Beyond Typology: Looking for Processes and Diversity in the Study of Lithic Technology in the Brazilian Amazon

This article describes how the lithic industries of the Amazon have been studied in Brazilian archaeology, and presents a historical record of research in the region. The article then attempts to analyze the reasons for the relative paucity of work on this research theme. The record includes studies of lithic industries related to the presence of pottery-using (ceramist) groups as well as those related to occupation of areas by hunter–gatherers. It points to different factors that have contributed to the type and quantity of information currently available, notably the issues of changing environmental conditions relating to site preservation and visibility that necessarily interface with the disciplinary history of archaeology within the Amazon Basin region. The paper seeks to highlight the issues that have dominated the research field, contextualizing them and redefining them in order to indicate future prospects for work in relation to the lithic industries of the macro-region.