Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223224 (2004) 695699

www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb

Intermittent occupation of the sambaqui builder settlements

in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil
M. Barbosa a, A. Buarque a, M.D. Gaspar a, K.D. Macario b, R.M. Anjos b,
P.R.S. Gomes b,*, M.M. Coimbra c, D. Elmore d
a

Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Instituto de F
sica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Litor^anea s/n, Gragoata, Niter
oi, RJ cep 24210-340, Brazil
c
Departamento de F
sica, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, Brazil
d
Department of Physics, PRIME Lab, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

Abstract
We study the time of settlement, period of occupation and the sociocultural system of the shing-collecting groups,
builders of huge shell and sand mounds found in the Brazilian coast. We present original results of four 14 C AMS
dates from the IBV4 archaeological site, one of the four sites of the Boa Vista group, located in Rio de Janeiro State,
Brazil, and we analyze the occupation of the whole group. The results rearm the long occupation of populations in
this region (2400 yr). In this paper we complement the model proposed to this region, suggesting a discontinuous
occupation of these sites, during two distinct periods: 40003300 yr BP and 20001500 yr BP. Moreover, it was
possible to show that these sites were not active concomitantly, and that the occupation took place in an intermittent
way. We show a strong correlation between the periods of occupation and of increasing sea level.

2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 07.75.+h; 89.65.Ef; 87.23.Ge; 92.10.Hm
Keywords: Archaeology; Radiocarbon dating; Sambaqui; Mass spectrometry

1. Introduction
The prehistoric occupation of the Brazilian
central-south coast was started with shing-collecting groups, who settled in the neighborhood
of lagoons and mouth of river, between 6500
and 1000 yr BP. They built huge shell and sand

Corresponding author: Tel.: +55-21-2620-6735; fax: +5521-2620-3881.

E-mail address: paulogom@if.u.br (P.R.S. Gomes).

mounds found in several bays and lagoons, within

an approximately 2000 km length coastal stretch,
from Southeast to East Brazil, the so called
sambaquis (the word is of Tupi etymology, tamba
meaning shellsh and ki to pile up). Although
the main activities of the population were shing and hunting, the collection of shells also played
a special role in the settlements, as this material
was used to build their distinctive mounds. In
these sites one also nds weapons, tools, adornments, food remains, ashes and charcoal from old
res, as well as human graves and traces of old

0168-583X/$ - see front matter
2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2004.04.129

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M. Barbosa et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 223224 (2004) 695699

houses. As there are many burials, hearths and

habitation structures in the sambaquis, they are
considered as places for habitation and burial
grounds.
We are particularly concerned in understanding
the functioning structure, spatial ordering, interaction with the environment and their transformation processes, from the study of cultural
remains of these ancient populations [13]. It is
possible to conjecture that distinct social realities
may coexist during the same period and in the
same region.

2. The Boa Vista group

The spatial distribution of these sites (Fig. 1) in
the area of Rio de Janeiro, Southeast Brazil, shows
that they did not happen as isolated settlements [1]

Fig. 1. Map of the region where it is located the S~ao Jo~ao

group.

and that the groupings of sambaquis are the

sociologically signicant units to be studied.
The archaeological sites of the present study are
located on a uvial plain between the Una and S~ao
Jo~ao Rivers, district of B

uzios, Rio de Janeiro. It
has nine sambaquis, called S~ao Jo~ao group, within
an area of approximately 25 km2 . Four of them
are concentrated within a 1900 m length interval,
on a beach ridge of the Boa Vista Island, and form
the so-called Boa Vista group IBV. They are
similar small sambaquis in elliptical shapes, with
dimensions of the order of 50 m 40 m and height
around 2 m. Their lower level are 8.3 m above sea
level and they are 2.5 km away from the coast.
The coastal plain of the S~ao Jo~ao River was
formed during the Pleistocene period and was
developed following climatic and sea level variations [4]. Several lakes and lagoons were formed
from isolated sea stretches. Swamps, mangroves
and ood regions were present as far as 20 km
from the coast. The beach ridges were the only
places with higher altitude in the plain, protected
from the waters and situated at the edge of
lagoons, that were the main source of resources of
the Boa Vista group [5]. The climate of the region
is tropical, warm, humid, with a well characterized
summer rain season.
The IBV1 site was extensively studied by Gaspar, while in the others, only a small survey has
been performed [13]. In this paper we show original results on samples from the IBV4, and a
global interpretation for the occupation of the
group.
Gaspar [1,2] suggests that the distinct groups of
each sambaqui used to interact between themselves, and that the largest sites were located in
strategic environmental positions and had the
highest social status within the large group. The
period of occupation of a sambaqui is associated
with its dimensional characteristics. The groups
that arrived later in the region settled down in
peripheral areas with poorer access to natural
resources and had inferior social and political
status among the population of the region. This is
the situation of the Boa Vista group, which are
small in size when compared with other nuclei in
the region and have returned dates of 4000 yr
BP [1].

