Descrição e análise das urnas funerárias do sítio Gruta das Caretas

Abstract

The archeological potential of the Maracá region has been known worldwide since the 19th century, but it has only been systematically explored since the end of the last century, and this study is part of it. Our objective was to analyze the funerary urns from the Gruta das Caretas site, emphasizing the paintings and their decorative motifs, also regrouping the pieces from the site that were separated. To better observe the decorative motifs, they were drawn "open" to highlight the paintings. To regroup the separate pieces we used data obtained in the analyses, whose variables were: coincident measures, firing, color tone used in the paintings, wall thickness, and field photography. From the total of 66 pieces from the site studied, 45 had paintings, whose decorative motifs were already described in the previous sub-project, entitled: "Analysis of the funerary motifs from the Gruta das Caretas site, Maracá River region, Amapá State". These motifs were classified as: diamond-shaped bands, bands in straight lines and the motifs on the side of the body in sinuous, "broken" or "spiral" lines. Twenty bodies were regrouped with their respective covers and some fragments to the bodies. Besides the regrouping of the pieces, this work aims to show mainly, through the detailing of the paintings and the definition of recurring motifs in the umas Maracá, the existence of a cosmology expressed in the practice of funerary ritual, characterizing the relationship of the group who lived in the Maracá region with their lived space and their territoriality.