Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia
The Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia appeared in 1991, replacing three extinct titles due to the merger of research institutions in the areas of Archaeology and Ethnology: Revista Dédalo, Revista de Pré-História e Revista do Museu Paulista. The Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia is an academic journal for the publication of works on Archaeology, Ethnology and Museology, and in 2016, the Revista de Arqueologia e Etnologia became on-line only, semiannual and all previous printed numbers were digitized and made available in open access through Portal de Revistas USP Site.
Universidade de São Paulo. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia
Dakar, a hub of the African art market? Senegalese art dealers at the crossroads of worlds
This article examines the place of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, in the history of the so-called traditional African art market. Based on ethnographic and historical data, it describes the role played by Senegalese antiquaries in establishing transnational networks, at both intracontinental and intercontinental scales. Furthermore, it questions the specificities of the Senegalese market, particularly its pan-African perspectives, the essentialist or ethnicist biases it conveys, and the antiquaries relationship with Islam.
Copyright (c) 2025 Julien Bondaz; Denise Dias Barros, Rosa Cavalcanti Ribas Vieira https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Among Dialogues, Trajectories, and Artistic Reinventions from Dakar
The dossier discusses Senegalese artistic expressions that emerged from the city of Dakar or in dialogue with it, highlighting connections, contradictions, disputes, movements, and interregional reinventions. It brings together contributions from the 1st International Seminar Affluences dans les arts depuis Dakar, with a focus on the integration of local and external legacies, exchanges between African artists and institutions, and the influence of Senegalese creative production in Brazil, France, and beyond. It analyzes the role of cultural dynamics, collections, festivals, exhibitions, and curatorial practices in shaping art and museums, as well as the relevance of the 2023 and 2025 São Paulo Biennials for contemporary African presence, with particular emphasis on Senegalese participation. The dossier also discusses the centrality of Dakar as a hub of artistic production and circulation, highlighting the role of Léopold Sédar Senghor in consolidating debates on Negritude, Pan-Africanism, and the independence of former French colonies. It further addresses the impact of journals and festivals, such as the World Festival of Black Arts and the Pan-African Festival of Algiers. The processes of collecting, circulation, and commodification of African art are examined, as well as the creation of the Agit’art collective, which opposed official cultural policy. The text also highlights contemporary forms of resistance and critique, such as the RBS Crew collective, and the innovative role of artists (Dior Thiam, Alioune Diagne), curators (Koyo Kouoh), and choreographers (Germaine Acogny) in Senegalese and African arts. Finally, it underscores the vitality of the Senegalese presence at the São Paulo Biennials and the displacement of centers of production, circulation, and critique of African art, pointing to current epistemic challenges and transformations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rosa Cavalcanti Ribas Vieira, Denise Dias Barros https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Lapidis fata ignoramus: A re-examination of the Palmyrene funerary relief of the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil)
The Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia of the Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) possesses a Palmyrene funerary relief, which is one of the two pieces of its kind preserved in Latin America. This paper re-examines the relief through an iconographic, epigraphic, and prosopographical analysis. First, we offer data on the acquisition history of the piece, as well as an interpretation of its main iconographic elements. Secondly, the Palmyrene Aramaic epitaph of the relief (PAT 0650) is examined through its transliteration, translation, paleographic notes, and an onomastic analysis of each of the anthroponyms mentioned. Finally, a prosopographical commentary is offered based on the genealogical links of the epitaph with two other inscribed reliefs (PAT 0651 and PAT 0652).
