archaeological projects on Marajo
Island. Her research interests
include Amazonian Prehistory,
Complex Societies, Iconography,
Ceramic Studies and Gender in
Archaeology.
She graduated with a B.S. in History in 1987 from the Universidade Federal do Rio
Grande do Sul, and received a Master's Degree in History/Archaeology at the
Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul in 1996. Her Master's
Thesis, a comprehensive study of a Marajoara pottery collection was published in
1997 by EDIPUCRS (Editora da PUC/RS). Entitled "A Linguagem Iconográfica da
Cerâmica Marajoara (The Iconographic Language of Marajoara Ceramics)", it
approached Marajoara designs through a structural methodology, showing that icons
representing Marajo Island's fauna were used to convey social messages on
mythology, kinship, and social status.
In 1997, Schaan moved to Belem, Pará, to study the Marajoara collections at the
Goeldi Museum. There she also concentrated on studying the prehistoric occupation
of the Upper Anajás River, at the center of Marajo Island. In six years of research,
Schaan has found and studied nine (9) new Marajoara sites, and directed two
extensive archaeological projects. The first one, supported by AHIMOR -
Administração das Hidrovias da Amazônia Oriental, was part of the Environmental
Impact Studies for the construction of Hidrovia do Marajó (1999 a 2001). The
second one, entitled "Lost Civilizations of the Amazon" (2000 - 2002), was
supported by the Earthwatch Institute. It aims to understand the prehistoric
occupation of the Upper Anajas River through a regional perspective. As a result of
those projects, Schaan has published several articles and book chapters, as well as
presenting papers at archeological meetings in both Brazil and United States.
In 1999, Denise Schaan enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Social Anthropology, at
the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In August 2004 her Doctoral
Dissertation entitled "The Camutins Chiefdom: Rise and Development of Complex
Societies on Marajó Island" was presented and defended. The Dissertation Research
was supported by NSF - National Science Foundation. Schaan is also a member of
the Society for Brazilian Archaeology (SAB) and Society for American Archaeology
(SAA). Currently Denise Schaan is a visiting scholar at the Museu Paraense Emílio
Goeldi, in Belém, Brasil.
Into the Labyrinths of Marajoara Pottery: Status and Cultural Identity in an
Amazonian Complex Society, in The Unknown Amazon. Nature in Culture in
Ancient Brazil. Edited by C. McEwan, C. Barreto and E.Neves, pp. 108-133.
London: British Museum Press, 2001.
Estatuetas Marajoara: o Simbolismo de Identidades de Gênero em uma Sociedade
Complexa Amazônica. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Série
Antropologia 17(2):23-63, 2001.
Os Dados Inéditos do Projeto Marajó (1962-1965). Revista do Museu de
Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo 11: 141-164, 2001.
Recent Investigations on Marajoara Culture, Marajó Island, Brazil. Antiquity
(74):469-70, 2000.
Cultura Marajoara: História e Iconografia, in: Resgate da Cultura Material e
Iconográfica do Pará, vol. I - Arte Rupestre e Cerâmica. Belém: Sebrae/MPEG,
1999.
A Linguagem Iconográfica da Cerâmica Marajoara. Um Estudo da Arte
Pré-histórica
na Ilha de Marajó, Brasil (400-1300AD). Coleção Arqueologia n. 3. Porto
Alegre: Edipucrs, 1997.
Evidência Arqueológica e Organização Social na Fase Marajoara. Estudos
Ibero-Americanos XXIII(1):97-114, 1997.
