Vestígios - Revista Latino-Americana de Arqueologia Histórica
Vestigios – Revista Latino-Americana de Arqueologia Histórica promove a aproximação e interação de pesquisadores que trabalham com este campo do conhecimento na região. Trata-se de uma publicação pluralista, voltada principalmente a apoiar a produção teórica e a formulação e o desenvolvimento de abordagens alternativas que dêm conta das dinâmicas particulares que têm construído nossas sociedades.
O trabalho Vestígios - Revista Latino-Americana de Arqueologia Histórica de https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/vestigios/index está licenciado com uma Licença Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial 4.0 Internacional. Baseado no trabalho disponível em https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/vestigios/index. Podem estar disponíveis autorizações adicionais às concedidas no âmbito desta licença em https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/vestigios/index.
Copyright (c) 2025 Camilla Agostini, Piero A. B. Tessaro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Carl Knappett https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This article will address the archaeological research conducted on the landscape of brothels in the so-called "lower-class prostitution district" in the city of Pelotas/RS. These brothels, catering to working-class men, were mapped based on issues of the newspaper O Rebate from 1914 and 1917, which exposed prostitution in the more central areas of the city. Focusing on Tiradentes Street, between Anchieta Street (formerly General Victorino) and Quinze de Novembro Street, near the Public Market—an area described in the newspaper as the "Dirty Neighborhood" due to the prominent presence of brothels and sex workers—I highlight the processes of exclusion experienced by these women in Pelotas’ central area, as well as their everyday forms of resistance.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vanessa Avila Costa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Archaeomuseological experimentations at the Eviction Museum
Studies aimed at reflecting on the role and potential of Archeology and Museology in the formulation and consolidation of cultural and heritage policies oriented towards human dignity and social justice bring us closer to research on the relationship between people, things and landscapes. The second stage of the investigation, just beginning, focuses on the Eviction Museum. Understood as an archaeological site of the contemporary past, this territorial museum raises questions about the potential of the Musealization of Archeology, in dialogue with Landscape Archeology and Sensory Archeology, for the preservation and communication of materiality. Our objective with this article is to present the project and our initial reflections resulting from the contacts established with the site and with the people who founded the museum, who themselves are active participants in this exploratory study. Using undisciplined methodologies that hybridize techniques used in Anthropology, Archeology and Museology, we present preliminary results that point to the importance of adapting and diversifying documentation and communication tools to record key aspects in the relationship between people, things and landscapes, such as memories and other affective records.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alejandra Saladino, Karla Barroso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This article aims to explore methods for interpreting archaeological remains to better understand the historical processes of resistance and the abolitionist struggle in São Paulo during the late 19th century. To achieve this, the main house at the Ressaca site will be analyzed and reassessed through the lens of previously overlooked material evidence. Located in the Jabaquara neighborhood of São Paulo, this building is listed among the “Casas Bandeiristas.” The term, coined by Luís Saia during the celebrations of the IV Centenary of the Foundation of the City of São Paulo, was intended to promote a grand vision of São Paulo's identity. The appropriation of the bandeirante (frontiersman) figure as a symbol of this identity began in the late 18th century and continues to contribute to the erasure of memories and representations of other groups, particularly Africans and people of African descent. By examining historical data, geographical context, historical accounts, and features of the original structure of the main house, this study seeks to illuminate the social relations that give meaning to this archaeological heritage. In doing so, it aims to challenge long-standing narratives regarding the identity and representation of São Paulo's cultural heritage.
Copyright (c) 2025 Fabio Guaraldo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
European colonialism left a lasting impact through the plantation system, which continues to shape the contemporary world. Despite São Tomé’s significant role in developing this system, the island’s material history remains poorly understood, and archaeological research is only now beginning. This article focuses on the first archaeological project in the country, which aims to explore early sugar plantation landscapes through the study of the archaeological site of Praia Melão. Once the island's largest estate and sugar mill, it was active from the 16th to the 18th century and is, to date, the only known archaeological site in the country. Archaeological research aims to uncover information related to sugar production infrastructures, as well as the control of the enslaved population who labored at the mill. This article presents data from the first excavation in 2023, discussing it within the broader context of the island’s sugar plantation system and the origins of the Atlantic world.
