right?) These are each a different society, though they share many common characteristics (hence the practice of clumping them together, hyphenated as such.) The Tupians posed a threat to the Arawaks from the north and west. Particularly belligerent were the Tupian groups of the Kayabi, Manitsaua, Kamayurá, Aueti and Arawine. (On an unrelated note, apparently the University of Oxford Writing and Style Guide has recently decided to eliminate the Oxford comma. You know, that comma that used to be used when listing a series of items (or Tupian tribes) between the last one and the "and." Not sure how I feel about this yet, but we'll go with it for now.) The Gê tribes, on the other hand, launched attacks from the south and east. This includes the Northern and Southern Kayapó and Xavante.
Now that we've got that cleared up, let's compare the Tupian-Gê groups and the Arawaks. Whereas the prehistoric Arawaks are known for their large settlements, the Tupian-Gê are infamous for their warrior traits. Think Athens (Arawaks) compared to the Spartans. The Gê-Bororo groups, for instance, have maintained a distinctly defined warrior class. (While Heckenberger does not provide evidence for us to determine how far back this class-formation extends (was it a prehistoric feature, or just a really old one?), we can feel relatively secure in concluding that this is almost assuredly a prehistoric feature given that they are so crisply defined today. Such a class is absent from modern Kuikuru society, and Heckenberger makes no reference to a similar warrior class occupying any place in the Kuikuru collective memory.) The fact that the Gê-Bororo society has a special niche for warriors suggests that battle (and war) must have been central parts of its operations. Indeed, Heckenberger cites that, among Tupians, expressing and acting upon hostility towards enemies provides a sort of "social cohesion" (140). What better way to bond than sitting around a fire examining each other's trophy heads? (Known as "anthropophagy," the gathering of heads (or, as Heckenberger explains on page 139, "some symbolic equivalent") as war-spoils was a ritualistic practice is central to at least the modern Tupians. Yikes!)
Another stark Arawak/Tupian-Gê contrast lies in the fact that the Tupian-Gê men were not "fishermen," and they certainly weren't "gardeners"--they were intense, ruthless hunters! Clearly the men of each of these opposing categories had different societal expectations. Yet what is perhaps even more revealing than this psychological implication is its reflection in the physical tendencies of the Tupian-Gê. Whereas the Arawaks develop sedentary communities, the Tupian-Gê tribes (and among these, the Tupian-Guarani in particular) have pretty much acquired legendary status for their practice of launching long-distance raids. On page 141, Heckenberger explains that sometimes the war parties could number several hundred people and terrorize occupations some hundreds to thousands of kilometers away!!!!!!! That just boggles my mind. Heckenberger does remark that a complete Tupian entrance into central Brazil is estimated to have occurred by the 1500's. Yet whereas such timeline information was the key piece of evidence used to clear two of our other suspects (the Caribs and the Portuguese explorers), the fact that the Tupian-Gê tribes have demonstrated the ability to conduct such extensive excursions with such a large attack force dampens the impact of the apparent mismatch of the 950 a.d. ditch construction with the stronger 1500s Tupian presence.
However, there is one consideration that must be made that throws a monkeywrench in this seemingly flawless case marking the Tupian-Gê tribes as the prime suspects. On page 141, Heckenberger informs us that Tupian-Gê sieges have been cited as occurring even before the landing of the Europeans. Because the complete expansion of the Tupian-Gê tribes into the UX also occurred around the same time as the Europeans' arrivals, if not later, then it stands to reason that these tribes were conducting their long-distance sieges well before they were completely established in the UX. But the question is: Just how long before the 1500s would the Tupian population have been large enough to feature a "warrior class" alone that included several hundred members? Would their population size around 950 a.d., when one of the earliest defensive trenches at X6: Nokugu was constructed, have been substantial enough that their warrior parties would appear menacing enough to construct defensive ditches? After all, if there weren't enough Tupian-Gê members to form such a significant war party to trek such a far distance, the epic long-distance attacks couldn't very well have occurred, could they have?
Overall, the sedentary, mellow Arawak lifestyle does not hint at any of the offense-oriented characteristics similar to those suggested by the highly mobile Tupian-Gê tribes suggest. The Tupian-Gê had even tailored their agricultural practices to match their faster-paced habits. Indeed, if you're organizing epic odyssies into the great unknown depths of the jungle with hundreds of warriors, are you really going to be able to afford to commit to the 18-month growth cycle of manioc like the Arawaks? I don't think so! Had fast-food chains existed at that point, the Tupian-Gê tribes probably would have been the restaurants' number one target-audience. These guys are all about the grab 'n go.
These are what I believe to be the most salient details regarding the Tupian-Gê tribes and their potential threat to the Arawak settlements. It's quite a bit of information to consider, so let's go back over the details:
Review: Suspect 1: Tupian-Gê tribes
Evidence in support of "Guilty"
- Militaristic Inclinations: The highly mobile settlement patterns of the Tupian-Gê tribes, as well as their inclusion of a distinct "warrior class" and the fact that scaring the pants off UX residents actually brings the group closer together, suggest that offensive warfare was an integral part of their lifestyle.
- Long-Distance Raids: The Tupian-Gê tribes are known to have traveled thousands of kilometers, lessening the significance of the fact that Tupians are not cited as having completely expanded into the UX region until the 1500s.
- Sizeable Population?: Though the Tupian-Gê tribes are cited as having launched long-distance sieges prior to the arrival of the Europeans, it is unknown when the tribes' populations would have first been able to support such a large "warrior class." Was 950 a.d. too early?
Suspect 1: Tupian-Gê tribes. Strong likelihood.
Hopefully some day there will be a breakthrough into our conception of prehistoric Amazonian civilization. But until then, just as the past of the ancient Arawaks remains vague, so, too, will the exact size of the Tupian-Gê tribes remain unknown.
To avoid drowning you in a monotonous string of (pictureless--sorry!) text, I will pick up the investigation of our fifth (and final) suspect, Suspect 5: Themselves?, in the next post. I will not bias your judgment by telling you how I feel about this party of interest, but I will say that it is a very interesting consideration and that I am very excited to explore it with you!
See you soon!
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