New Historical and Cultural Considerations of the Potters of the Quilombo of Itamatatiua, in Alcântara, Maranhão

Abstract

The article focuses on the results obtained in research carried out in the Quilombo of Itamatatiua, in Alcântara, Maranhão. By means of Archeological Ethnography, a broad documental survey was carried out, with audiovisual records based on the potters' narratives. The cutout adopted in this research approaches the presentation of the historical documentation about the formation of the traditional territory of Itamatatiua, the slave labor; the abandonment of the land by the owners, once colonizers of the religious Carmelite orders and the permanence of the African descendant population in this region. The documental contribution provided the delineation of new evidences that point to a strong indigenous influence in the ceramic production, a fact that has been deconstructing assumptions, such as that, the referred craft would have been introduced in the colonial period in the Carmelite potteries.