The state’s first inhabitants occupied the territory 9,000 years ago

Anyone who thinks that Maranhão, and in particular the capital, São Luís, was officially occupied by people or “human groups”, as historians define it, in the middle of the beginning of the 17th century, more precisely in the year 1612, with the arrival of the French delegation (as proclaimed in the most recognized versions). Research organized by archaeologists and other scholars in the area indicates that the first inhabitants of the state arrived here approximately 9 thousand years ago. Its characteristics and customs were modified over the centuries, until the arrival of the first colonizers.

To obtain information about the oldest people, it was necessary for research to focus on the history of so-called archaeological sites (places that served as shelter for several of these populations). In addition to the 9,000-year-old discovery, studies point to records of prehistoric populations, dating back approximately 7,000 years, in Imperatriz (630 kilometers from São Luís). These revelations were deepened by research initiated in the state 15 years ago and further developed by institutes specializing in the subject.

Before understanding what characterizes each population, experts point out that one must take into account the aspects that guided the universe at the time. In addition to the physical conditions, which are often less appropriate, the populations still, for the most part, did not contain the appropriate degree of development, whether in social aspects (in the basic concept of socialization) or ideological.

Inland hunters
The first to pass through Maranhão territory were simply called “interior hunter gatherers”. According to the most recent studies on the subject, this population was migratory and survived skillfully on the vast coastline, in the valleys of rivers and lakes, practicing hunting, fishing and specializing in the production of stone artifacts. They still roasted food on fires, as was found in research carried out at Sítio Ranchada, in Joselândia (340 kilometers from the capital São Luís), and consolidated by other discoveries in cities such as Centro Novo do

Maranhão and Bacabeira.
In São Luís, according to research revealed by the documentary “Memória de Pedra”, by journalist and historian Marcus Saldanha, the hunter-gatherers from the interior were the first inhabitants of the Island, and arrived at the territory following the course of the rivers and in search of food, whether hunting, gathering or fishing. On the island of São Luís, there are at least six archaeological sites with remains of this group. The most studied is at Sítio do Físico, in Bacanga State Park, which has already been excavated by several groups of archaeologists.

The sambaquians
Other pre-colonial groups also lived in areas of mangroves and beaches, where they adapted to these environments due to the ease that these populations had in extracting food sources. In these places, close to the coastal regions, explorers discovered ways to make use of the ecosystems there, hunted, collected molluscs and had other habits, such as fishing and building houses.

These populations lived in areas called by researchers, as Deusdédit Leite Filho also calls, “sambaquis” – which centuries later became archaeological sites and were subsequently used for different research. Because of the denominations, populations in these places were known as “sambaquianos”. One of their most peculiar customs was the fact of burying the dead, also in the “sambaquis” areas.

According to the exemplary “Arqueologia do Maranhão”, by Deusdédit Leite Filho and Eliane Gaspar, the so-called “sambaquis” can still be found in the capital of Maranhão – in regions, for example, where neighborhoods like Gapara are currently located – and in cities, such as Tutoia, Alcântara, Guimarães, Porto Rico, Humberto de Campos, Apicum-Açu, Bequimão and Bacuri. Traces of the presence of “sambaquis” characterized as lacustrine (near lakes) are still found in the municipalities of São Vicente Férrer and São João Batista.

One of the first to study the origin and characteristics of the populations of the so-called “sambaquis” was the archaeologist and geographer from Maranhão, Raimundo Lopes. Considered a precursor of archeology in the state, as described by the historian and vice-president of the Historical and Geographic Institute of Maranhão (IHGM), Euges Lima, Lopes developed studies in the area of ​​archeology in the 1910s and 1920s in São Luís and Baixada Maranhense. According to the professor’s research
Raimundo Lopes, the populations that live in the so-called “sambaquis have specialized, over the years, in the production of so-called ceramics” – originating from objects whose raw material is clay associated with ground shells.

One of the midden sites listed by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) since 1939 is Pindaí, located between kilometers 22 and 23 of MA-201, between São Luís and São José de Ribamar. This site is considered of great importance, as “it is one of the first of its kind in the region”, as described by Iphan himself in the institution’s Book of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Landscape Tombo.

The people of the estearias
Another prehistoric group that lived in the territory of Maranhão between 200 and 1000 years after Christ was the occupant of the so-called stearias or “pre-colonial stilt houses” (as cited by professor at the Federal University of Maranhão and coordinator of the Archeology Laboratory, Alexandre Navarro ). These houses were built on the shores of lakes located in cities such as Penalva, São João Batista, Pinheiro, Santa Helena and Turilândia. According to research on these populations, houses were built this way to withstand long periods of rain and to protect against attacks from rival groups.

According to the work of Alexandre Navarro, who studied some of the stearates in Maranhão, a large part of them were located in the area called Sítio Cabeludo, delimited on the Paruá River, a tributary of the Turiaçu River. To arrive at the discovery, according to the research, a fragment of wood was removed from the center of the largest group of supports from each site revealed in the work.

According to Navarro, based on surveys carried out by other authors, there were around 1150 pillars in Sítio Cabeludo alone in an area of ​​approximately 0.74 hectares. Based on work, such as that of researcher Raimundo Lopes, the first radiocarbon dating of a stearia is from approximately 570 BC.

In relation to the populations of the estearias, they were considered developed for the time, made up of skilled fishermen, hunters and horticulturists. During the period of occupation, these populations specialized in the production of utilitarian objects – made of ceramics – and ornaments made of ceramics such as muiraquitãns (frog-shaped stone objects). These pieces were collected by researcher Raimundo Lopes in the Penalva stearias – Lake Cajari – in the last century.
Over time, these objects incorporated elements such as cauxi (a type of sponge), burnt tree bark and clay to give the objects more consistency.

In addition to ceramics, lithic artifacts were found such as polished stone ax blades and other pieces with great complexity in production, which characterizes an ethnic group considered developed at the time. Part of this material is on display at the Maranhão Natural History and Archeology Research Center. “They were not populations with such abstract knowledge. Over the years, it became clear through research that these were groups with a level of knowledge of the world and with much more advanced subsistence conditions than the general public imagines”, highlighted Deusdédit Leite Filho, who is also president of the Center of Natural History and Archeology Research of Maranhão, whose headquarters are located on Rua do Giz, Historic Center of São Luís.

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