colour scheme
Collecting context
History, Cultural Groups, Material Culture
To understand the objects at RAMM, it is necessary to understand the cultural and historical contexts in which they were made and collected. RAMM's collections come from widely dispersed areas of the Amazon. Greater Amazonia is also known as lowland South America because it encompasses other river basins.
It is centred on Brazil but includes parts of surrounding nations including those represented in RAMM's collections. The history of the region before and since the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500 is vast, and cannot be recounted here. This section serves as a bibliographic essay, an explanatory companion to the bibliography itself, pointing the way to sources where further information may be found.
Most of RAMM's collections were made in the later nineteenth century or early twentieth century, a time when colonialism was at its apex. As the exact origins of the Peek collection are unknown, there is a possibility that this may include early nineteenth century or even eighteenth century items. Most history books do not deal specifically with material culture, though some mention it in passing. Following the section on history, cultural groups and material culture will be discussed in turn.
History
For an authoritative overview of the Amazon region's history, see Hemming's classic historical trilogy (2004), Red Gold, Amazon Frontier and Die if you Must. The first volume deals with the early historical era, from 1500 to the early nineteenth century.
The second volume covers the time of most rapid European expansion, the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, notably the 'rubber boom' of circa 1910. Much has been written about the scandalous treatment of indigenous peoples in the North West Amazon region during the rubber boom, which can in some ways be seen as a microcosm of the region's history as a whole, although RAMM's collection contains little material from this area.
Cadbury 2002 and 2004 contain detailed bibliographies pertaining to this case study. Hemming's third volume brings the story up-to-date and addresses contemporary problems experienced by indigenous Amazonians today.
For a briefer summary of Amazon history, see Hemming's in McEwan et. al. (2001), discussed below. Other history books currently available, covering the general South American context rather than indigenous people specifically, include Burns (1993) on Brazilian history, Chasteen's (2001) historical overview of Latin American history and Skidmore & Smith (1989) on nineteenth and twentieth century Latin America. The website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gives a useful timeline of South American history.
In addition to the publications described below, there are recent popular illustrated introductions to Amazon people and history, such as Payne et. al. (1994), Wallace (2003) and Storm & Carter, though these tend to be less accurate. Gheerbrant (1992) gives an accessible and highly illustrated overview of Amazon history since 1500.
Salomon & Schwartz (1999), present a survey of the indigenous peoples of South America from the earliest peopling of the continent to the present, emphasising general themes rather than presenting every group and society individually.
However, the work includes detailed histories of specific cultural groups, particularly in relation to their encounters with Europeans. Salomon & Schwartz inform us that
between 1498 and the 1550s, Europeans came into contact with hundreds of different native societies as they made their way from coastal South America inland. Some explorers...wrote descriptions of the people they met
while chroniclers and crown officials wrote reports and despite their drawbacks, 'the early works contribute substantially to our knowledge of contact-period South Americans. (ibid.:578). Both Hemming (2004) and Salomon & Schwartz (1999) include lengthy bibliographies encompassing both early historical accounts and recent sources, so these need not be listed here.
However, Amazonian history did not begin when Europeans arrived. McEwan et al's Unknown Amazon (2001) 'addresses the antiquity and complexity of tropical forest civilisation in the Amazon Basin' (see back cover) prior to European contact.
A foreword by John Hemming (ibid.: 8-13) gives a useful summary of South American contact history focusing on material culture. Hemming explains that when Pedro Álvarez Cabral's Portuguese flotilla landed at Porto Seguro in April 1500, the barter of a feather head-dress and bead necklace for metal tools began immediately (ibid.:9), but that 'the amicable barter of the first decades soon degenerated into slavery and oppression', on sugar plantations for example, and that 'fascination with Brazilian and Amazonian Indians was soon eclipsed by the discoveries and conquests of other great civilisations in the Americas, including the Aztec and the Inca' and henceforth 'there was no interest whatever in the artistic output of the Indians' (ibid.: 10). To a surprising extent, this lack of interest continues today, with the rarity of Amazon arts in museum collections, auction houses and art books.
