The Site of Água Limpa, Monte Alto, São Paulo - structures of combustion, food remains and subsistence patterns

Résumé

This paper results from the application of a systematic program on the excavations in the site of Água Limpa, Monte Alto, State of São Paulo, a project called “Turvo”. The site of Água Limpa is wide open, with one stratigraphic level - the litho-ceramic, dated by TL in 1524 B.P. It has been excavated by the method of “Wide Surfaces”. Field work showed dark spots, remains of burnt material (coal), one area where primary burials were found out of urns, secondary burials and evidences of fauna. This paper aims to report the structures of combustion and food remains in the site of Água Limpa and relate this presence with the documentations of fauna. Based on this correlation we intend to infer the type of populations which inhabited the place and their pattern of subsistence. The analysis of the food remains associated with the vestiges of fauna showed that the local population had a pattern of living related to horticulture, manufacturing of ceramic, collecting of fruit and small animals, hunting and fishing; the last one less frequently. Results also indicated the presence of a large amount of bones, teeth and both dermic and shell fragments in this site. This population used in their daily life vertebrates (Pisces, Reptillia, Mammalia) and invertebrates (Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Crustacea), not only as food items, but also as ornaments and tools. Many of these fragments present traces indicating the manufacture of artifacts, besides the wear marks. These data elucidate the alimentary habits of the local ceramic-horticulturalist population.