A model of Guarani regional occupation in southern Brazil

Abstract

This paper shows a study of regional archaeology, aiming to understand the systemic relations of Guarani occupation at the Laguna dos Patos southwest border and the southeast mountain range (Serra do Sudeste) – southern Brazil. With a regional perspective and taking in consideration the conservation and locational conditions, this study focuses on regional distribution of sites, their internal structures and artifactual assemblages. In order to disclose territorial patterns of occupation and their archaeological settlement distribution, tecno-tipological analysis systematization, sites composition and ethnographic and ethnohistorical information has allowed building up a long duration historical perspective revealing the Guarani social web maintenance strategies and intercultural contacts within a territory dominion, articulating distinct environmental strata of the region.