Uso de recursos vegetais em Lapa Grande de Taquaraçu: evidências macro e microscópicas

Abstract

The site of Lapa Grande de Taquaraçu is a limestone shelter located in Minas Gerais, south-central Brazil. The site's chronology ranges from 11,360 ± 110 cal BP to 1,100 ±80 cal BP, with an occupation hiatus from 9,000 ± 70 to 1.100 ± cal BP. In order to define the use of natural resources on this site, sediment from unwashed stone artifacts was analyzed for the presence of blood and starch granules, coupled with this, charred macroremains from the sieve were studied. Starch granules were separated from the sediment by density difference and analyzed under a polarized light microscope. For the detection of hemoglobin, a test was performed using urine test strips. Starch granules of various types were found in all stone artifacts. Three artifacts dimmed positive for the presence of hemoglobin. Among the macroremains, various types of seeds were distinguished, being a species of a small coconut dominant in the registry. There was no significant difference in fuel use at the site's different occupation times. The results seem consistent with previous researches regarding the consumption of starchy foods by the ancient inhabitants of Lagoa Santa. Were also consistent with the regional lithic industry investigations, where artifacts are not created with an specific use in mind.

Before Lagoa Santa: Micro-remain and technological analysis in a lithic artifact from the Itaparica industry

“…This indicates that the laboratory rooms were not completely starch free, but clearly this small contamination does not explain the presence of a very diverse assemblage of starch types and other plant elements that were confidently found in the archaeological samples (soil and limace edges). Detailed results and numbers can be consulted in Angeles Flores (2015).…”

The Technological Diversity of Lithic Industries in Eastern South America during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

“…Unfortunately, these studies were suddenly interrupted by the unfortunate case of her death, but they were responsible for the discovery of Lagoa Santa and Luzia-the oldest human skeleton known in the Americas until then. It was only in the 2010s that new systematic research in the area was carried out, led by Walter Neves [106], including interdisciplinary analyses of the material culture, such as fauna [107,108], human skeletons, and burials [109][110][111], lithic industry [112][113][114][115][116][117], micro residues [20,118,119], and bone industry [120, 121]. Thanks to this research, specific cultural patterns were identified for the region that persisted from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition until some centuries before the Portuguese conquest.…”