Genesis and occupancy of a shell midden on Paraná State coast, Brazil

The publications related to pedological characterization of shell middens are rare, and there are no comprehensive studies. The objective of the present study was to understand habits and intensity of seasonal human occupancies and genesis of stratigraphic levels of an archaeological site on Paraná State coast, Brazil. The formation of the shell midden by hunter–fisher–gatherer groups over thousands of years followed only a few patterns of interaction with the environment, which would facilitate the studies of correlations with other middens of the Brazilian coast. In addition to strategies of searching food, the Amerindian also diversified their activities to improve life quality, including cooking certain foods and the placement of insulating material on the midden. The evolution of the genesis of layers was much more dependent on the depositional period than the post-depositional interval. During the post-depositional period, only the formation of silicate in the clay fraction of the more superficial layers was favored.