Prospecção de jazidas líticas em arqueologia : uma proposta metodológica

Abstract

Brazilian researchers from Archaeology and Geosciences have been converging in order to prospect the occurrence of lithic raw materials surrounding archaeological sites. The present study proposes a new methodology for the prospection of lithic raw materials occurrences for the Brazilian archaeologists. It includes the planning, selection and analysis of geological and topographic maps, remote sensing images, field collecting data, the comparison with the archaeologist collections and eventually the interpretation of the data. This methodology was applied in the following prehistoric archaeological sites: Caixa d’Água, Bibocas II e Curral de Pedras I, in the region of Buritizeiro and Jequitaí municipalites. These sites are located in at the high-medium São Francisco basin in the Minas Gerais state and their geologic and geomorphologic contexts are very distinct. The initial occupations in the region have dated of the Lower Holocene. The methodology included simplified geologic cross sections and prospecting of active and ancient gravel deposits on the drainages and surroundings. After that, the attributes of 13,373 fluvial pebbles were analyzed in terms of their similarities and differences from the archaeological lithic collections. Some aspects of the pebbles were related: lithology, shape, size, roundness and surface. Also the contexts of the relief (plains and mountains) and geology comprised in the subareas were studied. The local of the occurrences of the primary and secondary lithic raw material are also indicated. Several raw material pieces had their possible origins determined, while others are authocton theoretical support material for applying the proposed that could be used in brazilian lithic industries. Are also suggested spacing estimatives between the fluvial blocks which are variable due to the lithological variations, drainage direction versus lithological contacts and gravels availability, what allows this method to be applied in other regions.