Copyright (c) 2025 M. Dores Cruz, Nazaré Ceita, Natália Umbelina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Travelling images in the ancient Near East
This article explores the phenomenon of travelling images in the ancient Middle East, addressing how they transcend space and time. Based on archaeological theory, especially the “archaeology of images” (Bildarchäologie) it proposes a critical view of the life of images, from their creation to their reuse or destruction. Focusing on the iconographic interconnections from Mesopotamia, it highlights the importance of repetitiveness and the adaptation of visual motifs in new cultural contexts. This allows us to understand how images functioned as communication vehicles, reflecting and influencing ancient societies' social and political dynamics.
Copyright (c) 2024 Davide Nadali https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Theory, empiricism, and the issue of interpretation in the Brazilian archaeological practice
I intend, in this paper, to defend a disciplinary perspective of archaeological practice, recognizing archaeology´s unique potential for the production of socio-historical knowledge based on the study of human materiality in its spatial and temporal dimensions. In the first part I briefly characterize the radical theoretical perspectives that underlie the most voracious criticisms that have been made to the archaeological practice and I raise some questions regarding the basis and scope of these criticisms. Next, I revisit some basic notions about the disciplinary identity of archaeology and how it differs from anthropology and history. Finally, I use some examples of the research I have been conducting in the north of Rio de Janeiro to address what I consider the unique potential of historical archaeological research for the production of socio-historical knowledge about our recent past.
Copyright (c) 2023 Luis Symanski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This article maps the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries archaeological sites in Guanabara Bay, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro and analyses its coeval cartographic representation. The archaeological sites, registered at the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN) website, are plotted using Geographic Information System (GIS) and satellite images. Then, the plotted site’s geolocations are compared with their sixteenth and seventeenth century cartographic representation, imbued by a colonialist mentality. The cartography is understood as a source to discuss about the past, that is, as a historical document. Cartography is also analysed as formative of a colonial landscape and a European imaginary about the Brazilian territory, establishing a relation between cartography and territorial domination – in their historical context, between cartography and colonization. The landscape represented in the colonial maps is understood in the light of Post-Processual Archaeology, that is, as a subjective image, mediated between subject and the surrounding environment.
Copyright (c) 2023 Pedro de Carvalho Brandão Soares https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The objective of this article is to discuss the political dimension of archaeology. For this, we carry out a conceptual analysis of that relationship and we propose a criticism of the predominant treatment that tends to separate the political from the archaeological practice. We make a historical look at the subject in South America in general and in Argentina in particular, observing the interrelation between theoretical developments and political contexts. Likewise, we focus on some implications of archaeological practices that affect the indigenous world. In this sense, we analyze how the excavation of human bodies, their nomination and disciplinary classification generate certain alterations in the worlds of life of the original peoples of both the past and the present. Finally, considering some proposals of decolonial thought, we project some ideas that allow us to overcome these affectations and think of other forms of understanding to promote constructions of knowledge.
Copyright (c) 2023 Rafael Pedro Curtoni, Agusto Santiago Oliván https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The “Willow Pattern” tableware in Rosario, Argentina
Willow Pattern tableware has been treated in several works on English industry and customs. Used on plates, cups, teapots and trays, they have come down to our days as a design that recounts a legend: two chinese lovers who, persecuted, transform into two birds and so avoid punishment. Through the transfer technique– famously blue in color – the design filled the houses of the English middle classes from the end of the 17th century, producing massively, until today. However, today it is infrequent to find these pieces in antique shops and museums. But also it is very rare to find it into Rosario's garbage dumps between 1870 and 1920. The present work aims to establish and explain this contradiction between that presence and an archaeological absence, at least for Rosario. Linking the scarce findings with oral testimonies, the work tries to elucidate the role that this tableware had in English immigration, starting in the mid-nineteenth century, whose memory endures as a story that is sometimes blurred in the descendants, but always valued.
