A ocupação humana no espaço da Serra dos Tapes, o caso dos distritos de Cerrito Alegre e Quilombo/Pelotas – RS.

Abstract

The present study is the result of a shared archeology work realized with a community of European descendants living on Cerrito Alegre and Quilombo districts, on the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. The archeological research unveiled a study of a long-time occupation of these areas. The text runs through the many archeological strata detected in the region with the help of local residents. We centered the investigation in a small working area that enabled to identify a Guarani site during the field stages, as well as a colonial succession by area of Portuguese occupation, and on the third moment investigated, the presence of a modern occupation of Germanic groups. The field methodology was developed from the local dynamic, marked by the area‘s actual resident‘s interests, being monitored by the researcher, which enabled that their speeches composed the final text here presented. The presence of immobile goods and the occupation of the specific area of research made possible to identify specific strata of occupation of the area that are explained on this work. The Guarani presence, widely studied by other researchers, was labeled by the archeological finding made by a local resident that served as a foundation to the investigation of existing data about the area. This new light enabled, through the interaction with the residents thoughts, to build a new notion on the beginning of its occupation. The arrival of the Europeans on the area was detected by the creation of sesmarias and drastic reduction of indigenous presence on the area. The presence of paths that creased that soil is a remarkable characteristic of the necessities of implementing of the Portuguese colonial model on the region. The Portuguese establishment on the larger area that covers our work‘s focus, like the Pelotas‘ charqueadas, were streamlined by the presence of enslaved manpower. This was largely brought over from their invaded territories on Africa, and at the establishment of territorial autonomy on Brazil (on independence), provides the passage of many runaway individuals and groups from that oppression process, creating quilombos on nearby areas (name given to one of the researched locations). Portugal‘s political independence enabled a new occupation dynamic. European settler‘s displacement to southern Brazil, and in special to this area, represents another occupation stratus. These settlers thought and structured a new dynamic of territorial insertion, of which we handled through studies of material culture still visible on the terrain, like taperas and ruins, that represents them, as well as the actual residents themselves, that are their descendants. By the end, we show how it‘s important to approximate the scientific and local community visions. The first, many times produced without the input of the residents that deeply know the areas‘ occupation.