This post was originally published on here
A new study published in Nature Communications reveals that large whale hunting began in southern Brazil some 5,000 years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than previously established by archaeological records from Arctic and North Pacific societies.
Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona and the Department of Prehistory of the UAB led the investigation, reshaping the narrative of early maritime cultures and the timeline of human interaction with large cetaceans.
advertisement
The research focused on Indigenous groups in the Babitonga Bay region, where communities built sambaquis—monumental shell mounds. These groups developed specialised tools and technologies to hunt large whales, contradicting earlier theories that such practices originated in the Northern Hemisphere between 3,500 and 2,500 years ago.
The evidence positions South American societies as early pioneers of complex maritime traditions.
Archaeologists analysed cetacean bone remains and bone tools recovered from sambaqui sites. Many of these sites no longer exist, making the collection at the Museu Arqueológico de Sambaqui de Joinville a vital historical archive.
Using zooarchaeology, typological analysis, and ZooMS molecular techniques, the team identified bones from species including southern right whales, humpback whales, blue whales, sei whales, sperm whales, and dolphins.
Findings included large whale-bone harpoons—among the largest found in South America—and whale bones with clear butchering marks. These discoveries, combined with whale remains in funerary contexts and the identification of inshore species, strongly support the conclusion that these communities actively hunted whales rather than scavenging from stranded animals.
“The data reveals that these communities had the knowledge, tools, and specialised strategies to hunt large whales thousands of years earlier than we had previously assumed,” said Krista McGrath, lead author of the study.
The abundance of humpback whale remains provides new ecological insights, suggesting a broader historical distribution. Marta Cremer, co-author, noted, “The recent increase in sightings in Southern Brazil may therefore reflect a historical recolonisation process, with implications for conservation. Reconstructing whale distributions before the impact of industrial whaling is essential to understanding their recovery dynamics.”
Ana Paula, director of the Museu Arqueológico de Sambaqui de Joinville, commented, “the collections safeguarded at the Sambaqui Archaeological Museum in Joinville, especially the Guilherme Tibrtius Collection, highlight the richness and vast potential of information on ancestral peoples that can still be explored in depth.”
– Ends
