Laura Furquim

Research Associate
Department of Archaeology
isoTROPIC

Main Focus

Laura is a PhD candidate at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, currently internship at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, member of the Isotropic Research Group. Her research combines multiproxy evidence for the study of biodiversity uses in late pre-Columbian and colonial period in the Amazon basin, searching for indications of the impact of the European colonization among indigenous groups. Through the analysis of archaobotanical macro remains (seeds and fruits) in Amazonian Dark Earth soils, micro remains (starch grains) from ceramics, allied to her ongoing analysis of isotopes from archaeological maize and lipids from ceramics, she aims to explore different aspects of cultural food ways and plant management. She is also member of the Endangered Material Knowledge Programme of the British Museum, developing the project “The Taste of Life: the management of Brazil nut orchards, cooking knowledge and traditional biotechnologies of the Tenharin of Amazonia”.

Curriculum Vitae

Laura received her BA in History from the University of São Paulo (2012). Her dissertation, “Archaeobotany and Social Changes in the Southwestern Amazon during the Mid to Late Holocene Transition” (USP, 2018), has awarded the prize Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade of the Institute of National Heritage (IPHAN, 2019).

Publications

Furquim, L., Watling, J., Hilbert, L., Shock, M., Prestes-Carneiro, G., Calo, C., Py-Daniel, A., Brandão, K., Pugliese, F., Zimpel, C., da Silva, C., Neves, E. 2021. Facing change through diversity: resilience and diversification of plant management strategies during the Mid to Late Holocene transition at the Monte Castelo shellmound, SW Amazonia. Quaternary, 4(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010008

Cassino, M., Shock, M., Furquim, L., Ortega, D., Machado, J., Madella, M., Clement, C. 2021. Archaeobotany of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples and Their Food Plants. In: Jacob, M.C.M., Albuquerque, U.P. (eds) Local Food Plants of Brazil. Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69139-4_8

Neves EG, Furquim LP, Levis C, Rocha BC, Watling JG, Almeida FO, Betancourt C.J, Junqueira AB, Moraes CP, MorcoteRios G, Shock MP, Tamanaha EK. 2021. Chapter 8: Peoples of the Amazon before European colonization. In: Nobre C, Encalada A, Anderson E, Roca Alcazar FH, Bustamante M, Mena C, Peña-Claros M, Poveda G, Rodriguez JP, Saleska S, Trumbore S, Val AL, Villa Nova L, Abramovay R, Alencar A, Rodríguez Alzza C, Armenteras D, Artaxo P, Athayde S, Barretto Filho HT, Barlow J, Berenguer E, Bortolotto F, Costa FA, Costa MH, Cuvi N, Fearnside PM, Ferreira J, Flores BM, Frieri S, Gatti LV, Guayasamin JM, Hecht S, Hirota M, Hoorn C, Josse C, Lapola DM, Larrea C, Larrea-Alcazar DM, Lehm Ardaya Z, Malhi Y, Marengo JA, Melack J, Moraes R M, Moutinho P, Murmis MR, Neves EG, Paez B, Painter L, Ramos A, Rosero-Peña MC, Schmink M, Sist P, ter Steege H, Val P, van der Voort H, Varese M, Zapata-Ríos G (Eds). Amazon Assessment Report 2021. United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York, USA. Available from https://www.theamazonwewant.org/spa-reports/. DOI: 10.55161/LXIT557

Shiratori, K., Cangussu, D., Furquim, L.  Life in tree scenarios: plant controversies between Jamamadi gardens and Hi-Merimã palm orchards (Middle Purus River, Amazonas, Brazil). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 64(101358), special issue Gardens in the Neotropics, vol. 64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101358

Calo, C. M., Rizutto, M., Carmello-Guerreiro, S., Dias, C., Watling, J., Shock, M., Zimpel, C., Furquim, L., Pugliese, F., Neves, E. 2020. A correlation analysis of Light Microscopy and X-ray MicroCT imaging methods applied to archaeological plant remains’ morphological attributes visualization. Nature Scientific Reports, 10:15105, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71726-z

Jácome, C. and Furquim, L. 2019. Gender and Feminism in Brazilian Archaeology. In Smith, Claire (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3347-2 

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