In ancient previews of the famous Brazilian Carnival, pre-colonial people in Brazil apparently gathered in summer months to feast on migratory fish and share alcoholic drinks, a new study has determined. An international team – involving scientists from the University of York, UK; the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and the Universidade Federal de Pelotas in Brazil –analyzed pottery fragments dating back to between 2300 and 1200 years ago that were discovered around the Patos Lagoon in Brazil, and found evidence of what were undoubtedly large and raucous celebrations filled with merriment. The shores of the Lagoon are characterized by settled earthen mounds, known as “cerritos” which were built by pre-colonial ancestors of Pampean Indigenous groups called the Charrua and
