Human/Landscape Interaction

Corteletti, Rafael. 2008. Patrimônio Arqueológico de Caxias do Sul, Editora Nova Prova, 200p.

Transcrevo o Prefácio completo da obra:

Desde o final da década de 1990 as pesquisas arqueológicas no planalto do Rio Grande do Sul tomaram um novo fôlego e vêm trazendo contribuições importantes e inovadoras para o conhecimento das populações indígenas pré-coloniais que ocuparam esta região do Estado, especialmente com relação ao que os arqueólogos chamam de Tradição Taquara. A pesquisa realizada por Rafael Corteletti, apresentada agora nesta obra, faz parte e é peça importante dessa retomada. Mas também é mais do que isso.
Além do objetivo de compreender a ocupação de um espaço por aquelas populações, o autor preocupa-se com uma questão fundamental: a proteção e conservação do próprio objeto de estudo. É nesse ponto que seu trabalho possui grande destaque já que tal preocupação, embora sempre presente entre os arqueólogos, raramente é posta em prática. Nesse sentido, a retomada que o autor faz dos sítios arqueológicos, revisitando-os e avaliando os impactos naturais e antrópicos por eles sofridos ao longo de quase 40 anos, desde as primeiras pesquisas feitas, é exemplar, resultando em uma “história dos sítios arqueológicos” da região de Caxias do Sul, incluindo aí um dos sítios mais importantes (e o primeiro a ser mais intensamente pesquisado no Brasil, ainda no final da década de 1960) relacionado à ocupação pré-colonial do planalto, na localidade de Água Azul. 
Se este livro nasceu como fruto de intenso trabalho acadêmico ele agora, devidamente adaptado, passa a ser uma obra de caráter popular, que pode ser lida e compreendida por qualquer cidadão caxiense e que diz respeito a uma parte de sua própria história. Possibilitando a conscientização a respeito da importância do patrimônio cultural representado pelos sítios arqueológicos de Caxias do Sul, esta obra certamente se tornará fundamental para que as pessoas possam, como escreve o autor, “deixar de ser os agentes da depredação e passar a ser os agentes da preservação do patrimônio arqueológico”. Além disto esta obra é, também, um alerta à administração pública, no sentido de que as informações que o autor nos traz são de extrema importância para o fomento e a elaboração de políticas públicas locais de preservação e conservação do patrimônio arqueológico e, conseqüentemente, ambiental.
Com o livro “Patrimônio Arqueológico de Caxias do Sul”, de Rafael Corteletti, a arqueologia sul-rio-grandense dá um grande e importante salto qualitativo. Mas, acima de tudo, a comunidade caxiense tem a sua disposição um importante instrumento de conhecimento e educação patrimonial. Um livro que é, ao mesmo tempo, um belíssimo inventário da riqueza arqueológica regional mas, também, um pungente grito de socorro, para que ela não desapareça.

São Leopoldo, 16 de janeiro de 2008.

Prof. Dr. Jairo Henrique Rogge

It is common procedure today to use geographic datasets to supplement archaeological investigation; however, static and modern-day data are often used rather than more accurate paleo-data. This article underscores the importance of employing such dynamic paleo-landscapes, and describes a new approach for developing richly-furnished and detailed spatial surfaces, referred to as " total " landscapes. GIS and computer simulation programs are critical to the generation of such surfaces, along with geo-spatial data of sufficient quality and quantity. The approach is articulated vis-à-vis a case study from the central Netherlands.

Recent attempts to reconstruct how culturalcognition has emergedand evolvedfrequentlyrelyona " techno-genetic " (and at times even " techno-centric ") logic. Instrumental intelligence, reflected in the production and utilizationoftask-specific tools,s uch as knapped bifaces,i sc onsidered ak ey motorf or the development of culturalc ognition.The presumption is thatt echnological evolution parallels cognitive evolution in significant ways.Technicalinstruments produced by extincthominins and earlyhumans – most importantly, ancient stone artefacts – are thereforeexamined in order to map out the socio-cognitive preconditions of their manufacture and by extension the cognitive capacity of their producers.The aim of this chapter is to movebeyond this one-sided conception and to extend the focus again on the social and aesthetic dimensions of the human-world interface. We show that embodiment and empathyare key concepts for understanding the evident " trans "-instrumental links between Paleolithic foraginggroups,animals, and othera spects of their physical environment,i ncludingt he possibility that inanimate objectswereexperienced as intentional agents. By drawingonexam-ples from recent hunter-gatherer ethnography, we defend the general thesis that Pleistocene lifeworlds were likelya nchored in relationalo ntologies, implying a considerable extension of the " space of empathy " and the integration of non-human entities into the field of social relations.F or this reason, it is imperative also to consider human-world relations which are " more than instrumental, " if we wish to develop plausible scenarios for the development of exceptional cognitive capacities in the human lineage. Archäologenv ersuchen,a us den ihnen zugänglichen materiellen Überresten vergangener Phasen der Menschheitsgeschichte " ein Maximum an Informationen über ihren ursprünglichen kulturellen und lebensweltlichen Kontext herauszu-holen " .¹ Eine solche Rekonstruktion wird umso schwieriger,jeweiter entfernt der entsprechende soziokulturelle Kontext und die voni hm produzierten Artefakte

