NOTE IN DEFENSE OF ´S ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE

The Society for Brazilian Archeology (SAB) is a private, non-profit, civil association of scientific nature of 40 years, which aims to bring together archaeologists and other specialists dedicated to teaching, researching and practicing archeology and related fields, and to promote knowledge and dissemination of subjects related to archaeology and archaeological heritage.

This Friday (05/22), the Society followed the manifestations of the President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the Minister of the Environment, , and the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, during the ministerial meeting held on April 22, 2020 – the very day Brazil was celebrating 520 years of “being discovered” by Portugal –, and was perplexed, especially by manifestations regarding Brazilian Archaeological Heritage.

The President of the Republic mentioned archaeological research conducted in compliance of environmental review and cultural resources in such a manner that he demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge about the processes and absolutely no concern about the cultural heritage left by the diverse societies that inhabited the land that we now call Brazil. According to the President “IPHAN stops any construction project in Brazil, as Luciano Hang's was stopped. When there is only a petrified poop of an Indian, they stop the construction, darn it!”.

The National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN), an independent federal agency, now located within the Ministry of Tourism, is responsible for the preservation of the Brazilian Cultural Heritage and, thus, for the archaeological heritage. IPHAN is responsible for protecting and advocating for the country's cultural assets, ensuring their permanence, visibility, and availability for present and future generations. The Institute is solely responsible for issuing permits that allow archaeological research to be carried out by archaeologists in accordance with the Law no. 13,653, of April 18, 2018, and, as well as, for monitoring the scientific quality of these studies in both the spheres of academic research and compliance for Environmental Review and Permitting.

The Minister Ricardo Salles, meanwhile, proposed taking advantage of the press's focus on the coronavirus pandemic to "go through the cattle and change all the rules (...) the [Ministry of the] Environment is the most difficult, to pass any legal changes in terms of infrastructure, regulations and ordinances, because all we do is presented to the Judiciary the next day. So, for this we need to make an effort here, while we are in this moment of tranquility in terms of press coverage, because they only talk about Covid, and go on passing the cattle and changing all the laws and simplifying the rules. From IPHAN, from the Ministry of Agriculture, from the Ministry of the Environment, from this and that ministry. Now it is time to join forces to reinforce simplification [of all the procedures]".

In addition, the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub declared during the ministerial meeting that he hates the term indigenous peoples. “I hate the term indigenous people, I hate this term, I hate it. Or Romani people. There is only one people in this country [...] it is the Brazilian people [...] finish this business of peoples and privileges".

Brazilian Archaeological Heritage, to which current and future generations are entitled, is protected by Brazilian laws, as stated in the 1988 Constitutional Charter (Articles 20, 23, 24, 30, 215, 216), Federal Law no. 3,924 / 1961, Federal Law no. 7,542 / 1986, Federal Law no. 9.605 / 1998 (Chapter 5, Section 4), CONAMA Resolution nº. 001/1986 (Article 6, Point C), and also in International Conventions to which Brazil is a signatory, such as the New Delhi Charter (1956), Paris Recommendations (1962, 1968), Venice Charter (1964), Lausanne Charter (1990), Charter for the Protection and Management of Archaeological Heritage (1990), Sofia Charter (1996), all approved by UNESCO.

Archaeological remains are unique and non-renewable assets that belong to all Brazilian society. Archeology is the social science that studies, par excellence, the objects left by countless societies that inhabited and inhabit different regions in this country, aiming at understanding their transformations over the years. Archaeological research can be carried out by academics or as cultural resource management, that –accounts for the vast majority of projects.

Given these facts, insinuating the flexibility of any procedure related to environmental review and permitting or reducing the Brazilian Archaeological Heritage to “petrified poop of an Indian”, connotes not only a rupture with the Federal Constitution, international agreements and other established legislation. Furthermore, it is an attack on the Brazilian Archaeological Heritage, that is very unique, non-renewable and irreplaceable in its particularity, and that is essential for the strengthening of identities and the recognition of social processes of inequality and domination. The protection of the Brazilian Archaeological Heritage is a noble task of the Brazilian State and should be among the primary concerns of administrators across the country. The Brazilian Archaeological Heritage is a collective asset, and the right to its access and preservation is an essential obligation of the State.

The history of the territory that we now call Brazil, goes far beyond the arrival of Pedro Alvares Cabral in 1500. This land has at least 25 thousand years of history of habitation by indigenous peoples. Most of this history is told through the material traces of the culture, studied by archaeologists, since records made in writing in historical documents, written in the perspectives of the dominators, account only for the last 500 years of this history. Archaeological remains, that are objects left by different societies and peoples that inhabited and inhabit this part of the planet for thousands of years, are what recount the history of this region – alongside oral history. To deny the existence of indigenous peoples in Brazil is to ignore core historic concepts and disregard the multiplicity of ethnic groups that exist in the Brazilian territory.

For more than a century, archaeologists have heroically carried out thousands of surveys related to archaeological heritage in the land that today is called Brazil. Much has been found and studied, but in a country the size of Brazil, there are still many archaeological sites to be researched and discovered. In fact, even in a country that invests little or devalues science like ours, more than 25 thousand archaeological sites have already been discovered. Day-by-day another country is emerging. Archaeological research tells stories that are not written, giving voice to societies that were marginalized from official Brazilian History.

Some archaeological sites have only been found thanks to compliance archaeology carried out for environmental assessment and licensing of different types of enterprises under established legislation:

• Cais do Valongo - Rio de Janeiro / RJ – a site on UNESCO's list of indications to become a World Heritage Site – found during the revitalization of downtown Rio de Janeiro • Gavião Cave - Carajás / PA – found in a mining area • Sítio Lítico Morumbi - São Paulo / SP – found in a civil construction área • Sítio Portocel - Aracruz / ES – found in a forestry area • Geoglyphs - Acre – found before installation of transmission lines • Pinheiros II Site - São Paulo / SP – found in a civil construction area • Caetetuba archaeological site - São Manuel / SP – a site dating to 12 thousand years ago – found in an area of agricultural expansion • Port of Santos - SP – found dredging of the port’s seabed • Oldest dating for sambaquis in Espírito Santo – found in a residential area • Arraial de São Francisco - Mato Grosso – found in a mining area

SAB believes in valuing and strengthening science as a path to the future. Respecting, understanding, and preserving the remains of our history are essential steps towards that future. SAB repudiates statements that demonstrate total ignorance and contempt for the ethnic and cultural diversity of Brazil, made by leaders who have an obligation to ensure the protection of the environment, archaeological heritage, and the integrity of traditional peoples.

Teresina, May, 23, 2020.

www.sabnet.org