title: Eighth millennium pottery from a prehistoric shell midden in the brazilian Amazon.
abstract: The earliest pottery yet found in the Western Hemisphere has been excavated from a prehistoric shell midden near Santarém in the lower Amazon, Brazil. Calibrated accelerator radiocarbon dates on charcoal, shell, and pottery and a thermoluminescence date on pottery from the site fall from about 8000 to 7000 years before the present. The early fishing village is part of a long prehistoric trajectory that contradicts theories that resource poverty limited cultural evolution in the tropics.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Roosevelt
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Housley
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: DA Silveira
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maranca
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson