Milhares de cones siliciosos foram mapeados próximo de Anhembi, estado de São Paulo, e sugere tratar-se do mais importante registro geológico resultante de uma intensa atividade hidrotermal ocorrida no Período Permiano. Essa ocorrência é única no mundo devido à grande quantidade de cones silicosos e sua distribuição em pequena área. Na realidade, esses cones siliciosos foram classificados como geiseritos, registrando a existência de gêiseres no final do Permiano. Os geiseritos encontrados em Anhembi desenvolveram-se simultaneamente à sedimentação do siltitos e arenitos da Formação Teresina. Os cones encontram-se bem preservados, pois estão sendo exumados pela erosão moderna. No entanto, há indícios da presença de corpos ainda soterrados nos sedimentos da Formação Teresina. A fim de identifica-los foi usado os métodos geofísicos do georradar e da resistividade para mapeamento de subsuperfície. Os resultados mostram que há corpos enterrados até seis metros de profundidade nas localidades em que os geiseritos encontram-se exumados. Portanto, o campo de ocorrência desses cones é maior que o inicialmente conhecido pelas evidências em superfície. / Thousands of siliceous mounds have been found near to Anhembi, state of São Paulo, which are supposed to be the geological record of a huge hydrothermal activity of Late Permian. This occurrence is unique in the world due to the number of siliceous mounds and its distribution in a small area. Actually, these siliceous mounds are nominated geyserites since they record the existence of geysers at Late Permian. Geyserites found in Anhembi developed simultaneously with sedimentation of siltstones and sandstones of the Teresina Formation. These geyserites are being exhumed by modern erosion and this is the reason they are well preserved. However, it´s presumed there are a lot of buried geyserites still within sediments of the Teresina Formation. In order to identify them we used GPR - ground penetrating radar - and resistivity to subsurface mapping. Results show buried geyserites four meters below the ground surface where exhumed geyserites are found. Therefore, this geyserite field is much bigger than it is supposed to be just seeing on the ground surface.

Nesta dissertação são analisados os sítios cerimoniais associados à ocupação Jê do Sul no município de Pinhal da Serra, RS. Os sítios são compostos por aterros anelares (muros de terra) isolados ou cercando montículos. É proposta uma classificação que leva em conta a variabilidade arquitetônica de tais sítios, conforme as dimensões dos aterros, seu formato e a presença ou ausência de montículos. São considerados também os dados de escavações que evidenciam as atividades realizadas nesses locais. O tipo de sítio mais freqüente consiste em pequenos aterros anelares cercando montículos que contêm sepultamentos cremados. Pode-se interpretá-los como cemitérios de grupos que habitavam em sítios de casas subterrâneas vizinhos. Os aterros anelares de grandes dimensões e sem montículos são interpretados como centros cerimoniais regionais onde se reunia uma população mais ampla. Sítios com arquitetura complexa - aterros de diferentes formatos combinados e muitos montículos - apresentaram evidências de ritos mais elaborados, envolvendo festins mortuários. Possivelmente, eram locais de sepultamento de indivíduos de maior status. Os dados dos sítios mortuários são combinados com os dos assentamentos, que também sugerem um padrão hierárquico, com sítios densos (aglomerados com muitas casas subterrâneas) regularmente espaçados e cercados por sítios menos densos. Por fim, consideram-se as continuidades com os cacicados Kaingang históricos, que mantiveram a construção de montículos funerários como elemento importante da autoridade dos caciques no momento de enfrentamento com os colonizadores europeus. / This dissertation analyzes the ceremonial sites associated with a Southern Jê occupation in the city of Pinhal da Serra, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The sites consist in earthworks which can be either isolated or surrounding mounds. A classification is proposed considering the architectonic variability of the sites, according to earthwork size, shape, and the presence or absence of mounds. Excavation data which reveal activities performed in such places are also taken into consideration. The most frequent site type consists in small earthworks surrounding mounds which contain cremated burials. They can be interpreted as cemeteries for groups that inhabited pithouse sites nearby. Large earthworks without mounds are interpreted as regional ceremonial centers where a larger population gathered. Sites with complex architecture - earthworks of different shapes combined and surrounding many mounds - exhibited evidences of more elaborate rites including funerary feasting. It is possible that they were places for the burial of individuals with higher status. The data from the mortuary sites are combined with those from the settlements, which also suggest a hierarchical pattern with dense sites (clusters of many pithouses) regularly spaced and surrounded by less dense sites. Finally, I consider continuities with the historical Kaingang chiefdoms, where the construction of burial mounds had been maintained as an important element of chiefly authority during the confrontation with the european colonizers.

