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ENGLISH VERSION ORIGINS

The institution holds one of the largest and and reproduction workshops. from the others, presenting, for example, in
oldest collections of Amazonian archeology “Every art imposes a form on a matter. the so-calledcaryatid vases, iconography and
in Brazil and the world and has already lent But among the so-called arts of civilization, sculptures of zoomorphic elements (vulture
several fundamental pieces to international ceramics is probably the one in which the heads ) and anthropomorphs (seated female
museums, such as the British Museum of transition between the raw material and the figures) drawn and adhered to its edges.
Archeology or the Ethnographic Museum in product takes place more directly, with fewer The challenge and strategies for dialoguing
Berlin. intermediate steps between the raw material with memory
Upon welcoming us, Dr. Helena Pinto and the product, leaving the hands of the In Becomings for diversity in the museum
Lima – archaeologist, senior researcher at artisan. already formed, even before being field, article that is part of the project
the museum, where she also works as curator subjected to burning.” (Claude Lévi-Strauss, Archaeologies, materialities and landscapes
of the archaeological collection and professor 1985:235) (page 20) among forest people, Helena Pinto Lima raises
of the postgraduate program in Sociocultural The vessels had different roles: one of the biggest concerns of academics and
Diversity – contextualizes Emílio Goeldi’s consumption of drinks and food, media for curators in contemporary times:
challenges and objectives for us: sharing and transmitting ideas through “What is the role of the museum in current
“In the mid-1950s and 1960s, the idea was images painted, engraved or modeled on their times of crisis, times of transformation? This
created that the Amazon was empty, a forest walls, funerary urns capable of preserving is a discussion that is not only pertinent, but
ready to be occupied, a place to be colonized. human remains or representations of a latent in the field of museums, worldwide.
Under the argument that the forest here would symbolic place, such as the demarcation of Products of Eurocentric logic and colonial
not be able to support, from the point of view of territories sacred. They all bring differences enterprise, museums have historically
protein, great civilizations such as those of the in the pastes and clays used, in burning, operated in collective remembrance and
Incas, or those of Central America, for example. roasting or oxidation, as they belong to selective forgetting in the service of such a
From the point of view of anthropology and different territories and social groups. national enterprise. Despite the important
archeology, the communities and indigenous Today it is known, through this and other social advances led by the new museology of
peoples of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, when research, that remains found by excavators the 1970s, only more recently has the issue of
they began to be better documented, were at date back up to 13 thousand years ago. In decolonization gained more space in practices,
one of the most critical moments in history, the case of ceramics from the Amazon, they in line with identity demands in vogue today.
with many epidemics, colonial and post- are among the oldest in the Americas. “If we Together with the International Council of
colonial violence . At that time, communities consider the dating of Taperinha, in the Lower Museums (icom), we as a society are searching
were dwindling. Amazon (dating back to ca. 8000), and Tradição for a new definition of museum that better
What is certain is that the forest, as we Mina, on the coast of Pará, (dating back to ca. fits this context. The public consultation with
know it, biodiversity is the result of human 6000).” (page 23) the global museum community expresses
occupations, the result of socio-biodiversity, Among the different groups, Marajoara a glimpse of this new place for museums,
the interactions between these communities, ceramics were among the most studied in now and for the future. The new definition
these people and the forest. The black lands, the Amazon. Unlike Andean or Mesoamerican of Museum, approved in Prague in 2022,
Terra Preta de Índio, are extremely fertile soil, ceramics, in which representations of crops expresses this idea well:
still sought af er today for agriculture and are common, the iconography of Marajoara “A museum is a permanent, non-profit
farming. ceramics emphasizes animal and human institution serving society that researches,
These are results of intentional production. bodies. “With an ethos in which perspectivist collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits
And this was a process of generations and ontologies and shamantic practices of bodily material and intangible heritage. Open to the
generations. There are 13 thousand years transformation predominate (Viveiros de public, accessible and inclusive, museums
of history of people, forests and rivers. We Castro, 2002).” encourage diversity and sustainability. With
have the oldest ceramics in the Americas These ceramics belonging to the Polychrome the participation of communities, museums
in the Amazon, which are in the Santarém Tradition – which expands over 6,600 km in operate and communicate in an ethical and
region, which are capelinha ceramics, different points of the Amazon basin and, professional manner, providing diverse
including in Sambaqui. Today we study a chronologically, for more than 1000 years – experiences for education, enjoyment,
history of cultural innovation, technologies, have decorative techniques, a huge repertoire reflection and sharing of knowledge. (icom,
technology creation, forest management, earth of symbols, the determination of certain parts 2022)
engineering management, construction of of animals such as snakes and scorpions in (…) “Archaeological curation is, by
texts, etc. Evidence from different parts of the place of eyes and arms, constituting clear definition, an interdisciplinary investigative
Amazon reveals sophisticated technologies for examples of the cosmogonic, man-nature field. It integrates archaeology, museology,
transforming nature. With our research today, experience of the Amazon. conservation, education and other areas, for
we have the work, the task of dismantling, There are an infinite number of stylistic us, of safeguarding, research, teaching and
recreating and retelling this story.” groups, with different particularities: those of dissemination of collections. I emphasize that
In the joint publication of Iphan and mpeg, the Guianas; those in the Amapá complex; the curation is also potentially a fertile field for
from 2016, Archaeological ceramics from Mina do Pará ceramics, those from Maranhão; intercultural research. And this is the idea,
the Amazon – Towards a new synthesis, the those of the Tupi Guarani in Lower Amazonas; that of interdisciplinary and intercultural
organizers – Cristiana Barreto, Helena Pinto of the Lower Xingu Guarani, Middle-Lower fertilization of archaeological curation, that
Lima and Carla Jaimes Betancourt – describe Xingu, Volta Grande do Xingu, Foz do Xingu, I intend to address in this text. The focus of
the history of ceramics from the Amazon, the Upper reflection is on the interrelationships between
most abundant class of archaeological remains, Among many, those of the culture of communities, materialities, and museum
going up the Amazon River, bringing studies Santarém and Baixo Tapajós belong to archaeological collections.”
and reflections from different ceramic sites indigenous societies that inhabited the region (…)“With a view to “awakening” the objects
in each region and trying to understand their between the 8th or 9th centuries until the in the technical reserve to new possibilities
different technologies to subsequently work 19th, in the post-colonial period, marking, for generating knowledge, studies to
on reconstructing these ancestral traditions. from then on, hybrid cultures. More recently reconnect collections (three-dimensional
The museum has highly qualified restoration studied, they have a substantial difference and documentary) and subjects have guided

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