M. Barbosa et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 223224 (2004) 695699

697

3. The IBV4 site

In the present study, 20 test pits (0.50 0.50 m)
were performed in the central and peripheral parts
of the site. Hundreds of samples and artifacts were
analyzed in a statistical and systematic approach
method in order to contribute to the investigation
of internal similarities and dierences among the
S~ao Jo~
ao group. The central part of the sambaqui
shows high concentration of activities, dierent
industrial artifacts, food remains including lacustrine and terrestrial fauna, ashes and charcoal from
old res, human bones and traces of old houses.
Some bonres are associated with burials, while
others present remains of burnt nuts and shells, and
are considered as places for food processing. These
nuts were identied as Palm fruits, rich in oil and
probably used as fuel. In the peripheral parts, just a
few activities were identied.
Dierent stratigraphic organic dark sandy and
clay layers were identied by their color and contents. They were called, respectively, layers III, II,
IA and I, from the surface.
Three distinct occupations were identied: the
rst one composed of layer I and the base layer,
which marks the beginning of the occupation; the
second, more densely occupied, composed of layer
II; the third composed of layer III and the humic
layer, the latter not always present. Also, it was
observed a shell concentration, usually between
layers I and IA, supposed to have been formed
rapidly in one single event. Layer IA is a compact
clay concretion, containing shells, charcoal, animal bones and minerals.

4. The available chronological data for the Boa

Vista group
Before the present work, nine 14 C AMS dating
were available for the Boa Vista group [1,2], as it is
shown in Fig. 2. Most of the ages are in the range
45003000 cal yr BP (2r). For the IBV2 and
IBV4 there are two dating (one for each) corresponding to 21001700 cal yr BP (2r). Gaspar [1]
proposed that the four sambaquis were occupied
simultaneously for a long period, of the order of
2000 years. However, as the size of the sambaquis

Fig. 2. Radiocarbon calibrated (2r) ages for the four sites of

the Boa Vista group, showing the dierent periods of occupation of the group and their correlation with the variation of the
sea level during the period, as proposed by Martin et al. [911].

of the Boa Vista group is much smaller than other

sites of the region, especially the large ones (between 4 and 6 m height) this occupation time was
considered to be too long. Consequently, the two
relatively recent samples raised doubts about reliability.

5. AMS dating of samples from the IBV4

In the present work, four samples were dated by
the 14 C AMS technique, for the IBV4 sambaqui.
Two vegetable samples (burnt nuts, species characteristic of the Holocene period) from layers I/II
and III, were sent to the PRIME Lab of the Purdue University, and two charcoal samples, from
the shell concentration, were sent to the Beta
Analytic Lab. The burn nuts were collected from a
peripheral area of the site associated to food waste.
The charcoal samples were collected from a central
area, at the bottom and top of the shell layer, also
associated to food waste.
In the following, we describe the sample preparation and measurements performed at the
PRIME Lab.
The usual chemical pre-treatment for organic
samples was performed. The samples were reduced

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M. Barbosa et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 223224 (2004) 695699

to 12 mm thickness and treated with hydrochloric

acid to remove the inorganic fraction. A base
treatment, with sodium hydroxide, was done in
order to remove the fulvic and humic fractions.
Finally, another acid treatment removed the
inorganic carbon that could have been incorporated to the samples during the base treatment.
The samples were then dried and combusted in an
evacuated quartz tube with a silver foil and copper
oxide, at 900 C. The CO2 was graphitized in a
quartz tube with zinc and iron.
The 7.5 MV FN Tandem accelerator of the
PRIME Lab was used for the measurement. The
terminal voltage used was 4 MV, and 13;14 C beams,
with charge state 3+, were selected by the high
energy magnetic analyzer and detected.
The age was calculated as in Donahue et al. [6]
and the oxalic acid standard used was the NBS
SRM 4990 C. The calibration was performed using
the code OxCal versus 3.5, of the Oxford University [7]. Atmospheric correction for the Southern
Hemisphere was performed before calibration.