Esta dissertação descreve as atividades realizadas durante duas etapas de escavações em 2006 e 2007 nos sítios Lago do Iranduba e Laguinho, ambos localizados no município de Iranduba (AM), e apresenta os resultados e conclusões oriundas desta pesquisa. Buscou-se, desde a primeira intervenção, compreender os padrões de uso, ocupação e abandono dos sítios, além de estabelecer uma cronologia baseada em datações relativas e absolutas. As pesquisas realizadas pelo PAC (Projeto Amazônia Central) em sítios na região sugerem um ápice demográfico da ocupação humana pré-colonial na Amazônia central durante o fim do primeiro milênio DC. Confirmar esse clímax ocupacional nos sítios Lago do Iranduba e Laguinho é o principal objetivo desta pesquisa. Para testar esta hipótese, investigamos as informações contidas no material cerâmico, sobretudo diagnosticando-o em relação às fases já estabelecidas para a região. Interpretamos também as feições e montículos como correlatos materiais destas ocupações humanas. Sugerimos nesta dissertação um método de classificação das feições baseada em seu conteúdo, morfologia e volume, que gerou uma tipologia; e calculamos o volume dos grandes montículos do sítio Laguinho para discorrer sobre sua monumentalidade e criar quadros hipotéticos sobre o esforço humano envolvido em sua construção. Nesta pesquisa identificamos duas ocupações humanas no sítio Lago do Iranduba, relacionadas às fases cerâmicas Paredão e Guarita. No sítio Laguinho foram identificadas três ocupações distintas, relacionadas à cerâmica das fases Açutuba, Paredão e Guarita. Através das datações absolutas e relativas e da interpretação do registro arqueológico confirmamos a hipótese do apogeu demográfico, ocorrido no fim do primeiro milênio na Amazônia central, por grupos fabricantes da cerâmica Paredão. Ocupação humana responsável pelas principais modificações da paisagem, representadas na construção dos grandes montículos e da maior parte das feições no sítio Laguinho. / This dissertation describes the two excavation seasons in 2006 and 2007, in Lago do Iranduba and Laguinho sites, both in Iranduba city, estate of Amazonas - Brazil; and presents the results and conclusions of this research. Since the first archaeological intervention, we have been trying to comprehend the patterns of use, occupation and abandon of the sites and to establish a chronology based on relative and absolute dates. The research developed by PAC (Central Amazon Project) in the region sites suggests a demographical apex in the pre-colonial occupations in central Amazon during the end of the first millennium AD. To confirm this climax in the occupations in Laguinho and Lago do Iranduba sites is the main goal of this research. To test this hypothesis, we investigate the data enclosed in the ceramics to diagnose it in accordance with the ceramic phases already established to the area. The features and the mounds were also considered correlated materials of these human occupations. We suggest in this dissertation a classification method for features that rely on its content, morphology and volume, and create a typology; we also calculate the volume of the larger mounds of Laguinho site to discuss its monumentality and develop simulations about human effort involved on its construction. In this research we identified two occupations in Lago do Iranduba site, related to Paredão and Guarita phases. In Laguinho site three different occupations were identified, related to Açutuba, Paredão and Guarita phases. Through the absolute and relative dates and the interpretation of the archaeological record we confirm the hypothesis of demographic apogee occurring in the en of the first millennium in central Amazon, by groups that manufactured the ceramics classified as Paredão phase. The same human occupation is responsible for the major changes in the landscape, represented on the building of the large mounds and most of the features.