Copyright (c) 2023 Gustavo Osvaldo Fernetti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Within post-colonial territorial entanglements, various groups of agents come together to tense the conflict around the relationships of meaning with the territory. When the conflict scenario is tense, the various sets of agents are aligned according to their basic epistemic complicities. The locality (or local community), on the one hand, and science, the State and capital on the other, unfold their respective space-times in territorial entanglements. Like any territory, Ancasti, in the homonymous department in the province of Catamarca, Argentine Republic, develops its own territorial plot; in particular, it stands out for the complexity of each kind of agents, and for the way in which the forces are reordered in a first moment of tension. Both the long-standing presence of the archaeological intervention and the redefinition as sacrificial territory in the context of the lithium boom provides a specific texture, which we describe in this text.
Copyright (c) 2023 Alejandro Haber, Luciana Fernández https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
With the strengthening of the Postmodern trends in the last decades of the twentieth century, the Archaeology took an important step towards recognizing its colonialist and disciplinary roots. This led to the development of different criticisms of Western Modern thought, among them, the illusion of the neutrality and scientific objectivity, which contributed to a refusal of the social and political responsibilities in the most of archaeological research. The different approaches that emerge from the Postmodernism are increasingly focused on the present, and on the impacts that our investigations and interpretations have on contemporary communities. This article will present a reflection on the recursive ontological approach as a tool for social action, based on the assumption of an expansion of this notion of society. By taking other ontologies, knowledges and philosophies seriously, this archaeological approach leads us to think about the presence and the action of other entities, other beings within different worlds. Other existences, which also become part of this archaeological practice and political relations. With this, I propose an initial discussion of what the Archaeology could be as a Cosmopolitical practice, based on a reflection on the presence and performance of textile beings/wraps among the Mayas of different temporalities and their participation in the Cosmopolitical relations of these groups.
Copyright (c) 2023 Daniel Grecco Pacheco https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Aproximaciones teóricas en el estudio del tabaco y el fumar, en la arqueología histórica
Publicação original: Fox, Georgia (2015). Theoretical Approaches to Studying Tobacco and Smoking in Historical Archaeology. In: Fox, G. The Archaeology of Smoking and Tobacco. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, pp. 8-15. Sua nova publicação neste volume foi realizada com a permissão da University Press of Florida. Foi autorizada também pela autora. Tradução: Sarah de Barros Viana Hissa
Copyright (c) 2022 Georgia L. Fox https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This text discusses the need to consider and document “contemporary interferences”, such as infrastructure networks and pipelines that bring water, gas, electricity and internet to buildings that are currently in use in cities. Usually, these installations are articulated, through stratigraphy, with structural remnants in archaeological sites, especially in urban sites. Here it is mainly about the “cuts”, immaterial stratigraphic units that are directly related to the actions of build and destroy, but that also change the state of archaeological sites. Finally, it is pointed out that a dense documentation of these elements can also serve as an auxiliary instrument in the management and preservation of the archaeological heritage.
Copyright (c) 2023 Riccardo Frigoli, Anderson Marques Garcia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This article analyses clay pipes recovered in archaeological excavations conducted in urban and rural areas and public spaces of Rio de Janeiro once occupied by enslaved Africans, conceiving these artifacts as social agents. Adopting an approach centred exclusively on these objects, it considers, based on Gell (1998) and Heidegger (2012), that their exuberant decoration was designed to capture the attention of those looking at them, seducing the observer towards the social project to which these pipes were linked – in this case, the construction of diasporic communities in the context of the uprooting, dispersion and disintegration caused by the forced dislocation of Africans from their place of origin to a new and unknown destination. The analysis focuses on the different ethnic and cultural references present in the decorative motives of the clay pipes. These point not only to the multiple origins of who that arrived here but also the incorporation of aesthetic elements of European origin, widely used by the surrounding society. This process of hybridization resulted in the creation and sharing of new references, specific to the diasporic communities that formed in Rio de Janeiro.