European contact also brought disease - 'Europeans wanted Indians alive, as labourers, converts in their missions, and subjects of their King. But they were powerless to prevent catastrophic decline' (ibid.). Europeans also brought Christianity, and from 1529 to 1759 Jesuit missionaries 'dominated indigenous affairs' (ibid.:11), sometimes championing the indigenous people against economic colonists - some 'Indians' responded favourably while others resisted.
Christianity had its implications for indigenous material culture - many artefacts were destroyed due to suppression of nudity and because 'as with most human societies, Amazonian peoples created most of their finest output for spiritual purposes' (ibid.). This, as well as the ephemeral nature of organic materials used in the Amazon, contributed to the scarcity of artefacts surviving from earlier times.
During the second half of the sixteenth and early decades of the seventeenth century, Portugal successfully fought off attempts at colonisation from the French, English, Dutch and Irish. Their colony was closed to outsiders, who didn't start to visit and collect objects again until the second half of the eighteenth century.
Hemming gives a summary of collecting and interests in the art and natural history from the eighteenth century onwards, listing the great European museums which house early nineteenth century collections, including Vienna, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and museums in Brazil itself which began to collect in the early twentieth century (ibid.:12).
He informs us that the material culture of different ethnic groups has similarities but also marked differences, and individual tribes are famous for making particular types of objects. Finally, he notes that tribes unknown to the outside world are still being newly contacted, and that 'the indigenous peoples of Amazonia are entering the third millennium with guarded optimism' (ibid.:13) with trends towards global uniformity balanced by survival and revival.
Arts and material culture have a part to play in this process. Politics and history continue to shape the Amazon people and region today. Brooks, in his 1972 report for the Aborigines Protection Agency, gives an overview of the problems faced by Amazon peoples in the face of colonisation and economic exploitation. Coqueiro et. al. (2002). examine Indian history in relation to the state.
Turner & Fajans-Turner describe the 'overt defiance by the Kayapo of the Brazilian Amazon against threats to their territorial rights and environment from state and corporate development projects', demonstrating 'the resurgence of indigenous peoples as political actors and as vital and innovative cultural communities' (2006: 3). The photographs illustrating this article demonstrate how forms of traditional costume have taken on a new life as identity markers in political protest. In Brazil itself, the Indian Museum of the National Indian Foundation aims to 'to divulge a correct and up-to-date image of these societies'.
The editors' introduction to Unknown Amazon states that 'recent archaeological research reveals a very long sequence of occupation and documents the existence of densely populated societies well before European contact' (2001:14). This point can be used for leverage in the political struggle between indigenous groups in their environment and the nation-state.
Europeans today tend to associate the Amazon forests with virgin wilderness and its see its people as 'children of nature'. The history of the Amazon and its peoples has become entwined with modern environmentalism - Hecht & Cockburn (1989) expound that economic greed has endangered the forest throughout the centuries. Cunningham's book of photographs (1992) accompanied an exhibition at Kew Gardens about the people and the environment, and depicts people making and using artefacts made of natural materials. McEwan et. al. (ibid.) demonstrate that the forest is not pristine, but has been subject to human management and interaction for thousands of years. Likewise, even 'uncontacted' groups are not primeval - their histories have been affected by change on an international scale.
Cultural Groups
RAMM's collections contain examples from at least thirty different Amazon culture groups, some of which are sub-groups of the same linguistic families. Although they cannot be discussed in detail here, numerous books and websites give definitions of South American cultural groups. Steward & Faron (1959) and Radin (1952) each give a broad overview of South American linguistic groupings and their histories.