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park covers over 800 acres within Manchester, Tennessee, and is owned and managed by the Tennessee Division of State Parks. The central archaeological site within the park boundary is The Old Stone Fort mounds that enclose about 50 acres on a plateau above the convergence of the Big Duck and the Little Duck Rivers. The hilltop enclosure dates to the Middle Woodland Period, and radiocarbon dates obtained at the site range from the first to the fifth century A. D. Because of its size and apparent complexity, previous investigations of the site have been quite limited in areal exposure. Many questions remain as to the overall structure of the site, including the relationship of built and natural features, the presence of any structures or other anthropogenic features, and the occurrence of presence of any domestic remains. This research project utilizes detailed digital topographic survey, geographical information system (GIS) analysis, geophysical survey, limited re-excavation of previously investigated portions of the site, and manual coring to locate and characterize archaeological deposits within the enclosure and mounds. Magnetometer, resistance, electromagnetic susceptibility, conductivity, and ground penetrating radar techniques were used during the investigations. Geophysical data, using these instruments, were collected over the same area in many cases. All together 20,000 m2 were examined during the project. Results indicate potential archaeological features and deposits within the plateau interior. Analysis suggests the presence of several geophysical anomalies potentially associated with prehistoric use of the site, especially within the Eastern Gateway complex. One such anomaly, or complex of anomalies, represents a possible structure. Historic archaeological deposits are also indicated by the geophysical data. Excavations at the site were limited to minimize impact. In a re-excavated trench, a lens of black shale within the stone mound construction may indicate a building stage not previously observed at Old Stone Fort. A second excavation confirmed a ditch feature detected in the geophysical survey. Archaeological deposits located during the survey are interpreted as evidence of sustained use of the ceremonial site during the Middle Woodland Period by local corporate groups to maintain and intensify membership for individuals who were settled in nucleated villages throughout most of the year.

An important requirement of a rational policy for provision of outdoor recreation opportunities is some understanding of natural processes and public concern and /or preferences. Computerized land use suitability mapping is a technique which can help find the best location for a variety of developmental actions given a set of goals and other criteria. Over the past two decades, the methods and techniques of land use planning have been engaged in a revolution on at least two fronts as to shift the basic theories and attitudes of which land use decisions are based. The first of these fronts is the inclusion of environmental concerns, and the second is the application of more systematic methods or models. While these automated capabilities have shed new light on environmental issues, they, unfortunately, have failed to develop sufficient intelligence and adaptation to accurately model the dynamics of ecosystems.The work reported proceeds on the belief that neural network models can be used to assess and develop resource management strategies for Mounds State Park, Anderson, Indiana. The study combines a photographic survey technique with a geographic information system (GIS) and artificial neural networks (NN) to investigate the perceived impact of park management activities on recreation opportunities and experiences. It is unique in that it incorporates both survey data with spatial data and an optimizing technique to develop a model for predicting perceived management values for short and long term recreation management.According to Jeannette Stanley and Evan Bak (1988) a neural network is a massively parallel, dynamic systems of highly interconnected interacting parts based on neurobiological models. The behavior of the network depends heavily on the connection details. The state of the network evolves continually with time. Networks are considered clever and intuitive because they learn by example rather than following simple programming rules. They are defined by a set of rules or patterns based on expertise or perception for better decision making. With experience networks become sensitive to subtle relationships in the environment which are not obvious to humans.The model was developed as a counter-propagation network with a four layer learning network consisting of an input layer, a normalized layer, a kohonen layer, and an output layer. The counter-propagation network is a feed-forward network which combines Kohonen and Widrow-Hoff learning rules for a new type of mapping neural network. The network was trained with patterns derived by mapping five variables (slope, aspect, vegetation, soil, site features) and survey responses from three groups. The responses included, for each viewshed, the preference and management values, and three recreational activities each group associated with a given landscape. Overall the model behaves properly in learning the different rules and generalizing in cases where inputs had not been shown to the network apriori. Maps are provided to illustrate the different responses obtained from each group and simulated by the model. The study is not conclusive as to the capabilities of the combination of GIS techniques and neural networks, but it gives a good flavor of what can be achieved when accurate mapping information is used by an intelligent system for decision making. / Department of Landscape Architecture

