Brings to life the long and complex history of human occupation of this vast area, offering a radical revision of long-held views about the relative simplicity of nomadic hunting-and-gathering tropical forest groups. What emerges in this book is a picture of sophisticated archaeological and ethnographical cultures with rich artistic traditions. The volume is beautifully illustrated with images of archaeological and ethnographical material: drawn from twenty Brazilian and European collections and brought together for the first time for the Unknown Amazon exhibition (British Museum, Autumn 2001).