Since the 19th century, it has been proposed that the wide geographic distribution of the Guaraní indigenous populations in large areas of South America was the result of prehistoric movements of large numbers of people through the main rivers of the La Plata Basin and the Brazilian coastline. However, no detailed spatial and temporal analysis has been carried out with the dated Guaraní archaeological sites of the different zones of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. This is one of the reasons why some of the main ideas about this past population expansion still lack empirical validation. This paper presents a study on the geographic and temporal distribution of the Guaraní archaeological sites in the La Plata Basin and the Atlantic coast of southern Brazil. The overall purpose is to contribute to understanding the Guaraní expansion using the analysis of two basic archaeological variables: space and time. Based on available numerical dates ( 14 C and thermoluminescence) and the application of GIS software, potential dispersion routes are discussed. To date, more than 1100 archaeological sites assigned to the Guaraní, along with almost 250 numerical dates were analyzed. With this data, it was possible to elaborate a Dispersion Routes Model and a Temporal Visualization Model, which enabled identification of the sequence of population dispersal, with two main expansion pulses, throughout nearly two millennia of Guaraní movements across the South American Lowlands.

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Interest in explaining scientifically the enormous territorial expansion of the Tupi has been an issue since 1838, now with a consensus: a common centre of origin existed, from which the Tupi fanned out, differentiating through distinct historic and cultural processes whilst keeping several common cultural features. But there is no consensus as to where the centre was located and where passed the routes of expansion.Scholars have often asserted this hypothesis, but contributed very little scientific proof. Since 1960, archaeological (site location, radiocarbon and thermoluminescent dating) and linguistic data (glottochronology, relationships among languages) have been brought to the scene.

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Este artigo apresenta a linguagem da cerâmica registrada nos dicionários Tesoro e Vocabulario de la lengua Guaraní, publicados respectivamente em 1639 e 1640 pelo missionário jesuíta Antonio Ruiz de Montoya. Selecionamos 445 palavras e frases para compor cenários etnográficos. Nosso objetivo é compreender a cadeia operatória de produção das vasilhas cerâmicas Guaraní e alguns dos contextos de seus usos domésticos. O léxico apresenta grande potencial para estudos de linguística histórica comparada com outras línguas do tronco Tupí e de tecnologia cerâmica arqueológica.

Examina a persistência de certos fundamentos teóricos da arqueologia brasileira e do pensamento americanista. Por meio da comparação entre alguns temas da obra de personagens seminais como Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen e Betty Jane Meggers, analisam-se traços temáticos e políticos comuns que marcam uma secular continuidade da teoria da degeneração indígena e do argumento colonialista.