Maria Dulce Gaspar

Sambaqui (Shell Mound) Societies of Coastal Brazil

Sambaquis (the Brazilian term for shell mounds, derived from the Tupi language) are widely distributed along the shoreline of Brazil and were noted in European accounts as early as the sixteenth century. They typically occur in highly productive bay and lagoon ecotones where the mingling of salt and fresh waters supports mangrove vegetation and abundant shellfish, fish, and aquatic birds. More than one thousand sambaqui locations are recorded in Brazil’s national register of archaeological sites [Note 1], but represent a fraction of the original number because colonial through modern settlements coincide with these favorable environments. Although sambaquis are of variable scale overall, massive shell mounds are characteristic of Brazil’s southern coast (Figure 18.1). The term “sambaqui” is applied to cultural deposits of varying size and stratigraphy in which shell is a major constituent, undoubtedly encompassing accumulations with a range of functions and origins. Proportions of soil, sand, shell [Note 2], and the kinds of cultural inclusions and features in sambaquis also are variable. Small sambaquis often consist of shell layers over sandy substrates or sequences of shell and sand layers, with or without signs of burning or significant numbers of artifacts. Larger shell mounds typically have horizontally and vertically complex stratigraphy, including alternating sequences of shell deposits, narrower and darker layers of charcoal and burned bone that mark occupation surfaces, and clusters of burials, hearths, and postholes descending from these surfaces. Food refuse is present in sambaquis, along with a set of several feature types that are commonplace in residential occupations. Recognizable dwellings have not been encountered, however, nor do arrangements of features and distributions of artifacts indicate sustained domestic activity, with very few exceptions (e.g., around lakes in the state of Rio de Janeiro: Barbosa et al. 1994; L. Kneip 1992). In some cases, small sambaquis with

A TENTATIVE DETERMINATION OF UPWELLING INFLUENCE ON THE PALEO- SURFICIAL MARINE WATER RESERVOIR EFFECT IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Previous work has suggested that seasonal and interannual upwelling of deep, cold, radiocarbon-depleted waters from the South Atlantic has caused variations in the reservoir effect (R) through time along the southern coast of Bra- zil. This work aims to examine the possible upwelling influence on the paleoreservoir age of Brazilian surficial coastal waters based on paired terrestrial/marine samples obtained from archaeological remains. On the Brazilian coast, there are hundreds of shell middens built up by an ancient culture that lived between 6500 to 1500 yr ago, but there are few shell middens located on open-coast sites with a known upwelling influence. Three archaeological sites located in a large headland in Arraial do Cabo and Ilha de Cabo Frio on the southeastern coast of Brazil, with open-ocean conditions and a well-known strong and large upwelling of the Malvinas/Falkland current, were chosen for this study. The 14C age differences between carbonized seed and marine samples varied from 281 ± 44 to 1083 ± 51 14C yr. There are also significant age differences between car- bonized seed samples (977 14C yr) and marine samples (200 and 228 14C yr) from the same archaeological layer that cannot be explained by a reservoir effect or an old-wood effect for charcoal. Therefore, the present data from the southeastern Bra- zilian coast are inconclusive for identifying an upwelling effect on R. To do so, it would be necessary to more precisely define the present-pre-bomb R in upwelling regions, and to analyze paired marine/terrestrial samples that are contemporaneous beyond doubt.

Traditional Fishing, Mollusk Gathering, and the Shell Mound Builders of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract This article presents results of ethnographic research on modern fishers and mollusk gatherers from the state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. Information from interviews is correlated with questions regarding the lifeways of groups that built large shell mounds along the Brazilian coast between 6,000 and 1,000 years ago. Ethnoarchaeological research helps deconstruct misconceptions regarding these prehistoric communities, demonstrating that large-scale sedentary groups could have successfully utilized estuarine resources on a year-round basis.

A sociedade sambaquieira vista através de sexo e gênero

The research on sambaquis is a founding theme of Brazilian archaeology and there is a varied and extensive scientific production concerning this kind of archaeological site. Nevertheless, the great majority of the studies about the society that colonized the seashore aims to project on them some classification models that do not consider the different social segments that form them. The study of gender is a fruitful way to identify and characterize social segments that share the same space and ideology. Taking for background the path of the concept of gender in social sciences and its extensions to the archaeology of sambaquis this article analyses some elements of the mortuary contexts of these sites identifying the presence of symbolic constructions of extreme variability that point to some aspects of the social life among the fishercollectors of Rio de Janeiro State seashores.