Graças ao apoio financeiro da FAPESP e da CAPES (PrInt), o 10 DIG-GEGAL contará todos os dias com palestras de convidados/as internacionais que representam grandes nomes da geoarqueologia contemporânea.
Thanks to financial support from FAPESP and CAPES (Print), the 10th DIG-GEGAL will feature keynote lectures daily by international guests conducting cutting-edge research in contemporary geoarchaeology.
TODAS AS PALESTRAS CONTARÃO COM TRADUÇÃO SIMULTÂNEA INGLÊS-PORTUGUÊS E PODERÃO SER ASSITIDAS AO VIVO PELO CANAL DE YOUTUBE DO MAE/USP – https://www.youtube.com/@MAEUSPoficial
ALL KEY-NOTES WILL BE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRANSLATED FROM ENGLISH TO PORTUGUESE AND CAN BE WATCHED LIVE AT MAE/USP YOUTUBE CHANNEL – https://www.youtube.com/@MAEUSPoficial
Conferência inaugural/ Opening lecture: “Human behavior and climate-human interactions reconstructed from the microstratigraphic and biomolecular geoarchaeological record” – Carolina Mallol
Abstract: In recent years, the application of bioarchaeological and geoarchaeological methods has gained considerable attention among archaeologists. Bioarchaeological techniques include the analysis of stable isotopes, ancient DNA, proteins, and lipids, which provide significant insights into diet, technology, and climate. Similarly, geoarchaeological techniques such as micromorphology, combined with magnetic, mineralogical, and elemental analysis of archaeological sediments, offer valuable information about site formation, taphonomic processes, human behavior and paleoenvironments. Integrating these diverse proxies, along with other archaeological subdisciplines, is essential for robust interpretations of the archaeological context, as long as excavation and sampling techniques are geared at identifying synchronous deposits and the small time scales in which human life takes place. Here, a few examples are reviewed to illustrate these statements.
Conferência de encerramento/ Closing lecture: “Avanços, dívidas e perspectivas da geoarqueologia na América Latina/ Advances, debts and prospects for geoarchaeology in Latin America” – Cristian Favier-Dubois /
Resumo: A geoarqueologia iniciou seu desenvolvimento na América Latina na década de 90 a partir do impulso de geocientistas interessados na especialidade. O seu valioso trabalho permitiu a uma geração de arqueólogos comprometer-se com esta disciplina e torná-la sua, dada a sua enorme importância para a interpretação do registo cultural. Permite, entre outros aspetos, compreender de uma perspectiva contextual a estratigrafia de um sítio e os seus processos de formação, o que atualmente lhe confere um valor central em todos os projetos de investigação arqueológica. No entanto, devido aos paradigmas analíticos tradicionais, a academia acompanhou esse desenvolvimento de forma limitada, razão pela qual a geoarqueologia faz parte do currículo de graduação em Antropologia ou Arqueologia em poucas universidades latino-americanas. Apesar disso, o número de praticantes da disciplina cresceu notavelmente no século XXI, fato favorecido em parte pela criação do Grupo de Estudos Geoarqueológicos da América Latina em 2012. A isto se soma a abertura de laboratórios orientados a estes estudos e a crescente incorporação nos últimos anos de profissionais latino-americanos, tanto arqueólogos como geocientistas, a esta especialidade. Tudo isso permitiu que a geoarqueologia latino-americana tivesse hoje visibilidade internacional pela variedade e qualidade de sua produção científica. Olhando para o futuro, caminhamos para uma geoarqueologia transdisciplinar na qual diferentes profissionais unem forças, incorporando novas metodologias e técnicas analíticas para responder a problemas de diferentes escalas e geografias, levando em consideração os interesses, prioridades e realidades econômicas da América Latina.
Palestrantes convidados/ Keynote guest speakers
Francesco Berna – “Indigenous Geoarchaeology in British Columbia: Revitalizing Sts’ailes traditional knowledge using Micromorphology”.
Abstract: I will present micromorphology research conducted in collaboration with the Sts’ailes Nation of Chealis, Agassiz (BC) to salvage and revitalize a 2,600-year-old plank house that was uncovered in their reserve land. The archaeological significance of this plank house is its age, size, and clear evidence of being rebuilt in the same location time and time again. It is perhaps the best example of a plank house dating between 2,600 – 2,400 cal BP anywhere in southwestern British Columbia. For the Sts’ailes, the packed floors represent one of the earliest expressions of long-house ceremonies anywhere within their territory, revealing the longevity of their traditions, and the sacredness of this site. Micromorphology, FTIR, and XRD data revealed that the floors were prepared using specific clay minerals not commonly available in the region and that a specific area of the longhouse was used cyclically for different activities.
Christopher Miller – “Geoarchaeological and microcontextual analysis of Middle Stone Age deposits from South Africa”
Abstract: The Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa contains numerous artifacts of symbolic behavior and technological innovation that are widely believed to reflect some of the earliest evidence for behaviors that are cognitively most similar to our own. Many of these artifacts, including engraved ostrich eggshell and ochre, shell beads, and backed, composite stone tools, are found in deposits that are finely laminated and anthropogenic in origin. For over a decade now, these rich anthropogenic deposits have been the focus of intensive micromorphological investigation and they have served as a type of laboratory for the development of a number of different microanalytical techniques, such as µFTIR, µXRF, µXRD and organic petrology. Here, I will present the results of our work at several MSA sites across South Africa, including Diepkloof, Sibudu, Blombos, Elands Bay, and Klipdrift Shelter and show how a microcontextual approach to these deposits provides a novel set of insights into the behavior of these early modern humans.
Mareike Stahlschmidt – “Environmental DNA in archaeological contexts: What is good for and how can contextualize it?”
Abstract: Ancient DNA retrieved from environmental sources has the potential to revolutionize the field of archaeology. Recent studies have shown that ancient DNA of hominins can preserve in archaeological sediments and that we can reconstruct million-year-old environments. This is particularly exciting because fossil remains are a rare and valuable source. Contrary to that, sediments are abundant and constitute the main part of the archaeological record. The formation history of environmental DNA is, however, still not well understood. The most likely sources of DNA in archaeological sediments are microscopic bone fragments, fecal remains or free DNA adsorbed to minerals. But both, transformation and translocation processes, effect where we can find environmental DNA and where it is occurs synchronous with its depositional context. In this paper, I will discuss how micromorphological analysis of the sediments present the key to contextualizing and unlocking this new paleogenetic archive.