Antracologia no sítio arqueológico ‘Templo dos Pilares’ de Alcinópolis/MS – estudos de solos e carvão vegetal

Abstract

Studies aimed at the characterization of charcoal are important tools for controlling the illegal charcoal trade, as they adhere to the inspection and preservation of native species considered noble in the country. When we refer to studies of carbonized plants, we are faced with the existence of few works directed to the characterization of archaeological charcoal, which reinforces the importance of works in this area of study. Anthracology as a science aims to analyze fragments of remains of carbonized prehistoric wood from soils of archaeological sites, providing information about the anatomical characteristics of the structure of wood preserved after carbonization. In order to contribute to archaeological studies, anthracology can provide information about species of past vegetation and climatic characteristics and thus provide better interpretations regarding fires that occurred naturally or by anthropic origin, considering that coals originating from archaeological sites represent traces of prehistoric human activities, such as rituals, fuel for cooking food, production of artifacts, among others. In this sense, the objective of this work was to analyze samples of soil and archaeological coal from the archaeological site 'Templo dos Pilares' based on its contemporary flora, seeking to identify archaeological species present in the site with dates between 3 to 10 thousand years ago. The pH of the soil samples was analyzed in order to identify which factors were potentially responsible for the different pH values found through the excavated levels and which varied according to the depth of the archaeological strata. FT-IR and Raman analysis of the soil were also carried out in order to understand the characteristics of the soil collected at the archaeological site. The charcoal characterization analyzes were carried out with 23 species of the flora present at the site, which made it possible to carry out comparisons of charcoal from the current flora with plant fragments found at the archaeological site in order to carry out paleoenvironmental and paleoethnological reconstructions, corroborating with archaeological and anthracological studies, in the quest to understand the way of life, the customs of the ancestors and rebuild the history of humanity.