The Handbook of South American Indians (ed. Steward 1948) is a classic encyclopaedic work - it remains informative if outdated. The Smithsonian Institution now provides a bibliography of 'books about the native peoples of the Amazon'. Lowie in Steward (1948:1) defines the peoples of the 'Tropical Forest complex' by the following diagnostic traits: 'the cultivation of tropical root crops, especially bitter manioc; effective river craft; the use of hammocks in beds; and the manufacture of pottery'. These traits contrast with Andean neighbours with their skills in architecture and metallurgy, and with other lowland groups who practise hunting and gathering rather than horticulture.
The following websites give information on numerous culture groups, many represented in the RAMM collections. The Institucio Socioambiental provides a very helpful website.
It is comprehensive and informative, with sections including 'who, where, how many', 'how they live', 'languages', 'organisations', 'Indians and Brazil' and 'rights'. It includes a table of ethnic groups, alternative names and language families, and bibliographies for each group as well as historical and cultural information. contains maps, photographs and general cultural information.
It calls itself 'an educational resource and an introduction to the cultures of Amazon native tribes from the South American Amazon River Basin'. is a commercial site which lists ethnic group names and gives general geographical and cultural information about each, in addition to selling their contemporary crafts.
Information about many named groups is available on Wikipedia and Survival International is the charity which 'helps tribal peoples defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures'. Its website contains information and current news about many groups on its 'tribal world' pages.
The charity Amazon Watch 'works to defend the environment and rights of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin' also gives latest news stories and useful links to other sites on its website at .
Websites dealing with linguistics can also be useful, giving alternative and preferred terms for language groups, indicating their geographical spread and grouping them into linguistic families.
Such sites include Ethnologue: Languages of the World. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Online has a table of South American Indian Language Groups; the website of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives profiles for many languages; MARC Code List of Languages gives a location map of language groups in Peru, with a language-family hierarchy for each. Native Planet lists languages with their alternative and preferred terms; provides basic cultural data and further web links.
Religious and missionary groups also give information about language groups, some more reliable than others. Useful sites include the Catholic Encyclopaedia, World Scriptures and People Groups.
There are many more sites which relate to one group only. These are referred to under the individual collection entry in the 'Collectors and Collections' section of this report.
Material Culture
Books about Amazonian arts and material culture are relatively scarce (please see bibliography within this section).
Those mentioned below were used to help identify and catalogue RAMM's collection. The most recent general titles published in the UK are Carmichael's Hidden Peoples of the Amazon (1985), Braun's Arts of the Amazon (1995) and McEwan's Unknown Amazon (2001).
Amazon art is less popular on the art market than 'ethnic' art from some other parts of the world. The more collectible items appear to be Shipibo pots, Guyanese bead aprons and clubs, feather work and weapons, though surprisingly few are for sale on the Internet. A number of commercial websites specialise in Amazon arts, but these contain little useful information. The sale of materials to tourists and collectors can be problematic in that it sometimes impacts on the local flora and fauna.
Uhle (1889) is a comprehensive but rare volume, lavishly illustrated with lithographs depicting a broad range of South American artefact types. Further study of the images and captions, which are in German, would probably yield new information relevant to RAMM's collections.
Roth (1915, 1916-17) is a classic, highly illustrated and encyclopaedic work, focusing on the arts and crafts of the 'Guiana Indians'.
Carmichael et. al. (1985) set Amazonian arts in a contemporary context and discuss several areas represented in RAMM's collection - weapons, pottery, basketry, textiles and feather work. Page 55 depicts a man playing a 'sacred trumpet', probably the true identity of the 'water tubes' in RAMM's collection (11/1900/1 and 2). This volume accompanied a British Museum exhibition of the same name, and while material-culture focussed, it is more specific and academic than Braun (1995). The exhibition itself sparked controversy - a protest film made in 1985 shows 'representatives of Amazonian Ecuador' and members of the charity Survival International protesting against the exhibition because they believed it to be 'misrepresentative and misleading'. For further analysis see Harris & Gow (1985).
