Jabuticabeira II is a massive prehistoric shell mound located on the southern Brazilian coast. Fifty additional conical mounds constructed of shell as a building material dominate the landscape of the study area and suggest that a dense population supported themselves on rich lagoonal resources of fish, shellfish, and waterfowl. Archaeological investigations confirm Jabuticabeira II functioned as a cemetery for surrounding populations over 800 years. Drawing upon previous work of a U.S. and Brazilian team of archaeologists, funded by grants from both countries, Daniela M. Klokler, under the supervision of Dr. Suzanne K. Fish, will study the remains of fish, shellfish, and other animals associated with mortuary rituals and feasts that were part of burial ceremonies. The research will address questions about how shell mound people used aquatic resources in their economic and social relationships. The symbolic realm will be the focus of the study. The significance of huge shell mounds as funerary monuments is only beginning to be explored, but the realization that most were built in the course of ceremonial activities enhances the importance of research on mortuary practices and the ritual use of faunal resources. Klokler's research will investigate key issues of interest to both anthropologists and archaeologists, such as the social organization of hunter-gatherers, mortuary ritual, cooperation and social complexity, and the importance of detailed zooarchaeological sampling and analysis. The sampling program focuses on individual funerary areas within the shell mound that were used by specific social groups for the burial of their members, hence allowing the study of social relationships. Detailed analysis of the resource composition of deposits in these funerary areas will provide new insights into the social organization and group interactions of shell mound societies from both economic and ritual perspectives. Special attention will be paid to the role of feasting as an arena to strengthen inter- and intragroup alliances and display territoriality, along with the ritual use of fauna as offerings and the roles that various species played in these societies. Also, this research will advance the use of faunal analysis for studies that go beyond subsistence, providing a benchmark for future zooarchaeological research in Brazil. The proposed research will strengthen international collaboration and dialogue among U.S. and Latin American archaeologists, permitting the fruitful exchange of ideas and data. The city of Jaguaruna contains an impressive number of shell mounds; nevertheless its citizens remain largely unaware of the area's prehistoric heritage. The project will help bridge the gap between today's communities and this heritage through publications, lectures, and monitored visits to the site. Awareness of the rich prehistory of the region can aid preservation of sites that are at risk from development. Specimens collected for analyses ultimately will expand the faunal comparative collections located at the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and at the Arizona State Museum, in Tucson. The inclusion of Brazilian students in laboratory work will provide an opportunity for exchange of ideas regarding methods of analysis, training in new quantitative techniques, improved qualifications as faunal analysts, and exposure to materials from another geographic region.