The first millennium AD encompasses the Roman period (12 BC to AD 450) and the Early Middle Ages (AD 450 to 1050). In the Netherlands, this millennium saw population growth, steep decline and subsequent revival. In addition, many changes occurred in the physical landscape, marking a transition from a mainly natural prehistorical lowland landscape to an increasingly human-affected landscape. This paper synthesises the main landscape changes and human-landscape interactions in the Netherlands during this dynamic period. The degree of landscape change is compared between the coastal plain, the delta and the Pleistocene sand area. Human activities caused major often unintended geomorphological changes in all studied landscapes. Landscape sensitivity to human impact, however, strongly varied as a function of preceding landscape state. The most prominent changes took place in many parts of the coastal plain, where back-barrier peatlands transformed into open tidal basins. Presence of compaction-prone peat and intensified artificial drainage led to subsidence. This precondition and slow anthropogenic forcing combined, made the area more sensitive to stochastically occurring storms, which could serve as tipping points for large-scale drowning. Eventually, major peatlands turned into tidal areas that for many centuries would remain unsuitable for habitation. Human-induced peatland subsidence also led to the formation of the new Hollandse IJssel and Lek river branches. This marked a major reorganisation of the river network in the lower Rhine-Meuse delta. In the middle and upstream parts of the delta, the landscape was more stable. Yet, settlements on the natural levees show adaption to increasing flooding frequency from the Late Roman period onwards. The settlements shifted towards higher positions, while route networks between them largely remained intact. Smaller-scale landscape changes were found in the Pleistocene sand area. Here, local sand drifting occurred, most frequently occurring close to human movement corridors. Drift sand intensity became larger as population density increased after c.AD 900.

In Italy the geographical distribution of artificial cavities is strictly connected with geological and geomorphological features. Significant concentrations are in three re- gions: two groups in Sicily, two in Puglia and one in Lazio: the human cultures that grew up in these areas were deeply influenced by the geological conformation of the territory and, due this, they appear so close despite the distance among themselves.
In Lazio, especially in Tuscia (the northern part of the region), the wide distribution of artificial cavities is connected to the volcanos sabatinus (Lake of Bracciano), vulsinus (Lake of Bolsena), ciminus (Cimini mountains) and vi- canus (Lake of Vico) and their ignimbritic depos- its, that are characterized by a hard consistency.
This brief contribution is about the area where, about 151mA ago, were deposed by
the volcan of Vico the ignimbritic layers: these rocks, thanks to specific characteristics, were digged, mined, regularised to create tombs, houses, buildings, defensive walls, aque- ducts, sewers etc..
The geological and geomorphological ho- mogeneity of the vican area is the reason why all the communities of this district, through space and time, evince hard analogies in the human activities and in the adaptation to the local resources, so much to showing a kind of “cultural landscape”, taken to found an ecomuseum.

Landscape archaeology has been one of the most prominent fields where post-processual approaches, such as phenomenology, have been applied to. Unsurprisingly, however, these have been more directed towards the study of prehistoric landscapes (e.g. Tilley 1994; Parker-Pearson et al. 2006) for which no textual information exists on religion or ritual.
Despite the opportunity that our knowledge of Roman belief systems presents, examples of studies tackling the Roman perception and conceptual adaptation of the landscape are still rare. Roman Landscapes have been considered projections of the Roman ideal territory (López 1994) and examples exist of foundation rituals (Carandini 2007, Magli 2008), which involved the conceptual division and conceptualisation of the city and its territory. If Roman landscapes are considered as embodying the ‘platonic’ idea of Roman territory, they can provide an unsuspecting window to the Roman conceptualisation of their environment and to Roman views of the world.
Relatively recent methodological approaches and tools, such as GIS, virtual reconstructions and remote sensing can offer new ways to explore these questions. Their application, however, has not been without problems while the focus still remains on earlier periods.
This session will invite papers presenting case-studies on Roman landscapes from different perspectives and employing a variety of techniques, which show or aim to investigate the ideological background behind Roman territorial organisation, environmental change and/or landscape exploitation. These will attempt to provide evidence not just on Roman culturally-determined practices, but also on the way Romans conceptualised their world.

This paper will launch ideas about archaeological sites mapped in the region of Caxias do Sul, Flores da Cunha and São Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Based on archaeological and physio-graphical criteria an area in which studies show traces of the archaeological traditions Taquara, Tupiguarani and Umbu scattered across 48 settlements, was defined in these three counties of the northern gaucho plateau. In the field survey, a series of variables were defined to aid in the task of proposing a context of occupation of the plateau. The archaeological and physio-graphic variables used for the preparation of settlement pattern include altitude, phytogeography, the area covered by the sites, the types of sites, their distance to water, the type of water sources, the number of pit houses per site, the dimensions of diameter and depth of the pit houses, the chronology obtained from the analysis of radiocarbon and thermoluminescence, the inclusion in the modeling of terrain, solar orientation, prevailing winds and visibility. The distribution and characteristics of the data is observed, with the intention to create a settlement pattern of Jê populations in the area. In summary, the interpretation of data obtained in the survey indicates that the archaeological sites of the Study Area were built on higher ground, with a broad view of the landscape, seeking greater morning sunshine, in the Araucaria forest and with a water source nearby. The settlements usually consist of small and few pit houses structures, resulting in small areas occupied by them. By all indications, the population was higher in autumn, during a time of greater food availability. The pit houses structures were occupied for short periods, generating a series of settlements with re-occupations which extended the area in question, between the VI and XIV centuries.
Key words: South Brazilian Highlands Archaeology, Pithouses, Settlement pattern.

Together with the textual contributions of experts from different sectors, the essay deepens the themes related to geography and landscape and constitutes a multifaceted point of view on the human-lake relationship, opening new reflections on the theme of lakes and those who live them, and sustainability of these relationships.