The consumption of alcoholic beverages is traditionally neglected in the archaeological literature, which treats the issue as a theme of secondary interest in the history of human populations. However, the ethnographic literature of the indigenous populations of the South American lowlands points exactly to the opposite: it is the solid non-alcoholic vegetal food which has a secondary role in daily and ritualistic life of various collectives. The archaeological data provides chronological depth to the relation between the human being and alcoholic beverages. Moreover, the archaeological pots used for the preparation and consumption of these beverages are fundamental to the understanding of historical processes and events which modeled the dispersion of a series of groups across the continent.
Fermented drinks; Archaeological pottery; History of the Tupi-Guarani