Copyright (c) 2025 Ernesto Caveda de la Guardia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Presentation of the dossier “Visions of Geoarchaeology in Latin America: papers presented at the 10th DIG-GEGAL
Copyright (c) 2025 Ximena Suárez Villagrán, Kelly Brandão, Mayara Mariano, Nicolás Batalla, Rosicler Theodoro da Silva, Júlio Cezar Rubin de Rubin, Michelle Mayumi Tizuka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Hip-hop graffiti and sociopolitical commitment in Senegal. Analysis of twomajor works by the urban artists’ collective RBS Crew
This article takes as its starting point the socio-political and contextual frameworks that give meaning to the content of two hip-hop graffiti murals produced by the RBS Crew artists' collective between 2018 and 2021. These two collectively produced works have a certain continuity and intertextuality with each other, critically questioning the neo-colonial relationships that the political elites, essentially, in power in Senegal have with their Western counterparts, while at the same time showing themselves to be violent towards their fellow citizens, whom they are supposed to be protecting. By taking on the role of voice-bearer for the people of Senegal, and indeed Africa and the oppressed in general, the artists are defining a conception of artistic practice based above all on socio-political commitment. The modus operandi used, which draws on a variety of registers (the worlds of cinema, literature, rap music, caricatures, etc.), is indicative of the artists' desire to draw on common but diverse references, some of which are simplified, in order to make their messages easier to decode and understand. In so doing, this ‘useful art’, which attempts to make messages more accessible and is opposed to a conception of ‘art for art's sake’ or, in other words, to a conception of an art-mystery, deeply and distinctively irrigates these graffiti worlds in Senegal. Such a conception about the arts leads us to rethink the modularity of hip-hop graffiti in the light of the type of objectives pursued by the artists according to the constraints of their production environments, as well as a hierarchization of the stakes underlying the creative process.
Copyright (c) 2025 Abdoulaye Niang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Contemporary Insurgencies in Visual Poetics in the Art of Alioune Diagne and Dior Thiam
This article analyzes two contemporary artworks by Senegalese artists with significant international presence: Particles (2023), by Dior Thiam, presented at the 15th Dakar Biennale, and Bokk – Bounds (2024), by Alioune Diagne, exhibited at the Senegal Pavilion of the 60th Venice Biennale. The study investigates how both artists mobilize visual and symbolic resources to critique colonial legacies, historical violence, and exclusionary dynamics, each from distinct perspectives. Thiam, from a transnational and diasporic standpoint, articulates multiple African geographies. Diagne grounds his work in Senegalese everyday life. The research combines a comparative and transdisciplinary approach to aesthetic and documentary analysis, political contextualization, and curatorial interpretation, arguing that these works establish singular modes of visual resistance and memory reconfiguration. In doing so, it contributes to reflections on the intersections between art, history, and politics in contemporary Africa.
Copyright (c) 2025 Flavio da Silva Nogueira, Denise Dias Barros https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
From the Dakar world festival (1966) to the Pan-African Festival in Algiers (1969): tensions and invisibilisation of cultural worlds in political arenas.
This article reflects on the Dakar (1966) and Algiers (1969) festivals. There is a large body of literature on the impact of the two festivals, discussions between art, Blackness, Pan-Africanism, countless archives, newspaper materials, films, articles and books. Our proposal is to complement this, to read between the lines and consider the festivals as political arenas in a delimited space-time, almost total social facts. Our focus is on the nuances and criticisms written, highlighting, for example, voices from the diaspora, delving into internal tensions and raising questions that are not so recurrent, confronting the intentions of the Festivals with the demands of the populations of the two countries. Our attention focused on internal and external criticisms of the Dakar festival. We then questioned the Pan-African Festival in Algiers, which silenced identities present at the birth of the Algerian nation and kept alive its Saharan festival traditions. This is not a comparison between the festivals, but a study of their specificities in performances that have resulted in the invalidation of different cultures in the course of these world spectacles. The author and author seek to look at the historical processes of the two festivals, problematizing the political aspects of these arenas, showcases of African cultures on the move.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mahfouz Ag Adnane, Marina Berthet https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Cotopaxi volcano and the first settlers of the inter-Andean Valleys of Pichincha, Ecuador: Changes in the landscape and geomorphology during the Middle Holocene
The Preceramic occupations in the northern Andes of Ecuador, in towns near the city of Quito, have been the result of intense debates regarding their chronology and conservation. The available evidence comes from the “El Inga” site and refers to lithic tools in obsidian, dated to 14 C and a stratigraphy disturbed by erosive processes. This led to the early occupations of this area having a questionable chronology due to the absence of geoarchaeological studies that evaluate the matrix of the archaeological record and the formation process of these sites. However, in the town of Sangolquí, early sites (13,500 – 4,500 BP) could be recorded and excavated, which had a stratigraphy better preserved by ash and lahar deposits from the Cotopaxi volcano. From these data plus a series of analyzes of volcanic ashes, radiocarbon dating and reconstructions of the Early Holocene geomorphology of this area, it has been possible to establish the changes that Cotopaxi volcano generated in the landscape of these sites, going from a relief of small hills to elongated hills that were modeled by lahar deposits around 4.500 BP.
