Jaguars and raptorial birds: The ancient wood carving arts of Northeastern South America (Trombetas River region, Brazil)

A range of scientific methods are used to explore the histories (14th-17th centuries) of a collection of wooden carvings from the Trombetas region of northeastern Brazil. • The first multidisciplinary scientific study of a rare group of Amazonian ceremonial wood carvings in 19th century museum collections. • Radiocarbon dating provides far deeper histories, with the earliest examples extending back to the 14th century. • Wood identification indicates a constrained range of taxa, mainly from the genera Brosimum and Swartzia . • 87 Sr/ 86 Sr results identify two groups of carvings, one consistent with the Trombetas River and the other with the Amazon floodplain. • We identity the first known example of the use of human hair in the binding on a ceremonial anchor axe. This paper presents the results of the first systematic study aimed at defining the chronology, provenience and material components of 14 distinctive wood carvings featuring jaguar and raptorial bird imagery broadly attributed to northeastern South America, centred on Brazil’s Trombetas River region. These carvings, largely confined to drug-related paraphernalia and ceremonial objects (trumpets, rattles, staffs/sceptres and a hafted anchor axe), were part of antiquarian collections deposited in European museums mainly in the 19th century, with very little associated information. 14 C AMS dating of their wood, cotton and resins shows that they have deeper histories, spanning the 14th to late 17th/early 18th centuries. Wood identification indicates a relatively narrow range of taxa, mainly from the genera Brosimum and Swartzia , likely selected for their hardness and striking “snakeskin” or “leopard skin” patterns. Bindings of human hair are identified on a ceremonial weapon. Strontium isotope ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) analysis of the wood is used to explore the possible provenience of the carvings, with the results divided into two groups, one from a more radiogenic region consistent with the Trombetas, and the other from a less radiogenic region, possibly the Amazon floodplain.