Cultural evolution and diversity in hunter-gatherer groups from Eastern Paraná and Uruguay Basins

• Grant number: 19/08870-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Prehistoric Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Mercedes Martinez Okumura
• Grantee: João Carlos Moreno de Sousa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/23282-5 - Change and continuity in prehistoric human groups from Ribeira de Iguape Valley (São Paulo and Paraná): applying evolutionary theory to bioarchaeology and material culture, AP.JP

Abstract

Several Paleoindian sites in Brazil, especially in the Southern and Central regions of the country, are known due to decades of excavations on those areas since the 1960's. However, few systematic analysis of the material culture of those Paleoindian sites have been done until this day. Archaeological literature from Brazil usually classifies only two archaeological cultures for the Paleoindian period in Eastern South America - the "Itaparica Tradition" and the "Umbu Tradition", both dating between 13,000 and (at least) 7000 years ago. Few research has been done in order to verify if the archaeological assemblages of these two archaeological cultures are culturally homogeneous and how they evolved. This project goal is to understand the real cultural evolution and diversity of Paleoindian cultures that are probably being obliterated by the Itaparica-Umbu model to better understand their geographical and chronological distribution, focusing in lithic assemblages from the Southern region of Brazil, and also from Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo states. The comprehension of the real cultural evolution and diversity of paleoindian groups by analyzing the main features of their lithic vestiges will provide means for understanding the relationship between contemporaneous paleoindian groups from Brazil and other South American regions, as well as possible ancestry and descendent connections with earlier and later cultures. (AU)

Scientific publications

(5)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MORENO, JOAO C.; BRADLEY, BRUCE; OKUMURA, MERCEDES; WILLIAMS, THOMAS J.. Two Technological Traditions of Bifacial Points from the Breach Farm Site, Wales: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Lithic Technology Integrating Experimental Replication, X-Ray Fluorescence, and Geometric Morphometry. ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY, v. N/A, p. 25-pg., 2022-07-06. (19/08870-0, 18/23282-5)

MORENO DE SOUSA, JOAO CARLOS; OKUMURA, MERCEDES. A new proposal for the technological analysis of lithic points: Application for understanding the cultural diversity of hunter gatherers in Eastern South America. QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL, v. 562, p. 1-12, OCT 10 2020. (19/08870-0, 18/23282-5, 16/23584-6)

DE MELLO ARAUJO, ASTOLFO GOMES; MORENO DE SOUSA, JOAO C.; CORREA, LETICIA C.; FEATHERS, JAMES K.; OKUMURA, MERCEDES. The Rise and Fall of Alice Boer: A Reassessment of a Purported Pre-Clovis Site. PALEOAMERICA, v. 7, n. 2, p. 99-113, APR 3 2021. (17/20340-1, 19/08870-0)

CHELIZ, PEDRO MICHELUTTI; GIANNINI, PAULO CESAR FONSECA; DE SOUSA, JOAO CARLOS MORENO; LADEIRA, FRANCISCO SERGIO BERNARDES; RODRIGUES, JULIANA ALVES; MINGATOS, GABRIELA SARTORI; PUPIM, FABIANO NASCIMENTO; MINELI, THAYS DESIREE; GALHARDO, DANILO; RODRIGUES, ROBSON ANTONIO. Early anthropic occupation and geomorphological changes in South America: human-environment interactions and OSL data from the Rincao I site, southeastern Brazil. JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, v. 38, n. 5, p. 17-pg., 2023-05-08. (19/08870-0, 19/18664-9)

MORENO DE SOUSA, JOAO CARLOS; GARCIA, ANDERSON MARQUES. Late Holocene lithic points from a Southern Brazilian mound: The Pororo site. PAPERS FROM THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, v. 32, n. 1, JAN 19 2022. (19/08870-0)