Editing Indigenous peoples in Brazil (section)

====Archaeological remains====
[[File:Índios da etnia Terena2.jpg|thumb|right|Terena people]]
Brazilian native peoples, unlike those in [[Mesoamerica]] and the [[Andean civilizations]], did not keep written records or erect stone monuments. The humid climate and acidic soil have destroyed almost all traces of their material culture, including [[wood]] and [[bone]]s. Therefore, what is known about the region's history before 1500 has been inferred and reconstructed from limited archaeological evidence, such as [[Indigenous ceramics of the Americas|ceramics]] and stone [[arrowhead]]s.

The most conspicuous remains of these societies are vast mounds of discarded [[shellfish]], known as ''sambaquis'', found at some coastal sites that were continuously inhabited for more than 5,000 years. Additionally, substantial "black earth" (''[[terra preta]]'') deposits in several places along the Amazon are believed to be ancient garbage dumps ([[midden]]s). Recent excavations of these deposits in the middle and upper Amazon have uncovered remains of massive settlements, containing tens of thousands of homes, indicating a complex social and economic structure.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Fernandes |first1=Cássia |last2=Farias |first2=Orlando |date=2001-01-22 |title=Materiais indígenas são levados do Amazonas |url=http://www.amazonia.org.br/noticias/print.cfm?id=2691 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706161105/http://www.amazonia.org.br/noticias/print.cfm?id=2691 |archive-date=2011-07-06 |access-date= |website=amazonia.org.br |place=[[Manaus]]}}</ref>

Studies of the wear patterns of precontact inhabitants of coastal Brazil found that the surfaces of [[anterior teeth]] facing the tongue were more worn than those facing the lips. Researchers believe this wear was caused by using teeth to peel and shred abrasive [[plants]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge World History of Food |year=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeworldhi01kipl |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeworldhi01kipl/page/n56 19]}}</ref>