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This article presents relevant aspects of the archaeology museum’s historicity. It examines the concepts that have been directing its development and identifies the characteristics inherited by the contemporary musealization processes from the previous museological experiences.

The aim of this article is to do some considerations about the scientific use of archaeological collections, taking the Tapajonic MAE/USP collection as a case study. This collection was analysed under the formal aspects. The work consists of a general presentation of the collection. Further publications will adress each of the established categories in more detail.

This article aims to contribute to the debate about Visual Anthropology, and also regards aspects of the history of Brazilian Anthropology, related to the use of images as a research method.

The Documentation related to Museum collection management is based in coherency of procedures and sistematic organization. Not withstanding it does not precede scientific or ethical orientations. This text aims at discussing the conceptual implications that give profile to methods and techniques guiding them to specific goals.

The research of hyperosteosis on indians and mullatos’ skulls from Southeast Brazil made by the authors correlates calvarium and orbital lesions. This work is added to the various studies published by anatomists, physical anthropologists, physicians and paleopathologists that consider the porotic hyperostosis as a biologic stress marker, deriving from anaemias of different origins. The macroscopic analysis of orbital and calvarim porotic hyperostosis was made within a sample of 409 individuals (141 indians and 268 mulattos), distributed in groups of age and sex. The correlation between the lesions in both groups, racially, culturally and temporally distincts, was based on demographic and anthropological perspectives. In the formation of this pathology, it was also considered the complexity of interaction between biossocial and environmental factors.

Ever since its invention, the moving images have been used in different ways. As a tool of culture phenomenon research, also as instrument for illustration and broadcast of the researches. The videographic praxis needs methodical proposals that go much beyond of the simple use of animated images as a register. That’s why based on our experiences and imagetic analysis we try to reflect the particularities, potentialities and overall, some methodological considerations about the using of videographics on fieldwork. As result of this, we bring up some annoying fragments of these encounters and disencounters between the video and the anthropology research.

As condições de análise da cultura material e os marcos cenceituais, a partir dos quais podem ser lidos os objetos, adotam um caráter singular no estudo de coleções etnográficas. A partir da apresentação des aspectos teórico-metodológicos vinculados ao tipo de referente tratado e aos processos de interrogação a que são submetidos os «objetos» pelo investigador, se propõem diversos níveis de contextualização que põem em evidência a passagem da dimensão material à dimensão simbólica, constituindo as instâncias referenciais de atribuição de sentido. Este processo se exemplifica em um conjunto de máscaras que fazem parte do Departamento Científico de Etnografía do Museu de La Plata.

This article studies some Latin inscriptions called tabellae defixionum in the Ancient Roman world. Historians like Livy and Tacitus mention curse rituals and the epigraphic sources demonstrate their diffusion among different social levels.

Este artigo descreve os resultados preliminares da escavação subaquática de restos de uma embarcação naufragada da alta Idade Média. As ruínas do Port-Berteau II estão situadas a uma profundidade de 7m no rio Charente, no sudoeste da França, entre Saintes e Rochefort. 1 - As técnicas e métodos usados são discutidos. 2 - 0 novo método francés de registro de dados por computador denominado Archeo-Data é analisado. A escolha deste método particular foi feita em relação com nosso conceito de arqueologia náutica, na qual os destroços e seu entorno geomorfológico são estudados em sincronismo. 3 - Os restos arquitetônicos do naufrágio são descritos. Parece que este barco costeiro (14,60m de comprimento x 4,60m de largura) foi contraído segundo o modo “Skeleton first carvel”. 4 - Uma tipologia dos pregos que uniam as pranchas à proa e à popa foi feita. 5 - 0 ambiente geomorfológico foi estudado para reconstruir as características do rio Charente na alta Idade Média e para explicar os diferentes estágios da formação das ruínas.

This paper results from the application of a systematic program on the excavations in the site of Água Limpa, Monte Alto, State of São Paulo, a project called “Turvo”. The site of Água Limpa is wide open, with one stratigraphic level - the litho-ceramic, dated by TL in 1524 B.P. It has been excavated by the method of “Wide Surfaces”. Field work showed dark spots, remains of burnt material (coal), one area where primary burials were found out of urns, secondary burials and evidences of fauna. This paper aims to report the structures of combustion and food remains in the site of Água Limpa and relate this presence with the documentations of fauna. Based on this correlation we intend to infer the type of populations which inhabited the place and their pattern of subsistence. The analysis of the food remains associated with the vestiges of fauna showed that the local population had a pattern of living related to horticulture, manufacturing of ceramic, collecting of fruit and small animals, hunting and fishing; the last one less frequently. Results also indicated the presence of a large amount of bones, teeth and both dermic and shell fragments in this site. This population used in their daily life vertebrates (Pisces, Reptillia, Mammalia) and invertebrates (Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Crustacea), not only as food items, but also as ornaments and tools. Many of these fragments present traces indicating the manufacture of artifacts, besides the wear marks. These data elucidate the alimentary habits of the local ceramic-horticulturalist population.

