Archaeologies of Remembrance. Death and memory in past societies

WILLIAMS, H. (Ed.) Archaeologies of Remembrance. Death and memory in past societies. New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers. 2003. (Papers from a conference session the Theoretical Archaeology Group conference held in December – 2000 at St. Catherin’s College. Oxford). 310 pp. ISBN 0-306-47451-

Morphometric affinities and direct radiocarbon dating of the Toca dos Coqueiros’ skull (Serra da Capivara, Brazil)

The biological variation of the earliest skeletons of South America has been intensely debated for the last two centuries. One of the major research constraints has been the limited number of available samples dating to the early Holocene. We here present the first direct radiocarbon-date for the early Holocene human skeleton from Toca dos Coqueiros (Serra da Capivara, Brazil), also known as “Zuzu” (8640 ± 30 BP; 9526–9681 cal years BP). We performed craniometric analyses using exclusively samples from Brazil, to revisit the sex of the skeleton, and to discuss the evolutionary processes involved in the occupation of the continent. The sex of the individual was estimated as a female when compared to late and early Holocene individuals, but as a male when compared only to the early Holocene series. We also found that Zuzu presents the strongest differences with the late Holocene Guajajara individuals, located nearby, and the strongest similarities with the early Holocene series from Lagoa Santa, attesting for solid biological affinities among early Holocene individuals from Brazil, as well as a moderate level of morphological variation among them. This suggests that the early individuals were part of the same heterogeneous lineage, possibly a different one from which late Holocene populations diverged.Fil: Menendez, Lumila Paula. Universidad de Viena; Austria. Universitat Bonn; AlemaniaFil: López Sosa, María Clara. Universitat Bonn; AlemaniaFil: Monteiro da Silva, Sergio Francisco Serafim. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; BrasilFil: Martin, Gabriela. No especifíca;Fil: Pessis, Anne Marie. No especifíca;Fil: Guidon, Niède. No especifíca;Fil: Solari, Ana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Manejo y cultivo de plantas en sierras húmedas del NE de Brasil ca. 670-530 BP: evidencias palinológicas del yacimiento Evaristo I

Se presentan las primeras huellas culturales de antiguas poblaciones alfareras de la Serra de Baturité. El espectro polínico de los sedimentos evidencia un mosaico de vegetación húmeda y xerofitica. El polen útil recuperado de las cerámicas, como la yuca (tipo Manihot), el camote (tipo Ipomoea), el algodón (tipo Gossypium), las palmeras y fructíferas (tipo Arecaceae, Astronium y cf. Anacardium), juntamente con los microhongos patógenos del maíz, del algodón y de algunos tubérculos (tipo Curvularia, tipo Alternaria, tipo Puccinia y cf. Ustilago maydis) indican actividades agrícolas y de subsistencia. Los hongos coprófilos (tipo Cercophora, Gelasinospora y tipo Sordariaceae) reflejan el tiempo de permanencia de esos grupos en la zona arqueológica. El hongo Gelasinospora también muestra el uso del fuego como combustible para las prácticas agrícolas y caza. Esos datos demuestran el uso de la cerámica en contextos funerario y doméstico

Body, Sex and Gender in Archeology: Revisiting Some Multidisciplinary Aspects

This article presents the main problems related to the inclusion of the body, gender, sex and its relations with the material culture in the production of modern archaeological knowledge about populations of the past. It outlines an outline of recurring speculations, terms, and concepts that function as paradigmatic umbrella to estimate the state of the art of such approaches from archaeological and ethnographic examples from America, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Convergent perspectives were selected, even in the scope of bioculture and human sociobiology, for the explanation of a sometimes transverse bias of scientific knowledge. Corpo, Sexo e Gênero na Arqueologia: Revisitando Alguns Aspectos Multidisciplinares Este artigo apresenta os principais problemas relacionados à inclusão do corpo, gênero, sexo e suas relações com a cultura material na produção do conhecimento arqueológico moderno sobre populações do passado. Traça um esboço das especulações recorrentes, termos e conceitos que funcionam como guarda-chuva paradigmático para estimar o estado da arte dessas abordagens a partir de exemplos arqueológicos e etnográficos da América, África e Mediterrâneo. Foram selecionadas perspectivas convergentes, mesmo no âmbito da biocultura e da sociobiologia humana para a explanação de um viés por vezes transversal de conhecimento científico

Pré-história na foz do rio Chapecó

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