Spensy Pimentel
Special Report

Upper Xingu River – The "Kuarup," an important Indian ceremony that pays homage to the illustrious dead and is one of the few occasions when all the Xingu region Indians gather together, took place this year in the Ipatse village, population less than 500. The reason the Kuarup took place in Ipatse is that it is located near archeaological sites discovered by a scientific expedition led by Michael Heckenberger of the University of Florida. The discovery was considered so important that it made "Science" magazine. According to the scientists, in the 14th century the area contained a number of thriving villages with a total population of over 50,000.

An interesting thing about the Science article is that it was signed, along with the scientists, by two Indian chiefs, Afukaká Kuikuro and Urissapá Tabata Kuikuro. "We insisted on having them sign it together with us. It recognizes the importance of the assistance and help we got from the local community," explains anthropologist, Carlos Fausto, of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who also participated in the discovery.

.Recent discoveries show that villages similar to present-day villages, but much larger in area and population and defended by palisades and ditches, existed in the area. The villages were connected by roads 50 meters wide, some of them stretching for more than 5 kilometers.

Human occupation in the upper Xingu River area began around a thousand years ago, but the population was devastated during the colonial period. "The population is just getting back to near what it was at the end of the 19th century," explains the president of the National Indian Foundation, Mercio Pereira Gomes.

Translator: Allen Bennett