Plan of prehistoric stilt village in Maranhão Brazil may resemble the Pleiades

Abstract

Archaeological surveys conducted in the Maranhão estuaries of Brazil, near the Atlantic coast, revealed the remnants of 21 prehistoric stilt villages constructed on piles of Tabebuia handroanthrus hardwood above three seasonal flood water estuaries. Radiocarbon dates of 27 samples from 11 of those sites yielded an Archaic Period of construction (6622 ± 119 calibrated years before present) followed much later by consecutive construction periods from approximately the first century B.C. to the thirteenth century A.D. (1994 to 728 cal. yrs BP). The Formoso site—currently dated as the longest occupied site (1509 to 930 cal. yrs BP)—yielded early Incised-Punctate/Arauquinoid pottery, a previously unreported pottery style in the Amazon region. Additionally, using StarryNight astronomy software, the night sky at Formoso was compared with a map of the pile dwelling layout, revealing a statistically significant resemblance to the Pleiades. This paper focuses on the Formoso site, suggesting that it may have served cultural significance to the Pleiades as early evidence for the later widespread ethnographic use of the star cluster’s annual sighting to mark the seasonal flood cycles and the management of agricultural and ecological activities throughout tropical South America.