Archaeological research in the middle/lower valley of Ribeira de Iguape, São Paulo.

Résumé

Since 1981, the middle/upper Ribeira valley, which is located the extreme Southwest portion of São Paulo State, has been studied through systematic archaeological research. Surveys performed in a general area in the Middle valley and in specific areas in the Upper valley allowed for the identification of around 300 sites, which are related to at least three distinct pre-colonial occupations. All three occupations are associated to non-local cultural complexes, being the result of population movements either from the Atlantic shore or from the Southern Brazilian Plateau. The advance of the research is, thus, directly linked toa extra-regional focus, where the study of the borderlines with both the shore and the plateau shall present a great potential of revealing former patterns of cultural contact and territoriality. Given this, we have surveyed an area bordering the Coastal lowlands. From this survey, 13 sites were identified. The results of this work are presented in this article, together with an analyzes of the data within the overall context of the pre-colonial occupation of the whole Ribeira valley.