Historical Archaeology of Lavras do Abade: An Environmental Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Brazil
- PDF / 510,634 Bytes
- 17 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 12 Downloads / 156 Views
Historical Archaeology of Lavras do Abade: An Environmental Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Brazil Diogo M. Costa Published online: 12 December 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract The Lavras do Abade research is a historical archaeological study about a gold mining village in midwestern Brazil that was destroyed by an environmental conflict at the end of the nineteenth century. This article concerns the history and archaeology of Lavras do Abade and consists of a post-disciplinary intersection of documentary and material sources about the site. In addition, only this type of reconstruction of a long-term event permits the scientific analysis of all the possible causes and consequences of this ecological contention. In this way, historical archaeology can be used to transpose a simple narrow view of the reconstruction of the past and offer insights into understanding similar unrest and group conflict today and in the future. Keywords Environmental conflict . Mining village . Nineteenth century . Brazil
Introduction In 1887, the gold mining village of Lavras do Abade was attacked by the neighboring village of Meia Ponte, what is today, the town of Pirenópolis for two nights and three days. According to local narratives, the Abade's village was destroyed over a water pollution disagreement between the villages. However, the author’s research reveals substantial evidence that the conflict was associated not only with water dispute but also with economic disparities and political struggles between the villages (Costa 2011a). Mining exploration has historically been an enormous source of pollution worldwide and continues to be so today. In developing countries, mining exploration adversely affects natural resources and directly jeopardizes local communities. What this particular historical archeological study reveals is a social conflict with consequences influencing the control and management of natural resources both for this specific place and period and as a useful case study for many societies (Costa 2011b). In this paper, the historical development of mining entrepreneurs in the hinterland of nineteenth-century midwestern Brazil is first presented. A historical description of the protagonists, the people of the mining villages of Meia Ponte and Lavras do Abade in the Pireneus Mountains, is then presented (Fig. 1). The objective here is to illustrate the D. M. Costa (*) Graduate Program in Anthropology, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]
Int J Histor Archaeol (2014) 18:20–36
21
Fig. 1 The location of Lavras do Abade and Pirenópolis City (Costa 2013)
historical context of the environmental conflict to better understand the particularities of a nineteenth-century capital enclave in an agricultural and pastoral economy. The archaeological investigation of an economic disparity and political struggle is presented next, including a description of the archaeological fieldwork conducted and analysis and interpretation of archaeological deposits and structural rem
Data Loading...