Copyright (c) 2025 Carlo Sthefano Serrano Ayala https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Bapera: The Bororo Encyclopedia and the Encounter between Salesian Missionaries and Boe Indigenous People
This article is part of my master's ethnographic research that analyzes the Bororo Encyclopedia as an ethnographic artifact that materializes the encounter between Christian and Amerindian cosmologies, investigating how Salesian imagery production reveals the dynamics of symbolic reconfiguration of intercultural contact. The research is based on the hypothesis that the Encyclopedia should not be understood merely as an ethnographic record produced by missionaries about the Boe, but as a hybrid communication system resulting from a collaborative process involving agencies and negotiations between different cosmologies. Initially, I contextualize the Boe in their territorial, organizational and historical aspects, exploring the establishment of the Salesian mission and the dynamics of intercultural encounter, including mythological perspectives of contact and resulting cultural transformations. Subsequently, I examine the structure, production and collaboration in the Bororo Encyclopedia, highlighting the fundamental role of Tiago Marques Aipiboreu as the main indigenous interlocutor. The analysis of imagetic representations and their temporal evolution reveals transformations in the missionary perspective over the decades. The investigation of the material dimension of the Encyclopedia, through the documentary archive and museological collection of the Dom Bosco Museum of Cultures, demonstrates the close relationship between the work and the cataloging systems developed by the Salesians. I seek to highlight the Encyclopedia as a hybrid communication system and expression of Boe thought, following Marta Amoroso's perspective on the symbolic reconfiguration of intercultural contact. This research is conducted through a methodological approach that interrelates the anthropology of archives and art, understanding the Bororo Encyclopedia as an object of study and problematization that transcends simple documentation to constitute itself as a uniquely Bororo project.
Boe Bororo; Bororo Encyclopedia; Anthropology of Art; Anthropology of Archives
Copyright (c) 2025 Danilo Gonçalves Rodrigues https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Afection that weaves curatorship: Koyo Kouoh, the spider-mother of Senegal
This article aims to present the carrier of the Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, that was educated in Switzerland and chose Dakar to live and to work. Using the archetype of the Spider-mother, weaver, spinnerit, I bring here the exhibitions Body Talk: Feminism, Sexuality & The Body and When We See Us – A Century of Black Figuration in Painting and the spaces Raw Material Company, built in Dacar by Kouoh e Zeitz MOCAA, in Cape Town, where she went to work in 2019 to, in dialogue with her interviews and texts, show how Kouoh’s work, above all, intended to stablish networks with creators, artists and thinkers in the African Continent.
Copyright (c) 2025 Antonia Costa de Thuin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Léopold Sédar Senghor in the magazine era
This article revisits the general context in which the ideas shaping the thought of L. S. Senghor were developed. It outlines the contours of these ideas and the stakes that drive the Négritude movement in response to the growing aspirations for independence in the French colonies, with Paris as its main hub of activity. It was during this period that several decisive events were organized, namely the two Congresses of Black Writers and Artists in 1956 (Paris) and 1959 (Rome), as well as the First World Festival of Negro Arts in 1966. The latter contributed to building Dakar’s image as a cultural and intellectual capital. Repositioning Senghor within this period requires a dual approach. In the first part, the focus is on the fundamentally cultural aspects of Pan-Africanism, rooted in both Anglophone and Francophone intellectual spheres. Senghor moves within this world, where he meets key historical figures. The publications of the time reflect complex divergences among African intellectuals regarding their stance on colonization. This fragmentation is evident in the genealogy of subversive journals, which were often short-lived due to internal disagreements among their leaders or repression by the colonial authorities. In the second part, the journal Présence africaine is presented within a global map of periodicals and their positions on independence and liberation struggles. From the outset, this journal has served as a rich forum for debates on African arts, publishing texts by prominent experts. The various articles on classical arts go beyond ethnological analysis to explore aesthetic dimensions. Moreover, the journal accompanies scientific gatherings by publishing their proceedings. This period is marked by a vibrant intellectual and literary history, in which Senghor was both a privileged witness and a key player.
