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163 summary Paleodemographic analysis of the prehistoric inhabitants of coastal Brazil is challenging as only a small proportion of their sites have been excavated. Based on archaeological evidence, Brazilian shell mounds were generally thought to represent a demographic transition that followed the expansion of the fisher-gatherer populations along the coast after the middle of the Holocene, moving to a more sedentary preagricultural subsistence. Alternatively, this could be regarded as a result of both increased visibility provided by this kind of mound burial and increased preservation afforded by the shell matrix. Here, I discuss existing interpretations concerning the chronology, the density, and the size of the shell mounds along the south-southeastern coast of Brazil, taking into account the variable number of burials in different mounds, especially the small number of immature individuals, and the notion that some of them were built especially for burials. Paleodemographic projects that use up-to-date bioarchaeological approaches and modern laboratory methods for the determination of skeletal age and sex must review these prehistoric burial mounds before it is possible to properly count the dead and face the challenge of explaining what the large number of Brazilian shell mounds represent, and whether they signify a period of increased population growth in prehistory. introduction Brazil is a tropical country where the preservation of biological remains in archaeological sites is generally poor. For this reason, skeletal series are generally small, with CHAPTER TWELVE Sambaqui People, the Shell Mound Builders of Brazil A Challenge for Paleodemographers Sheila Mendonça de Souza incomplete or poorly preserved skeletons, explaining a dearth of paleodemographic contributions to Brazilian prehistory. In addition, despite the fact that some of these archaeological sites are among the largest prehistoric cemeteries in South America (Alvim, Uchôa, and Gomes 1989; Gaspar 1995; Machado 1983, 1992, 2006; Souza and Souza 1981/1982; Souza 1992/1993), few sambaquis were subject to extensive archaeological excavations, preventing any serious paleodemographic study. The sambaquis represent a successful prehistoric cultural tradition of the southeastern Brazilian coast that lasted for millennia. The practice of burying the dead among shell remains and ashes aided the preservation of hundreds of human skeletons (Gaspar 1994/1995; Lima 1999/2000; Prous 1991). The large number of sites, as well as the monumental nature of the Brazilian sambaquis, has resulted in paleodemographic hypotheses of relative or increased sedentism. Sambaquis have been compared to the Mesolithic sites of Europe, and may represent a prehistoric social and economic marker of the transition to more sedentary settlements. Improving the paleodemographic research of sambaquis skeletal series will certainly help to elucidate the characteristics of that cultural period of prehistory , as well as the social changes involved, helping to explain the collective projects that built the monumental Brazilian shell mounds. Brazil has one of the world’s most important concentrations of shell mounds, including the biggest sites in the world, harboring several hundred skeletons. Such a heritage has an enormous scientific potential for paleodemography . To perform successful investigations about population size, age composition, sex composition, population 164 Sheila Mendonça de Souza growth, and other demographic functions for sambaqui people, it is necessary, of course, to face some methodological challenges (Bocquet-Appel and Masset 1996; BocquetAppel and Naji 2006; Buikstra and Königsberg 1985; Chamberlain 2006). Population attributes such as mortality by age and sex, size of groups and populations, number of individuals inhabiting a territorial unit (or population density), life expectancy at birth, mean number of children per childbearing woman, and temporal and spatial variation of populations are extremely relevant to the understanding of sambaqui prehistory. But it is also necessary to understand the relationship of these attributes to the processes that may have added or removed individuals from the groups, to the economic changes that occurred over time, and to the emergence of increased social complexity and other social and cultural changes that accompanied land occupation strategies. Morbidity associated with the mortality profile is also a helpful indicator of the paleodemographic changes of the past populations, and paleopathology must be included in the paleodemographic studies , even while considering the limits imposed by the osteological paradox (Goodman et al. 1988; Larsen 1997; Roksandic and Armstrong 2011; Souza, Carvalho, and Lessa 2003; Wood et al. 1992). Paleodemography is most often based on the study of skeletal remains, although indirect evidence such as the composition of dwellings, the number of settlements, the area of the sites, and other cultural data have been used for the same purpose. Problems arising from...

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