Pärssinen, MarttiRanzi, AlceuVilaça, RaquelSimas de Aguiar, Rodrigo2021-02-282025-08-252020-03Pärssinen, M & Ranzi, A 2020, Mobilidade cerimonial e a emergência do poder político com as primeiras estradas conhecidas do oeste amazônico (2000 A.P.). in R Vilaça & R Simas de Aguiar (eds), (I)Mobilidades na Pré-história : Pessoas, recursos, objetos, sítios e territórios. Coimbra University Press, Coimbra, pp. 307-349.http://hdl.handle.net/10138/327239In the current studies of world prehistory, the appearance of roads and roads systems is associated with the formation of chiefdoms, states and early empires. In some cases it has been a question of hierarchical or heterarchical confederations of chiefdoms or states sharing a common religious or/and political ideology. The connection between complex societies and roads is not universal, but it is at least very general. Paths and tracks may have been enough for general movements of people, goods, ideas and messages, especially in societies without draft animals. Nevertheless, a high population density and a sedentary life have often led to the differentiation of social organization and to competition for power and prestige. Monumental earthworks and architecture are symbols of power when building cultural landscapes. In South America, the ancient Inca road system is well known for its enormous capacity to move armies, people, goods and messages in the 15th and 16th centuries. Nevertheless, less known are ancient roads and causeways in Amazonian regions, even though some of them were documented as early as the 16th and 17th centuries. Starting from archaeological research conducted by Erland Nordenskiöld in the Bolivian Mojos in the 1910s, a new generation of archaeologists has paid more attention to the topic since then. Currently in the Bolivian Mojos, Baures, the Brazilian Xingú territory, and the Venezuelan Llanos ancient causeways and roads are dated, starting mainly from the second half of the first millennium. Also in the Upper Purús, ca. 25% of geoglyph-type earthwork sites include roads. In this article we present the results of our excavations realized in the geoglyph sites of Tequinho, Fazenda Colorada, Jacó Sá and Severino Calazans in the Brazilian State of Acre and in the site of Cruzeirinho in the Brazilian State of Amazonas. So far, more than 500 geoglyphs have been registered. Our current radiocarbon dates demonstrate that in the Tequinho site the first roads were constructed at the turn of Current Era, 63 calBC (95.4%) 124 calAD. In the Fazenda Atlântica site, the first roads may even be somewhat older: the site is dated 200 calBC 200 (95.4%) 327 calAD. The roads were up to 100 meters wide entering these sacred structures. At the moment, we have not detected many settlements or many cemeteries near geoglyph sites; instead, our archaeological evidence indicates ceremonial use of these sites and heavy feasting. Thus, these first roads were undoubtedly built for religious purposes in order to control ceremonial movements of people and goods among the chiefdoms that shared a common ideology. It seems that the generalized construction of geoglyph ended ca. 900 calAD, but even later on new mound settlements were constructed on the same sites, while some sites maintained their purely ceremonial status. The system of roads was collectively maintained until the end of the 19th century, when Colonel Labre walked along these “good roads” from the Orthon River to the Acre River in 1889. He also observed temples with geometrical idols of gods. According to him: “although they have ‘medicine-men’ charged with religious duties and remaining celibates, the chief is nevertheless pontifex of the church.” This may indicate a very long tradition in which the power structure of the political, religious and road systems was maintained among this poorly-known ancient civilization, probably formed of small chiefdoms that were confederated and competed in ceremonial feastings.43porunspecifiedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessHistory and ArchaeologyKapitelopenAccess384035e4-5227-4a11-a173-6c290918e2b0