Items were found during the construction of a condominium under the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program
Workers found, on Monday (8.Jan.2024), 43 human bones and more than 100 thousand archaeological pieces in a work in the program My home, my life in São Luís (MA). Among the finds were fragments of pottery, stone tools, shells and charcoal.
The items were unearthed during the construction of a condominium of residential buildings by the company MRV Engenhariaat the Chácara Rosane Archaeological Site, in the Vicente Fialho neighborhood.
According to the Iphan (Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage), the Chácara Rosane archaeological site “represents a milestone in Brazilian prehistory, dating back to a period of occupation of the Americas by the sambaquieiro people, distant and indirect ancestors of the original peoples prior to the arrival of the colonizers”.
Preliminary dating of sediments close to the materials found indicate that the ages of the bones and pieces range from 9,000 to 10,000 years.
Previous research in other sambaquis on the island of São Luís indicates that the pieces were possibly built by scavengers who inhabited the site more than 6,000 years ago.
Studies carried out in the 1970s by researcher Olavo Lima already pointed to the existence of an archaeological site, but did not show its magnitude.
The first pieces were found in 2019 during the environmental licensing phase of the work, in a midden – a coastal archaeological site –, made up mainly of mollusc shells and other food remains such as seeds, bones of small animals and sediments.
The Minister of Cities, Jader Filho, announced the discovery on his X (former Twitter) profile and classified the find as a “incredible fact”. He stated that the material will be studied to better understand the origin and could help tell the story of original peoples.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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