Copyright (c) 2025 El Hadji Malick Ndiaye https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Transatlantic gestures: Germaine Acogny and the critique of coloniality
Based on multidisciplinary research that intersects various fields of knowledge production—most notably dance and anthropology—this article explores the ideas of thinker and choreographer Germaine Acogny and her contributions to shaping contemporary thought on the body, autonomy, and African cosmologies from a Senegalese perspective. We develop a discursive arc beginning with the period of African independences, contextualizing public policies for the arts—particularly the significant yet ambiguous proposal by Léopold Sédar Senghor—moving through the Mudra Afrique school in Dakar and culminating in the École des Sables, the International Center for Traditional and Contemporary African Dance. The article also addresses Acogny’s time with the São Paulo City Ballet in the 1990s and the provocative dialogues that emerged from that unexpected encounter at the time. We draw on the concept of transatlanticity, forged by historian Beatriz Nascimento, as a lens through which to read the redefined Black experience from Africa to the Americas. The article offers reflections on how this reinvention requires a reconsideration of African agencies and their responses to Eurocentric paradigms. South-South collaborations enable the reconstruction of images and the emergence of new perceptions of bodies and territories.
Copyright (c) 2025 Luciane Silva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A paleosol from the Middle Holocene with traces of occupation in the middle basin of the Magdalena River, Colombia
We present the genetic evaluation of a paleosol formed during the Northgrippian period, which presents traces of human occupation evidenced by carved lithic materials. The analysis unit is located in the south of the middle basin of the Magdalena River valley in Colombia, in the municipality of La Dorada, Caldas, a place where the archaeological paleoenvironmental reconstruction program is being developed by the Geoarchaeology Research Group GIGA of the University of Caldas. Taking into account the different paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatic, geomorphological and geological phenomena, we proposed to develop hypotheses about the soil formation processes of the archaeological site, understood as an activity area, in the paleosurface in which the pedogenetic process that gave rise to the paleosol developed. Based on the results of physical and chemical analyses, such as pH values, organic matter accumulation and base concentrations of the last two soil sequences and the paleosol obtained by atomic absorption, a correlative table of the study area has been developed. This table was used to make a spatial projection that showcases the specific pedogenetic processes that formed the pedostratigraphic sequences, whether or not associated with human occupation. The results indicate that the environmental stability conditions of the sedimentary deposits of the valley floor were complex but suitable for both pedogenesis and human occupation and had a similar impact on the pedogenic processes.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mario Alonso Bermúdez Restrepo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Archaeological possibilities for the analysis of Food Insecurity in the Early Middle Ages: and a case study in Northern Gaul (8th–10th centuries)
This article investigates the conceptual and methodological challenges for analyzing possible episodes of famine and food shortages in the Early Middle Ages, based on the articulation between Archaeology and History. Between the 8th and 10th centuries, there was an increase in mentions of famine in written sources and, simultaneously, in agricultural production and in the volume of food storage structures, as evidenced in the region of Northern Gaul. From an interdisciplinary approach, we propose a cautious reading of osteological remains and storage structures, with an emphasis on the relationship between social inequality and access to food. The article defends the use of analytical categories more compatible with the limits of archaeological evidence (such as the contemporary concept of Food Insecurity) and analyzes, as a case study, the site “Le Chemin aux Errants”. It is concluded that records of food crises should not be interpreted only as a reflection of productive scarcity, but also as material expressions of profound social asymmetries, which cause disparities in both the distribution and access to such foodstuffs.
Copyright (c) 2024 Milena Faboci Spadafora https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Geoarchaeology: a debt in the disciplinary training of Latin American archaeologists
When archaeologists have to deal with the stratigraphy of sites, we excavate “layers” that we generally cannot define genetically and characterize them by color and texture, hoping that a geoscientist will help us interpret them. But shouldn’t an archaeologist be a good interpreter of archaeological stratigraphy whose origins are both natural and cultural? Shouldn’t we have methodological and conceptual tools to assess how a site was formed, how it was buried, and how it reached the present day? These are the basic questions we ask when we think of geoarchaeology as archaeology, a perspective that is due to us in our disciplinary training. Geoarchaeology is not geoscience, it is archaeology. It deals with questions that interest us as archaeologists, about our problems and object of study, about our scales and inferences. This does not prevent us from resorting to different professional geologists, geographers or soil scientists in search of specific analyses or studies, but as archaeologists we must deal with basic aspects of the geoenvironmental context of the site in the same way as we deal with those related to the lithic, bone or ceramic materials present in the archaeological record. Geoarchaeology provides the context for interpretation, dealing with such important issues as the primary or secondary character of a site, the meaning of the association between the materials it contains, the resolution and contemporaneity of archaeological deposits, their preservation, the possible gaps between layers, as well as the natural or cultural origin of some excavated elements and structures. Addressing such basic interpretative aspects of the discipline means that geoarchaeological studies cannot be ignored in any archaeological investigation and should be an inevitable part of the undergraduate curriculum of every professional archaeologist.
