ABSTRACT
Modern indigenous societies probably bear little resemblance to their pre-contact antecedents. Drastic depopulation due to European diseases and dominance left only remnants of aboriginal societies. The Northern Kayapó, for example, once lived in large villages with a complex age-grade and lineage organization. As a result of epidemics prior to first recorded face-to-face ‘contact’ with the whites, large groups split into small, dispersed villages. This dispersion had significant effects on regional flora and fauna, as well as provoking major social changes. Since many of these modifications are recent, old village sites can still be located and excavated, thereby giving unique opportunities to combine ethnohistory, archaeology, ethnography and ethnoecology to trace and document dramatic changes in indigenous populations during the transition from pre-to post-contact times. The Kayapó case provides an excellent opportunity to test many of the theories that are proposed for a new Amazonian synthesis.