Unknown Amazon (2001), discussed above, accompanied a later British Museum exhibition which attempted to redress some of these problems.
Another excellent, though very short, publication is the illustrated brochure accompanying the recent Horniman Museum exhibition Amazon to Caribbean (2006). This examines 'the cultural heritage of the Amerindians from both the Caribbean Antilles and the mainland South American regions known as the Guianas (Guyana, French Guyana, Venezuela and Surinam)' including modern artists, focussing in detail on material culture areas including weapons, body adornments and containers (undated, circa 2006:1).
A more recent catalogue of Amazonian arts is Grupioni's Bresil Indien (2005), which accompanied an exhibition of the same name at the Galeries Nationales Du Grand Palais in Paris. It illustrates examples from more than 30 museums, thus providing information about continental museums with Amazonian collections. The images are accompanied by a detailed commentary and include feathers, beetle-wings, jaguar-teeth, manioc squeezers, baskets and pottery. The book's various chapters focus on 'looking at indigenous art', ancient and indigenous aesthetics, and French heritage in the Amazon.
The following highly illustrated publications also discuss Amazonian arts. Villegas & Villegas, while focusing on Colombian crafts, depict artefacts that are found more widely in the Amazon region, including weapons, baskets, a manioc squeezer and personal ornaments. Western-style straw hats like the one in Carvalho's collection (105/2003/2) are depicted (ibid.:154-157).
Ribeiro's (1988) Dicionario do Artesanato Indigena is an encyclopaedic book of objects with sketches of each, together with brief information on object types, manufacture and ethnic groups. Sections include ceramics, basketry, cords and textiles, feather ornaments, musical instruments, weapons and tools.
Davies and Fini, founders of the Tumi South American craft shops in the UK, give a general illustrated overview of the arts and crafts of South America, with a few relevant pieces.
Dockstader, although focusing on pre-Columbian material, includes information about and illustrations of Amazonian feather work and ceramics (1967:218, 257). Stolpe (1974) is simply a pattern-book of black and white line drawings from Brazilian and Guianan carved wooden clubs. Mekler (1992) is a study of Amazon arts in general, while Whitten & Whitten (1988) focus on arts from Ecuador.
Other books cover the material culture of specific ethnic groups. Reichel-Dolmatoff (1997) is a classic ethnographic work on the Tukano of the North West Amazon, but with a focus on material culture. The book is about 'the relationship between the primary elements of the Tukanoan world: the rainforest, its wildlife and the forces which govern the environment...for shamans and for individuals in their everyday lives', as its back cover explains, but many of his comments are applicable to many other Amazon groups. Reichel-Dolmatoff has, however, been accused of over-interpreting the symbolic significance of artefacts.
Hanbury-Tenison (1982) is an illustrated coffee-table book about the Yanomami with photographs which include artefacts in context. Guppy's study of the Wai Wai (1958) includes illustrations of and discussions of artefacts. Kensinger et. al. is an ethnography focusing on the arts of the Cashinahua of Eastern Peru (1975).
There are further publications which examine in detail one particular object type, craft or technique used widely in the Amazon region. Topics which are relevant to broad areas of the collection are discussed in turn below, namely arrows, clubs, manioc, basketry, feathers, jaguars and hair. Information relating to one object or collection only is included in the 'Collectors and Collections' section of this report.
Arrows
One of the most significant areas of RAMM's Amazon collection is the large number of arrows collected by Peek and others. The essential book on Brazilian archery is Heath & Chiara (1977), which examines in detail the use and manufacture of bows and arrows, as well as their fundamental significance in Brazilian Indian society. This volume has been consulted to establish possible uses for some of the arrows at RAMM.
Morwena Stephens, a conservator at RAMM, has already conducted extensive research on RAMM's Amazon, including fieldwork in Brazil, paying particular attention to the materials used in their manufacture (see Stephens 2003).