Copyright (c) 2025 Cristian Mario Favier Dubois https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Cultural use of wood in a historical building in Southern Brazil
Wood is a biological resource that has been widely used by mankind and represents a large part of the Brazilian cultural heritage. Our goal was to identify the wood used in an old historic building in southern Brazil. The wood samples were taken from the constructive elements of the building. Anatomical features of the sampled woods were used for taxonomic identification by comparisons with anatomical descriptions of wood samples from xylarium, the literature, and databases. Nine species were identified from a total of 30 samples, the genus being Ocotea (Lauraceae) and Araucaria (Araucariaceae), representing more than 90% of the samples. The use of these woods attests to the carpenters' knowledge of trees in southern Brazil and their identification in architectural monuments helps us understand how this resource was used in the past. The record of historical knowledge about the use of wood allows us to understand the relationship between human societies and the forest, as well as to safeguard ancient heritage, know-how, and memories embedded in wooden cultural assets.
Copyright (c) 2025 João Carlos Ferreira de Melo Jr., William Jorge Pscheidt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Aspects of Numidian Identity in Light of the Artefacts Preserved at the Cirta Museum
The Cirta Museum is one of the largest national museums. It was created in the 19th century to preserve and present artifacts directly linked to the history of the city, since prehistoric times. Its rich and highly interesting collections are composed of elements unearthed during archaeological excavations or discovered by chance. Among these objects, one can admire, among other things, funerary furniture from the royal mausoleum of El Khroub, votive steles, some of which are dedicated to Massinissa, and a veritable monetary treasure. The iconography and inscriptions presented on these artifacts are often valuable sources of information on the history of kings, the economy and trade, the army and its heroes, and religion. This contribution aims, based on this historical heritage, to outline the study of Numidian identity characteristics.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ouiza Ait Amara https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Presentation of the Dossier Memory and Oblivion in the Ancient World
Copyright (c) 2024 Maria Aparecida de Oliveira Silva, Juliana Figueira da Hora, Maria Cristina Nicolau Kormikiari, Vagner Carvalheiro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Becoming a goddessand an aristocrat: Psyche and the baron of Nova Friburgo in the Catete Palace
Built within the imperial court, the currently called Catete Palace served as the residence of the newly titled Baron of Nova Friburgo, who, due to his wealth derived from the trade of enslaved Africans, acquired lands for coffee plantations and was regarded as one of the wealthiest men during Brazil’s Second Empire. The palace’s decorative motifs refer to Classical antiquity, and this practice can be understood through the concept of “invented traditions,” as defined by Hobsbawm (1984: 9-23). Notably, the space dedicated to the main staircase, which provided access to the main floor where the rooms for the festive reception of the Baron’s guests were situated, features the myth of Cupid and Psyche as its primary motif. This paper aims to explore the construction of this decorative theme by articulating it with the literary narrative of the myth penned in The Golden Ass IV, 28 to VI, 24, by the Latin author Apuleius, as well as the Renaissance imagery of the loggia di Amore e Psiche of the Villa Farnesina in Rome. We propose that the Baron selected this theme to link his life trajectory as a prominent coffee farmer, through which he earned his noble title and established himself as an aristocrat in the imperial court, with the mortal Psyche’s apotheosis as a goddess on Mount Olympus.