Copyright (c) 2022 Marcos André Torres de Souza, Tania Andrade Lima https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The ruins of the fort of São Francisco da Laje
This essay offers a conservation diagnosis and characterization from the ruins of “Forte de Sao Francisco” (San Francisco’s War Fort), situated in the city of Recife, capital of Pernambuco - Brazil, have recourse to the methodology and techniques of Historical Archaeology; making using of archaeometry it was identified the basic elements of the build and of those agents that are causing its degradation, making clear of how important is the work to preserves it’s both ruins and the collective memory of this build of historic and national interest. As result it was possible to obtain a chemical and mineralogical characterization, a microscopic morphology of the masonry material, it was also identified the current pathologies using the assistance of Aerial Photogrammetry tool for registering and safekeeping of the asset/heritage Buildings.
Copyright (c) 2023 Ezequiel Sena, Ricardo Medeiros, Clara Santos, Henry Sullasi, Lucas Bonald, Nicodemos Chagas, Demétrio Mutzenberg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
As a material element, brick has been mass-produced for millennia. In cities, it forms the most repetitive object of all, since they form the physical city, counting in the millions. Despite this immense number, in cities there are historical differences in their format. In particular, Argentine cities have used different measures of brick, at different times and in Rosario, Argentina, this was verified by comparing old buildings with other more modern ones, finding notable differences in the size of the bricks. The present work investigates the causes of this variation, considering the common artisan brick as an archaeological fragment capable of reflecting the social changes that took place between 1870 and 1890.
Copyright (c) 2022 Gustavo Osvaldo Fernetti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This article deals with the submerged presence of an iron structure attributed to the African deity Exu in the port region of Salvador, Bahia structured by three analytical lines. The first presents an Archaeology of Black Religions capable of rescuing, by materiality, ritual processes and techniques developed in diasporic transit. The second line focuses on the epistemic triangulation between the archaeological context, the presence of open markets and the anthropic formation of the Água de Meninos cove in Salvador. The third line discusses the ritual of submerging Exu's assentamento on the bed of the Todos os Santos Bay and the invisible force of his presence.
Copyright (c) 2022 Luciana de Castro Nunes Novaes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Eduardo Herrera Malatesta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This article aims to present an archaeological analysis that deals with the settlement of the current municipality of Batalha through research into the remains of rural establishments. The purpose of the research presented here was, based on the study of architectural characteristics and historical and geographical information of the territory where they are located, to understand how the colonial occupation of the municipality of Batalha was. Thus, bibliographical surveys and reconnaissance surveys of the area made it possible to understand the geographical characterization and ethno-historical context of the place, as well as the identification of the Brejo de Baixo and Brejo de Cima farms, which contributed to the understanding of the historical bases of composition of the Batalha territory.
Copyright (c) 2025 Natália de Sousa Santos, Maria do Amparo Alves De Carvalho https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The article explores the relationship between whaling stations in Colonial Brazil and the activities of pirates and privateers, drawing on episodes linked to the station established on Bom Abrigo Island, on the southern coast of present-day São Paulo. Based on Myriam Ellis’s observations regarding the connection between whaling stations and fortifications, it examines the rationale behind the association of these seemingly disparate architectural elements, considering their potential use either as complementary defense structures or as a space to be defended. Within this context, the article also analyzes documented instances of the presence of “pirates” or privateers in Bom Abrigo, always in relation to the whaling station located there.
