Formation processes of the archaeological record can be identified through ethnoarchaeological researches. Ethnoarchaeology uses etnographic analogies, mostly from observation of aspects of contemporaneous behavior, aiming to study the archaeological remains and their relation with this behavior. The State of São Paulo has been recognized as a frontier between different precolonial ceramic groups, and archaeologists try to better understand the Guarani occupation, specially at the Paranapanema valley, in the southern part of the state.Comparisons between etnographic informations and archaeological remains are being made, as the identification of the Guarani big houses to the black earth found at archaeological sites, and the set of these antropogenetic soils to the settlements. The understanding of precolonial Guarani occupation has been modified by archaeologists using etnographic data, while studies about the relations between Guarani and other groups, like Jê, are under way.
archeological site; archaeology; ethnoarcheology; Guarani occupation