Copyright (c) 2025 Regina Bustamante, Deivid Valerio Gaia, Marcus Macri Rodrigues https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
How the geoarchaeological study of 17th to 19th century-landfills withpower relations analysis generated contributions for understanding the urbanization of Salvador, Bahia
This article presents a geoarchaeological analysis of the implementation of constructive landfills that expanded the urbanization of Salvador, Bahia, between the 17th and 19th centuries. The aim is to highlight the relevance of these structures to the urbanization process and territorial control of the Ancient Center of Salvador, carried out by the local elites during the studied period. For a proper presentation, it was necessary to describe the components, form, chronology, and method of implementation of this type of landfill, based on the results of archaeological research, cartographic documents from the time, and secondary sources from the fields of Architecture/Urbanism, Geography, and History. The discussion, centered on landfills as constructive structures, focused on the records of embankments and the filling of cavities opened for building foundations. The research approach adopted was the characterization of constructive landfills within the perspective of anthropogenic terrains, supported by their classification as technogenic deposits and considering them as geological records of human action. As a result, periods of Salvador's urban structuring and the locations where new lands were created were identified, both within the fortified city in the 17th and 18th centuries, and beyond the city walls in the 18th and 19th centuries. The landfills were implemented to promote spatial transformation aimed at territorial appropriation, which benefited the elites.
Copyright (c) 2025 Luiz Pacheco https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Observing the Movement of Things and People: settlement Patterns in a Microarea of Inland Sicily
The study of the history and archaeology of Sicily has long focused on coastal areas and major urban centers. In recent years, however, there has been a significant increase in interest in research on inland areas, demonstrating that these regions were also dynamic and exhibited intense commercial and productive activity. Human presence in island’s interior dates back to the Neolithic period and intensified during subsequent historical periods. Written sources suggest that, from the late 5th century CE to the 17th century, many inland areas – once densely populated during classical times – became semi-deserted or sparsely inhabited. However, archaeology unveils a more complex narrative, challenging these accounts. This study highlights how Landscape Archaeology, combined with interdisciplinary approaches from the Social Sciences, can shed light on historical aspects of the landscape that remain underrepresented in written sources and insufficiently explored by archaeological research. A collaborative effort between archaeologists and the local community interested in exploring and valuing their territory, this research aims to trace the movement of people and goods within a small inland region, analyzing settlement patterns. The ultimate goal is to understand how the need to exploit the land and adapt to its physical conditions influenced societal development in this micro-region over the centuries.
Copyright (c) 2025 Viviana Lo Monaco https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Comparative Study of Archaeological Sites in Aeolian Contexts of Central and Southern Argentina: Formation Processes and Properties of the Archaeological Record
The presence of archaeological deposits in contexts dominated by aeolian sedimentation is common in coastal areas as well as in some continental regions. The dynamics of this sedimentation display certain recurring characteristics, while others vary depending on the geomorphological framework. In each case, these dynamics, alongside other factors, influence the formation processes of the archaeological record. This study compares archaeological assemblages from mobile and fixed aeolian landforms from localities in central and southern Argentina, aiming to provide an overview of the similarities and differences involved. This comparison is based on seven geoarchaeological variables that affect the spatial and temporal properties of the archaeological record, including the genesis and dynamics of aeolian accumulation, the processes through which cultural evidence becomes incorporated into the substrate, soil development, erosive discontinuities, geochemical preservation conditions, and disturbance factors. As a result, the work advances a comparative characterization that allows us to generate expectations about certain properties the archaeological record will present in sites located in these contexts, aiding in their study and interpretation.
Spatial and temporal properties of the archaeological record
Localities in Central and Southern Argentina
Copyright (c) 2025 Cristian Mario Favier Dubois, Agustina Massigoge, Jimena Oría, Daniela Storchi Lobos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Memory and Oblivion in the Ancient World: Interview with Prof. Dr. Fábio Vergara Cerqueira
The interview with Professor Fábio Vergara Cerqueira addresses themes of memory, forgetting, heritage, and tradition, which have gained prominence in humanities debates. He explores the concept of the "age of mnemotropism," where memory takes center stage in social issues. The professor discusses the disputes surrounding memory and forgetting, highlighting two types: "natural" forgetting, resulting from the wear of materials or urban renewal, and "political" forgetting, such as damnatio memoriae, where deliberate erasure and intentional invisibility occur. Identity and sense of belonging issues also stand out, as they are intertwined with matters related to memory and forgetting.
