Petrographic analysis and lithic raw material procurement strategies of Sanfranciscana Basin: mobility in Pleistocene-Holocene transition and early Holocene

• Grant number: 22/05420-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Prehistoric Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: André Menezes Strauss
• Grantee: Haruan Straioto
• Host Institution: Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/16451-2 - Virtual anthropology and archaeogenomics of pre-colonial Brazil, AP.JP

Abstract

This project aims to analyze mobility patterns related to lithic raw material procurement by groups that occupied the Sanfranciscana sedimentary basin during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The object of study will be the lithic remains collected in layers dated between 12000 and 7000 years BP from the sites: 1) Lapa do Santo, in the region of Lagoa Santa, center of Minas Gerais; 2) Lapa do Boquete, in the region of Vale do Peruaçu, Northwest of Minas Gerais. Both sites are located in karst formations (Bambuí Group) and present evidence of human occupation, as well as diachronic cultural variations during the time frame analyzed here. The purpose of this project is to carry out a technological and geochemical characterization of types of lithic raw material used in manufacture of instruments, as well as to categorize through petrography and geochemical analysis the sources of origin of these raw materials, aiming to develop mobility models related to the groups that occupied this region. One of the objectives is to understand if changes in the mobility pattern of these groups caused technological changes in production of instruments, related to a gradual process of cultural regionalization in differents areas of the plateau. (AU)