Pré-história de Carajás: um estudo da evolução cultural dos grupos que habitaram a região.

Abstract

During the archeological survey of Serra de Carajás, between 1983 and 1987, the presence of numerous caves on the slopes of the northern Carajás mountain range was verified, more precisely, in the iron ore deposits. Some of these caves were characterized as archeological sites, for presenting traces of pre-historic human occupation. Thus arose the interest in surveying the possible caves with archeological potential existing in the iron-ore plateaus of Carajás, since the intensive iron ore mining compromises valuable information about the prehistoric human groups who inhabited the region. The site PA-AT-69: Gruta do Gavião, stood out and became a priority for the studies due to the occurrence of a large amount of archeological material, and because of its natural habitat conditions. Through laboratory analysis, plotting and mapping, and other records of the archaeological material collected in the field, it was possible to obtain a chronology and to evidence the intensity of the cultural development of the area under study and to reconstruct the various stages of occupation, adaptation, and prehistoric settlement of the region. The archaeological material collected is characterized by the presence of fragmented or whole ceramics and by chips, micro chips, cores and artifacts in quartz and diversified rock. A large amount of charcoal, generally associated with quartz, and animal bones were collected, which made it possible to date the hunter-gatherers who inhabited these caves to 8000 years ago. These findings result in an understanding of the use of space in the caves of Serra dos Carajás, as well as the activities and customs that these groups had, showing how they contributed to the evolution of Amazonian cultures.