"Ciência de potes quebrados": nação e região na arqueologia brasileira do século XIX

The paper explores distinct expectations created in different places and institutions with the archaeological discoveries taken place in Brazilian territory in the second half of 19th century. By means of a case study about the professional trajectory of Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna (1818-1888), founder of Museu Paraense in 1866 and traveling naturalist of Brazilian Museu Nacional between 1872 and 1884, the present article reconstructs the origins of scientific debates and disputes over the Amazonian archaeological heritage, in great evidence at that time, due to discoveries of pre-historic sites at Marajó Island, in the State of Pará. The intention is to demonstrate how the discourse about national identity, broadly used by the director of the Brazilian Museu Nacional, Ladislau de Souza Mello Netto (1838-1894), overshadowed political divergence and had little repercussion among Brazilian provinces that were building, at the time, their respective regional identities and historical narratives - to which archaeological evidences were equally fundamental