From margins to mainstream: understanding the Amazonian Polychrome Tradition Expansion through spatial and chronological modelling
The Polychrome Expansion marks the widespread dispersal of an emblematic ceramic style across much of Amazonia during a period of broad social transformation. Yet the timing and constituent routes for this dispersal are poorly understood, in part due to a lack of dating at many sites. Here, the authors apply computational methods to model the expansion via existing radiocarbon dates, critically examining issues of timing, travel and trade/conflict. The results, they argue, call for a reinterpretation of the Polychrome Expansion as a long-lasting and gradual process that advanced from secondary rivers and spread along main channels, eventually impacting colonial history.
Authors
- Claide de Paula Moraes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3562-0029)
- Rafael de Almeida Lopes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2840-2269)
- Thiago Berlanga Trindade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3339-1759)
- Jaqueline Belletti
- Fernando Ozorio de Almeida
- E Jordão Neves
- André Braga Junqueira
- Philip Riris
- Erêndira Oliveira
- Umberto Lombardo
- Eduardo Kazuo Tamanaha
- Fabio Parracho Silva
Institutions
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
- Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (BR)
- Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (BR)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- ERA Arqueologia (PT)
- Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (EC)
- Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá (BR)
- Bournemouth University (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Antiquity
- Published
- 2026-02-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2026.10286
- Primary Topic
- Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00