Stop to feel, ask to know: doing archaeological science with the Ancestors in Brazil

Abstract

This article discusses what it is like to be the first Indigenous female bioarchaeologist in Brazil and attempts to bridge Indigenous ancestral knowledge and archaeological science towards an ancestral science—one that heals, listens to our stories and the elders and approaches Indigenous materiality with wisdom and care, therefore respecting its sacred character. It seeks to produce a bioarchaeology that does not objectify our bodies or the bodies of our ancestors. My research is committed to bringing our Indigenous territorial knowledge into the university and deconstructing the inflexibility that characterises traditional science. The connection established with the ancestral child Nimu Borum, who was removed from Mother Earth at an archaeological site called Lapa do Caboclo in 2004, is contributing to challenging our way of doing archaeology and bioarchaeology. Our ancestral science involves dreams, care, dialogue with other Indigenous relatives, songs, sacred materialities that accompany us, and respect.