Most of the information on arrows used in this report comes from these sources. Further detailed research is currently being undertaken by Deon Whittaker, a doctoral student in the archaeology of bow fishing. Hunting and the use of poisons are also discussed by Carmichael (1985:22), while Hanbury-Tenison provides a detailed photographic essay on the making and use of arrows (1982: 96-105), and Guppy discusses the manufacture and use of bow and arrows among the Wai Wai (1958: 45). Guppy also mentions that stingrays, the spine of which is used as a point on one arrow in RAMM's collections (E1038/1) 'chiefly live on sandbanks' (ibid.:105).
Reina & Kensinger, in their book about Amazon feather work, devote a chapter to the use of feathers for fletching arrows. Vellard (1965) is a study of poisons used in hunting, while Schultes & Raffauff.(1990) discuss curares and fish poisons in detail.
Clubs
The distinctive wedge-shaped Wai Wai clubs from Guyana are another prominent area of weaponry in RAMM's collections. Bray (2001) provides a comprehensive, highly illustrated art-historical discussion of these, from pre-contact times until the 1970s, when they went out of use except as tourist items.
He explains that variants of the carved wooden club were employed for hand-to-hand combat throughout Amazonia, and notes that those used for ceremonial regalia rather than fighting were sometimes, but not always, of a different type. He argues that 'the designs on twentieth-century ceremonial clubs are no different from those used in basketry, beadwork, body painting and woodcarving in general' (ibid.:263) and that these crosshatched geometric designs may have their origins in basketry patterns. Guyanese clubs are also discussed and depicted in Carmichael (1985: 35-38) and the Horniman Museum brochure (c.2006: 8-11).
Manioc
Much of Amazonian material culture is concerned with preparation of the staple foodstuff, manioc, used for making cassava 'bread' and chicha 'beer'. Mowat (1989) provides an accessible, comprehensive, illustrated guide to cassava and chicha processing, focusing on museum collections.
Artefacts like those in RAMM's collection which are depicted and contextualised include carrying baskets and sieves, round and square trays, gourd drinking bowls, a paddle-club for stirring manioc 'porridge', strainers, pots and fire-fans.
Cassava and chicha production and its related artefacts are also depicted and discussed by Moser & Tayler in Carmichael (1985: 61-62), Hanbury-Tenison (1982:56-57, 158-159) and in the Horniman Museum's brochure (2006:19-20). Oliver describes the use of a manioc squeezer (tipiti) and contains an early photograph of one in use by a Yekuana Indian (2001: 74-81).
Prance contains photographs of manioc roots and preparation (1989: 37-39). Reichel-Dolmatoff looks at manioc production as symbolical, arguing that 'the extraction of starch from grated manioc symbolises the fecundity of women, starch being the key symbol of the fundamental female component of a new life' (1997:95).
Basketry
Books devoted to Amazon basketry include Ribeiro (1985) on the types, technology and techniques of Brazilian basketry, Reichel-Dolmatoff (1985) on symbolism in northwest Amazon basketry, and van Velthem on the symbolism of Carib baskets (2001) and the manufacture and use of Wayana basketry (1998), where he includes an iconographic catalogue of named patterns.
Some of the baskets discussed and depicted in these books are similar to those in RAMM's collections. Moser & Tayler in Carmichael depict and discuss the use of a box very like one in Carvalho's collection (105/2003/15), 'used for storing feather ornaments and other precious dance regalia between festive gatherings' (1985: 72-74). Guss (1989) is an ethnography focusing on the basketry of the Yecuana people of Venezuela.
Feathers
Bird symbolism and the use of feathers are fundamental to Amazonian art, and RAMM's collection contains many examples. Reina & Kesinger's edited volume (1991), produced to accompany an exhibition of the same name, is a comprehensive and scholarly yet accessible and highly illustrated book dedicated entirely to the Amazon use of feathers. The back cover says that 'each object reflects more than just technology or aesthetic taste, it makes a statement about the physical, social, and cultural world of each society'.
