Re: Kayapo Chief

Cecilia Maria B Sardenberg (cecisard@SUNRNP.UFBA.BR)
Sun, 15 May 1994 19:49:01 -0300

It is utterly doubtful that there was any kind of diffusion of
the lip plate from Africa to Brazil, particularly through the slave
trade. The word for the lip plate in Brazil is "botoque", and when the
Portuguese arrived here, they already found several native groups wearing
it and called them "Botocudos".This still is the general
denomination of a number of different groups who traditionally wore the
'botoque'. My guess is that it is indigenous to Brazil.

Cecilia Sardenberg
Universidade Federal da Bahia
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
cecisard@sunrnp.ufba.br