Contributions of a GIS to the archaeology of São Paulo State: A method and results

Abstract

In this work we present a method to use GIS (Geographic Information System) applied to the archaeological data of the ceramic groups attributed to the Tupiguarani and Itararé-Taquara traditions that occupied the territory between the Tietê basin river and the Paranapanema basin river - southern and western regions of the state of São Paulo.

The data presented here come from a Database (called BD) that was built from the agglomeration of information available from bibliographic sources that had as theme the ceramist groups of São Paulo  state, being: technical reports of preventive archeology companies, articles and publications of magazines, theses, dissertations, literary works and inventories. This bank has information from 130 works stored in the Library of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo (Biblioteca do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade de São Paulo) and in the archive of the Superintendence of the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage (Superintendência de São Paulo do Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - IPHAN/SP). In BD we count with 783 archaeological sites cataloged, although 418 have geographic coordinates and these were used for the design of the GIS here described.

In this contribution we present the basic operation of GIS, as it was elaborated, the technical capacities of this technology, sources used as databases and its results for the state archeology, applying both for the elaboration of thematic maps that present the modes of distribution of these sites by strengthening their presence in the territory. Here are presented the results of the elaboration of the GIS with information of archaeological sites that present its geographical location, which provides an overview of the occupations for the region.

The thematic maps constructed refer to the distribution of archaeological sites by relief, estimated past vegetation, climate and geomorphology. This data presentation model allows inferences from the observation of spatial distribution and information extracted from GIS in table format. The listed data were counted from their frequencies and it was possible to build, at the end, a spatial characterization of the distribution of the archaeological sites of the ceramist groups through the territory.

Also we highlight the importance of making archaeological data available to the population that occupies the studied territory, in São Paulo state. This area is intensively inhabited and undergoes constant spatial changes. The GIS contributes to the socialization of this information and, in this case, some aspects of the Brazilian legislation on the subject are briefly discussed and we also question strategic positions made by the responsible government agency for the supervision and safeguarding of the Union's archaeological sites, the IPHAN.

All these aspects presented make it possible to realize the need for greater management and organization of archaeological data for the São Paulo state, as well as for the entire national territory, but it is also up to the responsible researcher to develop consistent data that can be used to illustrate the past ceramics occupations in a state approach providing broad deductions about the arrangement of these populations. All these aspects discussed in this article contribute to a regional study of archeology that values the study of ceramic populations, the contact between them and we also we can suggest the possibility of cultural boundaries between these groups when we address the spatial characterization and cultural preferences ordering in space.