Beyond chronology: temporality, funeral rituals and social practices in a cemetery site in Northeast Brazil

Authors

  • Ana Solari INAPAS - FUMDHAM
  • Anne Marie Pessis INAPAS - FUMDHAM
  • José María Vaquer UBA - CONICET

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/1678-9857.ra.222244

Keywords:

Ancestrality, Social Memory, Experience, Manipulation, Myth

Abstract

Archeology is a science that has time as its raw material, and where time is understood in terms of chronology. To overcome this limiting vision, it is necessary that the explanation consider the specific historical conditions under which people acted. Archaeological evidence can indicate the way in which practices were sustained over time, contributing to the reproduction of a social system. One of the contexts in which social reproduction is created are funerary rituals. Here we discuss the relationships between social practices and temporality based on the interpretation of the Toca do Enoque cemetery site in Piauí, used by hunter-gatherer groups in the Middle and Late Holocene. We propose that the ritual practices that structured the graves aim to give a vision of synchrony of social practices, while chronology always implies a diachronic vision.

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Author Biographies

  • Ana Solari, INAPAS - FUMDHAM

    Graduada em Antropologia (orientação Arqueologia) na Universidade de Buenos Aires, tem Mestrado e Doutorado em Antropologia Física e Forense na Universidade de Granada. No Brasil nos últimos anos fez pesquisa em Bioarqueologia para o Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Arqueologia, Paleontologia e Meio Ambiente do Semi-árido do Nordeste do Brasil e a Fundação Museu do Homem Americano com bolsas de Pesquisador Visitante I CNPq, DCR-FAPEPI/INCT-INAPAS. Suas principais linhas de pesquisa são Antropologia Biológica, Bioarqueologia, Arqueotanatologia, Arqueologia Mortuária e Arqueologia Funerária.

  • Anne Marie Pessis, INAPAS - FUMDHAM

    Doutorado em Antropologia Visual - Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). Doutorado de Estado em Letras e Ciências Humanas (Pré-história) - Université Paris X (Nanterre). Diretora Presidente da Fundação Museu do Homem Americano - FUMDHAM. Professora da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arqueologia. Coordenadora do Instituto Nacional de Arqueologia, Paleontologia e Ambiente do Semiárido - INAPAS / INCT / CNPq. Bolsista de Produtividade em Pesquisa do CNPq - Nível 1 A. Atua nas áreas de Arqueologia Pré-histórica, Metrologia Arqueológica e Patrimonial.

  • José María Vaquer, UBA - CONICET

    Doctor en Arqueología (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina), Investigador Adjunto del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET – Argentina). Profesor Adjunto de Historia de las Artes Visuales en la Universidad Nacional del Arte (UNA – Argentina). Dictó varios seminarios de grado y de posgrado en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Su especialidad es la Arqueología del Paisaje en la vertiente hermenéutica, trabajando también en Teoría Arqueológica y las relaciones con las comunidades.

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Published

2026-10-08

Issue

Vol. 69 (2026)

Section

Special Issue Biological Anthropology

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How to Cite

Solari, A., Pessis, A. M., & Vaquer, J. M. (2026). Beyond chronology: temporality, funeral rituals and social practices in a cemetery site in Northeast Brazil. Revista De Antropologia, 69. https://doi.org/10.11606/1678-9857.ra.222244