This paper is an archaeological. resources management plan for a proposed archaeological district in Henry County which encompasses four sites known to be significant: New Castle (12Hn-1), Commissary (12-Hn-2), Van Nuys (12-Hn-25), and Hesher (12Hn-298). Information is provided about previous e::cavations at each of the sites as well as details regarding the location, natural setting, and cultural history of each site. Research questions are outlined. The core of the plan relates to niiariagernent of the resources including suggestions regarding future uses and protection. Finally, completed National Register of Historic Places Registration Forms for the incorporation of the four archaeological sites into a single archaeological district are attached. / Department of Anthropology

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2007. / Title from title page screen (viewed on June 20, 2008). Thesis advisor: Murry K. Marks. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

My research is on the significance of building practice at sites that are known as chambered monuments or long cairns and long mounds. In particular, this work focuses on the long cairn sites of Gwernvale, Powys and Hazleton North, Gloucestershire; and the long mound sites of Easton Down, Beckhampton Road, Horslip, and South Street in the Avebury region of Wiltshire, and Gussage Cow Down 78 and 294 in Dorset. These sites are considered to be among the first 'architectures' in Britain. These architectures have been considered by archaeologists to characterise part of what we know about the neolithic in southern Britain. There are features and material culture associated with the mesolithic at these sites but this evidence has previously been understood as having made a 'place' for architecture, or as having created a 'setting' for later architectural constructions. I am writing to challenge our architectural understandings of these sites. In the following chapters trees, the processing of wood, hearth settings, the working of flint, grassland, worked earth, the processing of animal bone are recognised as having been a part of the connective dynamics of architectural construction. I will argue that material culture that was a part of these activities was left in these areas. These small things were parted, re-assembled and entwined together into assemblages that blur archaeologists distinctions between fifth and fourth millennia B.C. lives and that blur distinctions between hunter-gatherer and pastoralist (and partly agriculturalist) practices. Practices of making did not remain the same; neither did practices of connecting, parting, re-assembling and entwining materials. Material culture, as a media for making and understanding connections between people and things, did not remain constant. However, through encounters with the material and historical conditions of others lives, people made something of living and dying during the fifth and fourth millennia.

