Camila Gianotti García

On the southernmost lowlands of South America, there are earthen mounds studied since the nineteenth century and known as “aterros” or “tesos” (in Portuguese) and “cerritos de indios” (in Spanish). These sites, comprised predominantly by earth, are articulated to other built structures as microreliefs (mounds with less than 30 cm in height), elongated platforms, borrow pits, tracks, pathways, and artificial lakes that compose archaeological complexes situated in flooded environments in the Pampa biome, among Uruguay, Argentina, and southern Brazil. The Pampa biome is located in the lowlands of South America among the Atlantic coast on the East, the Atlantic Forest biome on the North, the Grasslands of Argentina on the West and South. This biome is part of the provinces of the Paraná-Paraguay basin with approximately 750,000 km², within the South Temperate Zone, and has both subtropical and temperate climates with four well-characterized seasons. Grasslands, with sparse shrub and tree formations, are the dominant vegetation. The average temperature in the biome is 18� and the climate is warm and humid. The archaeological studies have surveyed more than 1500 earthen mounds in a wide polygon encompassing the low Paraná and low Uruguay rivers, plus Jacuí, Vacacaí and Ibicuí river valleys, the middle Negro river, and the basin of Patos and Mirim lagoons. The Cerritos are earthen mounds comprised by anthropic soils with polished and knapped lithic instruments, faunal and botanical remains, ceramic shards, and sometimes human remains. These archaeological structures dated between 4700 and 200 years BP and are found both isolated or in clusters – up to a hundred in number – upon the landscape. Their spatial distribution, although it occurs in environments of different altitudes along flat and undulating terrain of the lowlands, is always linked to edaphic units as flooded and swampy environments regionally known as “banhados” and “charcos”.

Ponencia presentada en el grupo de trabajo "Integralidad en la Universidad de la República. Avances y desafíos en la naturalización de la extensión y la renovación de la enseñanza" celebrado en el marco de las IV Jornadas de Investigación y III de Extensión de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación (2011).

[ES] La arquitectura monumental constituye uno de los cambios más significativos en el proceso de complejización de las sociedades prehistóricas al hacer visible una nueva concepción del espacio y del tiempo, de la vida y la muerte, haciendo así posible la instauración de nuevas formas de relación con el paisaje que son ante todo nuevas formas de relaciones sociales. Se trata de un fenómeno de escala mundial vinculado al mundo de los muertos y a la experiencia simbólica, que surge en diferentes sociedades, áreas geográficas y cronologías con rasgos comunes y otros propios. En este trabajo nos ocupamos del estudio comparativo de estos rasgos con la finalidad de establecer las condiciones socioeconómicas y las características que ampararon el surgimiento y desarrollo de la construcción de túmulos a ambos lados del Atlántico. La perspectiva comparada que se adopta está doblemente justificada por el hecho de que nos permite comparar la emergencia y desarrollo de la construcción de monumentos entre sociedades agrícolas (Península Ibérica) y sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras (Cono Sur americano). El análisis de las pautas de emplazamiento, la organización de los espacios monumentales, las prácticas funerarias y la cultura material nos permiten situar los eventos constructivos y las ceremonias asociadas como lugar y tiempo en el que se negocian, modifican, transmiten o reproducen las relaciones sociales de los vivos.
[EN] Monumental architecture represents one of the most significant changes in the process of social complexity among Prehistoric societies, since through it a new conception of time and space, of life and death is developed. That process allows the emergence of new forms of relationship with landscape, which in the end are new forms of social relations. It represents a world-wide phenomenon linked to the world of death and to the symbolic experience, which emerges in different societies, in different places and times with a number of common and different characteristics. In this work we will deal with a comparative study of those characteristics aimed to define the social and economic conditions that allowed the development of tumular monumental construction on both sides of the Atlantic. The comparative perspective is also fruitful since it allows us to compare the development of monumentality among agricultural societies (Iberian Peninsula) and hunter-gatherers (South America). The analysis of placement patterns, the organization of monumental spaces, burial practices and material culture give way to locate the processes of construction and their associated ceremonies as related to the creation, modification, transmission and reproduction of social relationships.

In other works we have explored the symbolic significance of the explosion of monumental architecture, and have seen how this was the main instrument of a socio-cultural device that made it possible to organize nature and introduce it through social relationships of production and reproduction. However, to date we have not explored in detail the explanation of the social and economic circumstances behind the appearance of monumental architecture. This is what we will cover in this text.

A structural analysis of the formal evidence of the monumentalization of death in primitive societies in processes of dissolution and increasing complexity – which are different, but whose strategies of visibilization in time and space have similar features – allows us to explore the substantial features of the fi rst wave of monumentalization that took place on both sides of the Atlantic.

(2015) Libro que recoge los trabajos realizados de forma colaborativa y multivocal en Laguna de Rocha en torno al Paisaje Cultural y al Patrimonio. El formato impreso es de grandes dimensiones lo cual permite exhibirlo en museos, centros culturales/educativos y eventos.

Recent approaches to coastal and intertidal archaeology have focused on issues of methodology, multi-proxy approaches to the study of societies and palaeoenvironments, preservation of archaeological remains, coastal erosion, climate change, social engagement and 'public science' initiatives. All these approaches have served to show the specificities of coastal and intertidal archaeology across the globe. Resulting from these experiences, one underlying -albeit crucial- debate concerns the relationship between the natural and the cultural spheres. In this session, we would like to go a step further and deepen the discussion on this relationship. Is there a real natural heritage vs. cultural heritage dichotomy? How can we improve the visibility and impact of coastal archaeological research and management in the frame of Integrated Coastal Zone Management policies and climate change directives (e.g. IPCC panel)? How can we improve the dialogue between archaeologists/cultural heritage specialists and the natural management of coastal protected areas and landscapes? What problems do we archaeologists encounter when working in natural protected areas and how can we overcome them? What do we have to offer to natural areas' managers and stakeholders? We welcome papers from across the world on the experiences, methods, challenges and opportunities of coastal and intertidal archaeology in natural protected and natural sensitive landscapes (e.g. National/Regional Parks, reserves, nature protected sites and landscapes). Presentations on marshes, mangroves and submerged archaeological sites and landscapes dealing with this topic are also welcome. Through this, we would like to contribute to current debates on coastal and intertidal archaeology and, by extension, on an extended notion of heritage.