Visibility, communication, and movement among mound-builders on the aquatic landscape of Patos lagoon, southern Brazil

Abstract

In this article, I performed a spatial analysis generated in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment on the scenario of occupation of Moundbuilders (cerritos de Indios) in the estuary of Patos Lagoon, southernmost Brazil. I sought to analyse the intervisibility between the different complexes of archaeological sites in the region, as well as the visibility from the sites to an aquatic mobility route published in previous work. Based on analytical data, ethnohistorical information about communication based on the usage of fire and smoke technology from indigenous groups in the Pampa and archaeological evidence that denotes the agency of the aquatic world in the context of the cerritos, I suggest that the estuary of Patos lagoon would be the focus of visual control of Moundbuilders. The aquatic world in its economic and ideological implications would condition communication, the movement of people and the flow of things and ideas in the Lagoon Landscape.