Copyright (c) 2025 Paulo Fernando Bava de Camargo, Leandro Domingues Duran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Juan Guillermo Martín Rincón https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
An archaeology of the Pixo movement on the São Vicente Island
Through the analysis of graffiti on the Island of São Vicente, the heart of Baixada Santista in the State of São Paulo, we will present an archaeological perspective on the Pixo Movement, which operates illegally, transgressing the landscape of the Island. To understand this occupation of the periphery through the actions of these groups and their transgression of the landscape, approaches frequently used in Landscape and Urban Archaeology studies were used, seeking to understand the relationship between humans and their occupation and the significance of public spaces. As a research method, we approached these graffiti, their supports, and their insertion into the landscape, using methodologies for recording and researching Rock Art. Through these analyses, we aim to better understand how these transgressions were organized in urban spaces, including the territories, privileged locations, rules, and spatial dispersion of these groups in the cities of Santos and São Vicente.
Copyright (c) 2025 Wesley Giovane Bertolai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Paths and setbacks in the archaeological heritage of Valongo Wharf (Rio de Janeiro)
This article analyzes the heritage recognition process of the Valongo Wharf archaeological site (Rio de Janeiro), which was designated a World Heritage Site in 2017. Through an analysis of judicial and administrative proceedings concerning the site, the article discusses the main challenges faced in the preservation, management, and promotion of Valongo Wharf, considered by UNESCO as “the most significant physical evidence of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the Americas.” Key obstacles include difficulties in coordination between different levels of government, insufficient funding, and delays in the implementation of policies aimed at enhancing the site’s value. The absence of a heritage interpretation center and effective site management hampers the full recognition of Valongo Wharf as a memory site of the African diaspora, limiting its educational potential in public history concerning slavery and its relevance for reflecting on contemporary issues of race and inequality.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sergio Gardenghi Suiama https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
This paper starts from the recognition of the alarming rates of irregular plastic waste disposal in the environment, with emphasis on their presence in marine landscapes. We reflect on the implications of this phenomenon for the formation of new archaeological records and aim to highlight some symbolic dimensions of waste, refuse, rejection, and disposability. The study adopted an exploratory approach based on a literature review and critical analysis of recent research that has linked waste with the formation of plastiglomerates. We understand archeology as a field of study that can theoretically and methodologically appropriate such an emerging topic, and that it is possible to analyze plastic waste as traces of the present that shape and transform landscapes, memories and possible futures. Are marine environments today's biggest dump? Irregularly discarded waste, especially in marine environments, contributes to the formation of new archaeological records. To change this reality, it is necessary to go beyond simply slowing down large-scale production. We point to the urgent need for transformative actions in the industry, including setting goals for reducing plastic production and introducing new raw materials into the production chain. We must live with fair production and consumption, and fully reuse or recycle waste.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vanúzia Gonçalves Amaral, Maria Jacqueline Rodet https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Casa Rosada, located on Siqueira Mendes Street, Belém-PA, is a significant example of historical and cultural heritage, reflecting the urban development of the city since its foundation in 1616. This article investigates the history and resistance of this building over the centuries, highlighting its role in the formation of the urban identity of Belém. The objective is to understand how the Casa Rosada endured and transformed, considering its social and architectural function. The methodology used was characterized by being interdisciplinary, as it includes documentary research in historical archives, analysis of old maps and the results of previously carried out archaeological surveys. The documentary investigation involved consulting new documentation related to old newspapers and bibliographies. The results indicate that the Casa Rosada, possibly built in the 17th century, underwent several structural and functional modifications, serving both as a residence and as a commercial space and possibly as the headquarters of public institutions. The archaeological survey revealed layers of occupation that reflect the pre-colonial indigenous presence and subsequent socioeconomic changes. This study contributes to the understanding of the dynamics between heritage and the city, highlighting the importance of Casa Rosada as a symbol of the historical and cultural continuity of Belém.
Copyright (c) 2025 Aguinaldo de Jesus Moraes Marques, Brenda Bandeira de Azevedo, Amanda Carolina de Sousa Seabra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0