This study treats about the faunal composition of the sambaqui’s sediments and shows some aspects about its formation. The analysis exposed by the searchers try to show two different moments in the construction of this site, moments with different kinds of shell deposition. The analysis of other elements, the fish bones, gives other ideas about the kind of fishing used by the mound builders. The similarities with the COSIPA shell mounds seem to reforce some hypothesis about the way of life of this prehistoric group.

We discuss some current ideas and concepts concerning African masks in catalogues and exhibitions. Outside of their context of origin and incorporated in the universe of collections, what do the “antelope masks”, “masks which represent a mythical being” mean? How could we explain, in a few words, the meaning of “ancestor mask”? Reflecting upon that under an aesthetic-anthropological perspective, as well as from the perspective of one who is seeing them for the first time, we present twenty wooden African masks, most of them unpublished, now at the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade de São Paulo asset.

Starting from a preliminary study of the vessels of grès from the middle of XIX Century found in the “Jardim das Princesas”, Museu Nacional of Rio de Janeiro, it becomes necessary to investigate the area, in the attempt to rescue, through material vestiges, the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of social groups that there lived. For these, archaeological researches were made, involving digging out and analysis of the material found, among other activities, and resulting in the reconstitution of some vessels then utilized.

This article discusses the Central-West Brazil as a confluence area for population and/or cultural information movements from surrounding cultural areas. These movements seem to have had a great influence in the very formation of the Central-West agricultural societies, as well as in their historical evolution. This work has been performed not only through systematic review of the bibliographic information, but also involved careful re-evaluation, by means of multivariate statistical methods, of data and collections from 47 outstanding ceramic sites from that area.

This paper intents, considering the informations about corporal paint between pré-colonial Guarani and the diversity of geometric designs applyed in theirs vessel pottery, to demonstrate the interpretative potencial of the graphic signs present in the archaeological pottery material. In the ethnographic analogy and in the mythical universe, try to look for the symbolical contents expressed through the painted design pattern in pottery vessel.

The Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego - Argentina - southeast tip was archaeologically almost unknown till the middle 1980’s, when systematic research began. This area was historically inhabited by the Haush, a group without a clear ethnic status. The different positions about them are summarized. The ethnographic information available and the data from the faunal resources - guanacos {Lama guanicoe), sea lions, birds and mollusks - are adjusted to postulate a subsistence and settlement model for the area - known as Peninsula Mitre. It is applied for the Rancho Donata archaeological locality, and then it is compared with other Tierra del Fuego pedestrian hunter-gatherers models. Logistical strategies for guanaco hunting seem to be more efficient yearlong. During the fall-winter semester, sea lions hunting took place within the camp range - ca. 5km from the coast. The spring-summer semester base camps movement appears to be first associated with bird and fish procurement and then to sea lions hunting.

Charcoal analysis is the taxonomic and quantitative study of charcoal remains found in soils or archaeological deposits, based on plant anatomy. This discipline may provide both ethnoarchaeological and palaeoecological evidences. In this paper we present its methods and possible applications, as well as a few examples. We suggest that important results may be expected from charcoal analysis applied to brazilian archaeology.

This report presents the aims and ongoing progress of the ERC-funded project “Re-Evaluating the Eleventh Century through Linked Events and Entities” (Grant #101002357). We introduce the rationale for the project and the innovative solution for recording historical data that we have developed, known as the STAR model. We then give details of the four case studies undertaken in the project, which will shed new light on the movement of people, the understanding of place and space, and the production of texts within and among Christian societies of the eleventh century. Through the work of this project, we hope to be able to represent, examine, and illustrate the multiplicity of perspectives and interpretations that arise in the history of a century that was so pivotal to the development of the modern Near East and Europe.

This paper aims to enhance our knowledge about late-medieval epidemic outbreaks in specific parts of Eastern Central Europe. The first part on modern-day Eastern Germany discusses narrative evidence and its use in the current research on plague history, before bringing in municipal records on testaments and conveyances from Görlitz and Stralsund for the reconstruction of seasonality and mortality rates, as well as funeral inscriptions and pictorial evidence from Erfurt as indirect indicators of plague waves. After a brief discussion of the scarce narrative sources, the second part of the paper concerning Bohemia works with the evidence of the Libri Confirmationum, a source originating from the chancellery of the archbishops of Prague. Every new appointment to a benefice was supposed to be approved by one of the vicars general of the archbishop, and this confirmation usually gives the reason for the vacancy. Expanding on Eduard Maur’s research, death statistics and their frequency are analyzed statistically. The paper provides insight into new evidence for the reconstruction of plague waves, mortality rates and seasonality, and thereby highlights the characteristics of the plague in Eastern Central Europe.