Copyright (c) 2024 Maria Aparecida de Oliveira Silva , Fábio Vergara Cerqueira https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Copyright (c) 2024 Fábio Vergara Cerqueira, Maria Aparecida de Oliveira Silva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
ΜΝΗΜΕΣ ΧΑΡΙΝ: a Phrygian Türstein from the MAE-USP collections
In the vast collections of the current Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (MAE) at the University of São Paulo (USP), there are many archaeological objects from the East (Egypt, Mesopotamia), Greece and Roman sites. One of the main problems with most of these materials is the lack of contextual data, so in many cases the study and analysis of the individual object is the only tool available to clarify its origin and dating. This collection includes a marble stele with an inscription of the Türstein, doorstone type, of Phrygian origin and dating from the 3rd century AD.
Copyright (c) 2025 Leonardo Fuduli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The relevance of indigenous histories and archaeologies of colonialism, the present and the contemporary world in Amazonia
Considering an archaeological, historical and anthropological bibliography on Indigenous histories and oral traditions, I intend to reinforce the importance of Indigenous histories in archaeological practice. At the same time, I want to defend the need for an archaeology of colonialism, archaeology of the present and archaeology of the contemporary world, in Amazonia. I will address these issues based on my experience of collaborative research with the Asurini do Xingu Indigenous people.
Copyright (c) 2025 Fabiola Andrea Silva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Preventive Conservation and the storage arcas.
This text explicits the importance of the planning of an area for the packing and storing of a collection, under the principIes of Preventive Conservation. Advices are presented based in the specialized Iiterature as well as on acquired experience with projects, either accomplished or in course, at the Storage Area of MAEIUSP, supported by FAPESP and VITAE Foundation.
Copyright (c) 1998 Gedley Belchior Braga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Past and present pest mitigation: insights from an international survey of practices
Through a knowledge exchange network, many countries have developed similar timelines for using chemical substances to preserve collections in museums, libraries, and archives. To gather data on past treatment methods and current pest control practices, a survey was created. The goal was to identify the profile of toxic and non-toxic treatments used in various types of collections. The questionnaire was developed and applied to professionals working in cultural heritage preservation to identify both historical and current pest mitigation methods. The investigation aimed to determine if the traditional chemical treatments recommended by conservation manuals were widely adopted by professionals with different profiles and how current practices address pest-related issues in cultural heritage. This article presents and discusses the findings from this international survey.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ana Carolina Delgado Vieira, Pablo Antonio Vasquez Salvador https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Just the Greek god of the sea? The iconography of the trident as an attribute of Poseidon on the Archaic and Classical Greek coins (Part II)
Although it is the primary attribute of Poseidon, one of the most important deities in the Greek pantheon, the iconography of the trident has been little studied. On coins, the trident was widely represented in extremely varied forms, assuming a unique complexity that still lacks an explanation regarding its symbolic meanings in its manufacturing and usage context, especially from the identity perspective of the polis, often replacing the image of Poseidon himself. In this article, we present the development of trident iconography on coins issued by Greek cities in the Archaic and Classical periods, based on general representation patterns, with the aim of understanding to what extent its representation in monetary documentation was innovative compared to that on painted ceramics and sculptures. To this end, we identify which Greek cities and regions produced the most images of the trident on coins during these periods, as well as the specific periods of greatest use. Finally, we propose interpretations about the symbolic meaning of the trident when represented on coins, correlating archaeological documentation with literary sources.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vinícius Bonifácio Guimarães, Dra. Lilian de Angelo Laky https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Just the god of the sea? The iconography of Poseidon on the Archaic and Classical Greek coins (part I)
In this article, we present the development of the representation of Poseidon on coins issued by Greek cities during the Archaic and Classical periods, with the aim of understanding to what extent his depiction in monetary evidence was innovative compared to that in painted ceramics and sculptures. To this end, we identify which Greek cities and regions produced the most images of Poseidon on coins during these periods, as well as the specific periods of greatest usage. We also establish general patterns of representation of these images in Archaic and Classical Greek art to understand their symbolic meaning and their specificity on coins through a comparative study, correlating archaeological documentation with literary sources. Based on an extensive and unprecedented documentary survey of this god and his principal attribute, the trident, this research brings forth the main conclusions regarding the imagery of Poseidon, which, surprisingly, has not been systematically studied until now, making this deity and his principal attribute, despite being widely known in the modern West, very poorly understood. Furthermore, our goal is to highlight the potential of coins as objects of analysis for both archaeological and historical research.