Archaeofacies Analysis: Using Depositional Attributes to Identify Anthropic Processes of Deposition in a Monumental Shell Mound of Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil

Author(s)

Villagran, Ximena S. ^[1] ; Giannini, Paulo C. F. ^[1] ; DeBlasis, Paulo ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Geosci, BR-05508080 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Museum Archaeol & Ethnol, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: GEOARCHAEOLOGY-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL; v. 24, n. 3, p. 311-335, MAY-JUN 2009.
• Web of Science Citations: 22

Abstract

In the coast of Santa Catarina State (southern Brazil), a large population of monumental shell mounds characterizes a highly dynamic coastal setting. In this paper, sedimentary facies analysis was adapted for description, sampling, and interpretation of shell mound complex and repetitive archaeostratigraphic successions. Archaeofacies identification in the field, according to depositional attributes, is tested by contrasting field description with multi-element chemical analyses, total carbon and nitrogen determinations, and micromorphological descriptions. Two vertical sequences at the black deposit of Jabuticabeira II shell mound were studied and preliminary results showed that: (1) depositional attributes are a reliable base for archaeofacies identification in the field, (2) the formation process of this site involved a sequence of anthropic depositional processes, where burned refuse was redeposited over the shell mound following a ritual construction pattern, and (3) the black deposit includes a double palimpsest that refers to provenance and meaning of mound construction material. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 04/11038-0 - Sambaquis and landscape: modeling cultural and natural relationships at the Brazilian southern shores, Santa Catarina
• Grantee: Paulo Antônio Dantas de Blasis
• Support type: Research Projects - Thematic Grants