GREEN STONES, PIEDRAS HIJADAS OR SPLEEN STONES: THE STONE TRADE IN INDIGENOUS AMAZONIA FROM AN EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This article addresses the different European views on the use ofstones as ornaments by indigenous groups in the area of the Amazonestuary and the northern Brazilian coast. These stones were welldescribed by missionaries and settlers, but their importance has beenminimized and forgotten over time by the researchers of indigenoushistory and archaeologists in general. Its value is related to tapajó culturemainly because of the rare “amulets” found in the lower Tapajós.However, observing the ancient records we can see that the French at Saint Louis refers to the fact that tupinambás and tapuias use thegreen stones as body ornaments, a practice restricted to married men. Among the Spanish and Portuguese, the use of “piedras hijadas” is explained in its religious purposes, such as magical amulets. In the northern Amazon, the British, Dutch and Irish also noted the use of precious and semiprecious stones in exchanges with other indigenous groups and treatments against melancholy and kidney stones (spleen stones). According to these reports, the green stones had an importante role in indigenous societies, either as items of exchange, either as religious amulets and / or for treating diseases.Keywords: green stones, objects of exchange, cultural contact