History writing has already processed the political history of the Principality of Transylvania, clarifying many of its details. Nevertheless, the way state administration functioned, including the judiciary, is still very much a mystery, although understanding the framework of everyday life is vital in investigating past ages.

The study examines contemporary perceptions of the emergence and spread of the plague in Central and Eastern Europe following the Battle of Belgrade in 1456. On one hand, the Battle of Belgrade represents a significant Christian victory in the conflicts with the Ottomans during the fifteenth century. Consequently, it was utilized in crusade-related propaganda discourse and perceived as a divine blessing for the anti-Ottoman crusade. On the other hand, some prominent figures such as John Hunyadi, John of Capistrano, and Serbian Despot George Branković died shortly after the event due to the outbreak of the plague during the battle. The research aims to explore how contemporary historical sources handled this duality between the sense of triumph and the plague outbreak. It provides an overview of the areas affected by the plague due to the movement of armies and the political and economic connections between different parts of East and Central Europe. The study investigates whether and to what extent reports of the plague from the region link the Battle of Belgrade to the outbreak of the disease. Additionally, it analyses fifteenth-century sources related to the battle itself. This segment of the research examines representations of the plague outbreak, particularly the infection and death of the aforementioned Christian leaders. The research focuses on how the discourse on the plague is interpreted in relation to narratives of heroism, martyrdom, and sainthood, addressing aspects of adaptation, marginalization, and the complete omission of mentions of the plague in these interpretations.

The paper briefly describes the basis of the constitution of the Principality of Transylvania, the union of Estates. Among the antecedents, it reviews the late medieval alliances of the Estates that were made by the nations (nationes) living in Transylvania, highlighting that the three ‘political nations’ were not nations or ethnicities in the modern sense, but rather were separated by their privileges and legal status. Based on Latin and Hungarian sources, the author reveals the covenants as renewed in the Articles of Law and emphasized that the concept of Union was broadened in the seventeenth century so that it no longer served only to support the unity of the state but also guaranteed the maintenance of the privileges of the Estates. The most precise interpretation of the Union was set out in the Approbatae Constitutiones, a collection of laws compiled in 1653.

The paper discusses the changes in Székely society during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The topic is presented from a legal historical perspective because the scholarly literature has either paid no substantial attention to the legal framework of the early modern era or failed to utilize the sources relevant for Székely society. By re-examining already known sources and analyzing new ones, i.e., judicial proceedings, testimonies, contract and personal letters, it appears that the main turning points of the history of Székely society have been misinterpreted in some aspects, and a series of new questions have emerged that are yet to be answered.

The paper describes the organization of the independent Transylvanian central court of law, the so-called Royal/Voivodal/Princely Table (Tabula) and its court of appeal, the court of personal presence (personalis presentia), in the light of the modest secondary literature, dietary decisions, and archival sources. Manuscript and published sources of law referred to in the course of litigation in the Transylvanian Royal/Voivodal/Princely Table (Tabula, Curia) in the second half of the sixteenth century are also presented. Based on the analysed archival sources—mainly the various allegationes lawyers made—it may be concluded that different sources provided the grounds that were frequently given for the court decisions. The analysis of available sources shows that, besides the Tripartitum, which was mostly referred to, during the litigations lawyers generally used the laws of the Hungarian Kingdom, and that the Decreta of the Transylvanian diets and the Table judged some cases according to their own custom.

Western scholarship has studied the mid-fourteenth-century cataclysm of the Black Death for centuries. In contrast, due to the limited number of contemporary narrative sources, in East Central Europe, until recently historians discussed it only marginally. In the past decades, not independent of the emergence of new methods, such as archaeogenetics and palynology, and novel approaches to studying the Black Death such as climate and environmental history, scholars have increasingly turned to the analysis of the multiple waves of the second plague pandemic in this region. Recent studies have drawn attention to the apparent lack of data on the Black Death in the region while pointing to the potential role of the later waves, such as the pestis secunda and tercia, as well as later medieval and early modern recurrences of the epidemic in the historical demography of Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary. The paper provides an overview of the written evidence of the Black Death in Hungary and publishes in extenso some of the most important documentary evidence of the episodes of the epidemic in the Kingdom of Hungary. It argues that, unlike in the case of Bohemia and Poland, the first wave of the plague can be relatively well pursued by a critical analysis of the written evidence.