The wind turns the lagoon into sea: an ethnoarchaeology of fishing on the north coast of RS

Abstract:

Several fishing communities are currently distributed along the "gaúcho" coast, demonstrating that traditional artisanal fishing still has great importance in the region. However, despite the historical, social, and cultural richness of these communities, there is practically no ethnoarcheological research about these populations. This article is based on the notion of ethnoarcheology, which is a field of study of the material conditions of living populations. On this basis we address questions of mobility, seasonality and the use of space for fishing (fishery) in coastal communities of Rio Grande do Sul. Furthermore, the socio-anthropology of fishing provided what was necessary to understand the socio-cultural dynamic of these groups. Consequently, we adopt the proposal of Antonio Carlos Diegues that fishing is an element of social cohesion, i.e., it builds societies. Therefore, fishing is not only a question of production, but also the relationship of fishermen with their spatial environment. These spaces represent social constructs built through traditional knowledge. Through field observations it was possible to establish a model of utilization of the fishing spaces (fishery) for the region in two distinct periods: the flood period (fall and winter) and the drought period (spring and summer).

Keywords:
Ethnoarcheology; Fishermen; Seasonality.