The Horniman Museum's brochure notes that the feathers stored in men's baskets 'were believed to make the objects look kiriawnhi, a multi-layered word meaning aesthetically "pleasing" or "beautiful"' (c.2006: 20). Braun depicts a pair of Kamayura feathered upper-armbands, very similar to the Kalapalo and Kuikuru examples from Brazil in Carvalho's collection (4/2001/14-15), explaining that 'in effect, these feather ring ligatures are shortened "wings" that, like the armbands with projecting plumes worn in the same manner, allow men to "fly" across the village plaza in a dance' (1995:87).
Feather ear-ornaments similar to Carvalho's (4/2001/11-12, 609/2005/2) are also depicted, as well as a 'pair of three-strand green iridescent beetle wing casing ornaments with toucan-feather danglers, made by the Aguarana.
In addition to their iridescent properties, these stiff wing casings also function as rattles, clattering as their wearer dances or even turns his head'. (ibid.: 94-95, plate 149). Moser & Tayler in Carmichael et. al. explain that songs and dances imitate birds (1985: 67-69). Mercedes-Benz et. al. (1986) is a highly illustrated book, which gives a general introduction to feather work (in Spanish) and focuses on types of feather objects.
Stephen Hugh-Jones points out that birds are used in two different ways in different regions of the Amazon - birds may be used whole as trophies, or parts of the bird, especially its feathers, may be incorporated into artefacts (personal communication, March 2007). Scazzocchio explains that 'the ambiguity between shamans and hunters is expressed publicly in the open sphere, during feasts, through the use of ishpingu or stuffed animals carried by male dancers at the time of Carnival and Santa Rosa.
While hunters and all young men make ishpingu with various birds, particularly parrots and toucans, shamans may encode information about their familiar animal spirits by wearing them as ishpingu. This information is sometimes combined with colour symbolism by which red and black used by shamans who can act as sorcerers, black or black and white by high-ranking shamans and white and red by those who can act only as curers' (1979:192). This may explain the purpose of the toucan pelts in RAMM's collection (18/1953/3 A-D).
Jaguars
The jaguar has played a fundamental role in Amazonian symbolism and mythology since pre-Columbian times. The Horniman Museum's brochure discusses jaguar and bird symbolism in personal adornment, saying that 'women did not use feathers or jaguar teeth, because in their cosmology birds and jaguars were linked to men and to the power of the shaman' (c.2006: 22).
Jaguar teeth, when worn as ornaments by men, represent power and hunting prowess, while jaguar skins and feline masks are worn by shamans only. Salomon & Schwartz note that 'the jaguar is believed to represent a messenger or agent mediating earth and sky or human and supernatural worlds' (1999 vol. 1:443). Shamans are believed to transform into jaguars, and Reichel-Dolmatoff points out that the Tukano word for 'shaman' and 'jaguar' is one and the same (1997: 143).
Hair
Symbolic significance is attributed to hair throughout the Amazon region. Hair can represent the dichotomies between nature and culture, wild and tame, animal and human, self and other, insider and stranger. Leach demonstrates that 'head hair is rather frequently employed as a public symbol with an explicitly sexual significance' (1957: 153). It is therefore probable that Amazonian combs, as objects which constrain the hair, may have had important symbolic connotations and contributed to the definition of the wearer as a civilised human being. For further discussion, see Cadbury 2004.
The Horniman Museum's brochure says that 'Wai Wai men and women paid a lot of attention to their hair, as did many other Amerindians. They washed and oiled it frequently to keep it clean and shiny, using oil extracted from Brazil nuts and small combs known as Wai-a-macasi or wayamakasu. Wayamakasu were made by men using two thin, hollow pieces of bone such as monkey bone. Teeth, usually made from the midrib of palm leaves, were inserted between the bones and different coloured fibres were then plaited between the bones to keep the teeth in place and for decoration. Toucan feathers were also attached' (c.2006: 22-24).
