Discovery of 9,000-year-old treasure ‘could change Brazilian history’

Workers attacked the construction of an apartment complex in northeastern Brazil when they were found with human bones, shards of clay. They were not at the end of their surprise.

Excavations at the site, in the coastal city of Sao Luis, quickly turned up thousands of artifacts that could date back as much as 9,000 years. According to archaeologist Wellington Legg, who directed the excavation, a treasure, “Could completely change the history not only of the region but of Brazil as a whole”. The archaeologist admits he had no idea what awaited him when Brazilian construction giant MRV called on his company W Lage Arqueologia in 2019 to conduct a site survey, a standard procedure before housing construction.

Covered with tropical vegetation and surrounded by the ever-expanding urban fabric of São Luis, the capital of the state of Maranhão, the land stretches over six hectares. During his research, Mr. Legge learned that interesting discoveries had been made there in the early 1970s, including a fragment of a human jaw in 1991. His team quickly found a lot: stone tools, ceramics and bone fragments. The four-year excavation, according to the Brazilian Institute of History and Artistic Heritage (Ifan), yielded 43 human skeletons and more than 100,000 artifacts, which announced the discovery. “magnificent” A few days ago.

“We’ve been working for four years now, and we’ve barely scratched the surface. »

Wellington Ledge

Researchers will now inventory the objects, analyze them in detail before displaying them and publishing their finds. “We’ve been working for four years now, and we’ve barely scratched the surface”, insists Mr. Lage, a 70-year-old native of São Paulo, whose wife and two children are also archaeologists. The first discoveries are already attracting the attention of the scientific community.

Mr Legge explains that his team – now 27 members, including archaeologists, chemists, a historian and a documentarian – has cataloged four different eras at the site. The top layer was abandoned by the Tupinamba people when European settlers founded São Luis in 1612. Then comes a layer of antiquities typical of the people of the Amazon rainforest, followed by the “sambaki”: a pile of pottery, sherds and bones used by certain indigenous communities to build their houses or bury their dead. Still below, about two meters deep, is another layer, left by a group who made rudimentary ceramics and who lived there an estimated 8 to 9,000 years ago.

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That’s much older than the oldest “Sambaki” ever found in the region, which is about 6,600 years old, Mr. Legge points out. Scientists have long debated when and how the first humans arrived in the Americas from Asia. The findings of this expert indicate that they settled in this region of present-day Brazil at least 1,400 years earlier.

Archaeologists are planning further analysis to date the objects more precisely. The site already presents “A Milestone in Brazilian Prehistory”, detailed Ifan in a press release. For this organization, “It bears witness to a long history of human settlement.” in the region, “Revealing the Past” Already documented at some point.

Archaeologist Arkli Bandeira of the Federal University of Maranhao, who is building a laboratory and museum to house the treasure with funding from the MRV group, also points out that the site could provide valuable information about the culture and history of a long-submerged ancient people. . According to him, find this “Plays a crucial role in telling the story of our long history”.