6. Results and discussion

Table 1 shows our recent results and those
previously reported [1] for the IBV4 site. Fig. 2
shows all the available dates for the whole Boa
Vista group. We have individually calibrated (2r)
all the dates, for comparison. Our results conrm
the occupation of the IBV group at 4500 cal yr
BP (corresponding to layers I, II and shell layer)
and the recent occupation at 21001700 cal yr
BP (corresponding to layer III) and therefore they

rearm the long occupation of shing-collecting

groups in this region (of the order of 2500 years).
However, after a quantitative analysis [8], in this
work we propose a dierent interpretation of the
continuous occupation of the site proposed by
Gaspar [1]. Our studies show that if the IBV4 site
had been occupied for this long, this occupation
was discontinuous, as only large contingent population can be maintained for periods longer than
a thousand years and the IBV4 dimensional aspects show that it was occupied for a small group
(no more than 20 people). The distributional
analyses of the available dating for the four sites of
the Boa Vista group lead to the interpretation that
they were occupied during two distinct periods: the
rst, more dense and with larger population,
within the range 45003000 cal yr BP and a more
recent within the range 21001700 cal yr BP (2r).
Moreover, it is likely that these sambaquis were not
active concomitantly and that the occupation took
place in an intermittent way. Although no evidence of stratigraphic discontinuity related to
periods of abandonment was observed, the quantitative analyses of material remains in the column
samples showed an abrupt fall in the frequency
lines around 36004000 yr BP, followed by a period of interruption of the remains frequency,
which seems to be related to the abandonment of
the site. Only after 2000 yr BP the frequency lines
rise again, but in a less expressive way, showing a
period of less intense occupation of the site. The
absolute dating available for the IBV group seem
to indicate that the occupation of IBV4 and IBV2
was followed by the occupation of IBV1 around
3500 yr BP and a return to IBV4 and IBV2 around

Table 1
Radiocarbon and calibrated ages for the IBV-IV site
Layer

Reference

Identication

Material

Conventional
radiocarbon age
(14 C yr BP)

Calibrated age
(OxCal) cal yr BP
(95.4%)

III
III
II/I
Shell concent
Shell concent
I

[*]
[1]
[*]
[*]
[*]
[1]

PLID 0690
Beta-94625
PLID 0689
Beta-151849
Beta-151848
Beta-94624

Nut
Charcoal
Nut
Charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal

1620 80
1920 60
3740 160
3680 40
3850 140
3740 110

16901300
19501630
45503600
40903830
46503650
44503700

[*] Means the present work.

M. Barbosa et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 223224 (2004) 695699

2000 yr BP. The proximity in time of the occupations of the IBV2 and IBV4 suggests that they
could have been concomitant. These results might
lead to conclude that there was a pattern of
occupation in groups of two sambaquis.
It is very interesting to compare our conclusions
with the studies of the sea level variations during
the Holocene period [4,811], as it is shown in the
bottom of Fig. 2. Three main periods can be observed. (i) Between 6000 and 4000 yr BP the sea
level was 23 m above the present level (PL)
reaching a maximum value of 5 m above PL at
5000 yr BP. The inland beach ridges were formed
after this time, limiting building of shell mounds of
the Boa Vista group before this period. During the
emersion period, from 5000 to 4000 yr BP, the
rst settlements happened in the region, when an
inter-lagoon system became lakes, following
mangroves and swamps. (ii) Between 4000 and
3500 yr BP the sea level increases rapidly, reaching
4 m above PL. This event formed small lagoons
and large ood areas, and the immersion of low
topographic areas. This period corresponds to the
settlement of the Boa Vista group (IBV2 and
IBV4) and their more dense occupation period.
(iii) From 3500 yr BP to the present, there is a
continuous decrease of the sea level, except for a
sudden oscillation, from climatic origin, between
3000 and 2500 yr BP, and consequently drying
the small lagoons. The recent occupation of the
Boa Vista group corresponds to the relatively
short period of high sea level, within this long
period. Therefore, one can conclude that the
periods of increasing sea level, when large ood
regions were formed, increasing the amount of
natural resources from fresh water, are strongly
correlated to the settlement of the shing-collecting populations in this region. Moreover, the
analysis of faunal and botanic vestiges of the
IBV4, in dierent stratigraphic layers, shows that
they are associated with resources originated by

699

fresh water, which would imply that the IBV4 was

more intensely occupied during periods of lagoon
extension. Lacustrine faunal remains are represented by abundant sh bones from the Ariidae
family and the fresh water mollusk Pomacea sp.
The botanic remains were identied as seed from
the family Palmae, representative of marshy forest.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Brazilian
funding agencies CNPq, FINEP/FUJB, FAPERJ
and CAPES, for their nancial support. We would
like to thank the sta of the PRIME Lab, especially, Ken Mueller, Mary Ann Rounds, Pankaj
Sharma and Linda Paquay, for their hospitality
with K.D. Macario during the period of sample
preparation AMS dating.

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