ANTHRACOLOGICAL EVALUATION AT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF GUARANI OCCUPATION - TAPHONOMIC COMPARISONS TO CONSTRUCT THE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE FORQUETA RIVER BASIN, RS, BRAZIL

Abstract

Anthracological studies aim at the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment through the analysis and interpretation of macroremains of carbonized woods found in soils and archaeological sites that are related to previous human activities. The objective of this study was to compare the anthrocological and taphonomic data of the Archaeological Sites RS-T-101 and RS-T-114, located in the municipality of Marques de Souza, associated with pre-colonial occupancies of Guarani origin (archaeological sites RS-T-114 and RS-T-101, respectively, in 1,410-431 BP years and 1,411 -295 years BP, to build the environmental history of the Forqueta River basin based on taphonomic comparisons between these two sites. The traces analyzed were collected following methodology scaling and blasting, being conducted by the Archeology Section of the team’s Museum of Natural Sciences of the UNIVATES University Center. In this work, the images of carbon obtained under SEM were analyzed from both sites, which were the object of previous anthrachological studies, being used to perform the taphonomic comparisons. From the images, it can be inferred that the recovered charcoals in the sites had their anatomical characteristics well preserved, being possible to observe homogenization of the cellular walls, as well as the thickness of the walls demonstrates fires with temperatures that did not exceed 340ºC. Moreover, with this study it was possible to infer that the fragments found in these sites may have been originated by fires of anthropogenic origin because they are dispersed in the sedimentary matrix as well as in places with the presence of vestiges of fires.