O registro arqueológico associado aos sítios conchíferos do litoral catarinense aponta para uma intensificação nos processos de mudança a partir de 2000 anos AP, marcada por acontecimentos diversos como a diminuição no número de sítios, a diminuição no uso de conchas em sua formação, o aparecimento da cerâmica, o aumento da violência e a alteração do padrão de residência pós-marital. Com o objetivo de compreender melhor esses processos de mudança e entendendo o sítio Armação do Sul (Florianópolis/SC) como elemento chave para essa compreensão, foram realizadas análises isotópicas de estrôncio (87Sr/86Sr) carbono (δ13C) e nitrogênio (δ15N) nos indivíduos que nele se encontram sepultados, juntamente com a análise das práticas mortuárias associadas a esses sepultamentos e o estabelecimento de uma cronologia que associa informação estratigráfica com datações radiocarbônicas obtidas para diversos esqueletos. A partir de uma perspectiva de longa duração centrada na prática e do reconhecimento da multidimensionalidade inerente aos processos de mudança, os dados gerados foram entendidos contextualmente na curta, média e longa duração, e em escala de sítio (Armação do Sul), local (litoral central) e regional (litoral catarinense), em busca de uma tensão positiva entre indivíduo e estrutura, mudança e estabilidade, sincronia e diacronia. Ao fim, concluiu-se que os processos de mudança se desenrolaram diferentemente em porções litorâneas distintas do litoral catarinense e que, no caso do sítio Armação do Sul, as mudanças observadas estão relacionadas a um quadro de acontecimentos inter-relacionados que envolveu: maior circulação e incorporação de indivíduos de diferentes partes do litoral central; mudança na dieta dos indivíduos do sexo masculino em direção ao consumo de recursos C4 ou à diminuição no consumo de recursos marinhos de alto nível trófico; desenvolvimento de uma hierarquia social mais claramente observável no registro arqueológico e, possivelmente, hereditária; aumento da violência; inovações em alguns elementos que compõem as práticas mortuárias; mudança no sedimento que compõe o sítio; adensamento populacional ou maior quantidade de indivíduos sendo sepultados no mesmo local; transição para um padrão de residência virilocal; e alterações paleoclimáticas e paleogeográficas. Foram ainda feitas algumas breves contribuições para um melhor entendimento das peculiaridades do panorama arqueológico do litoral central, com o auxílio de conceitos oriundos da teoria de sistemas adaptativos complexos e sob a perspectiva dos regimes de historicidade. / The archaeological record associated with shell mounds in the Santa Catarina coast points to an intensification in the processes of change starting at 2000 years BP, marked by various events such as the decrease in the number of sites, the reduction in the use of shells in their formation, the appearance of ceramics, increased violence and alterations of the pattern of post-marital residence. In order to better comprehend these processes of change and understanding the Armação do Sul site (Florianópolis/SC) as a key element to said comprehension, we have performed isotopic analyses based on strontium (87Sr/86Sr), carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in the individuals that are buried there, along with the analysis of the mortuary practices associated with those burials, and the establishment of a chronology that associates stratigraphic information with radiocarbon dating obtained for several skeletons. From a long-term perspective focused on practice and recognition of the multidimensionality inherent to change processes, the resulting data were observed contextually in short, medium and long terms, and in site (Armação do Sul), local (central coast) and regional (Santa Catarina coast) scales, in search for a positive tension between individual and structure, change and stability, synchrony and diachrony. Finally, we have concluded that the change processes unfolded differently in distinct coastal portions in the Santa Catarina coast and that, in the case of the Armação do Sul site, observed changes are related to a setting of interrelated events which involved: increased circulation and incorporation of individuals from different parts of the central coast; change in the diet of male individuals towards consumption of C4 resources or the decrease in the consumption of marine resources of high trophic level; development of a social hierarchy more clearly observable in the archaeological records and, possibly, hereditary; increased violence; innovations in some elements which compose the mortuary practices; change in the depositional pattern; increase in the population density or in the number of individuals buried in the same place; transition to a pattern of virilocal residence; and climate and geographic alterations. We have also made some briefs contributions towards a better understanding of the peculiarities of the archaeological panorama in the central coast, with the aid of concepts from the theory of complex adaptive systems and within a perspective of the regimes of historicity.

Neste trabalho apresentamos os resultados obtidos com o levantamento, escavação e análise material arqueológico provenientes de sítios na região do lago do Limão, município de Iranduba - AM. Os dados obtidos após a identificação de 15 sítios arqueológicos são comparados aos trabalhos já executados na região, com vistas a responder algumas hipóteses criadas para interpretar o processo de ocupação da região amazônica antes da chegada dos europeus. Com o trabalho identificamos algumas peculiaridades relacionadas à fase Paredão, tais como construção de montículos artificiais e assentamentos em aldeias circulares. A partir dos dados obtidos apresentamos uma hipótese interpretativa para a chegada da cerâmica policrômica associada à fase Guarita na Amazônia Central, fato que acreditamos estar relacionado também ao surgimento da fase Paredão. / The results obtained from survey, excavation and material analysis of archaeological material found in sites in the lago do Limão region, Amazonas State, Brazil are presented herein. The data gathered after the identification of 15 archaeological sites is compared to work previously done in the region, aiming to determine the occupational process of the pre-colonial Amazonian region. Peculiarities related to the Paredão phase (7th to 12th century AD) are identified herein, such as the construction of artificial mounds and ring village settlements From the data obtained, an interpretative hypothesis is presented for the arrival of the polychrome ceramics associated with the Guarita phase (9th to 15th century AD) in Central Amazon, a fact that we believe to be also related to the upcoming of the Paredão phase.