Valongo-Kai archaeological site

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Coordinates: 22 ° 53 ′ 49.6 "  S , 43 ° 11 ′ 14.62"  W.

Valongo-Kai archaeological site
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Cais do Valongo é reconhecido como Patrimônio da Humanidade 06.jpg
Exposed stone paving
National territory: BrazilBrazil Brazil
Type: Culture
Criteria : (iv)
Surface: 0.3895 ha
Reference No .: 1548
UNESCO region : Latin America and the Caribbean
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 2017  ( session 41 )

The archaeological site of Valongo-Kai ( Cais do Valongo ) in the port area of Rio de Janeiro was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 . According to today's usage, it is the extended area of Praça Jornal do Comércio , circumscribed by the streets Avenida Barão de Tefé , Rua Sacadura Cabral and a street front of the Hospital dos Servidores do Estado .

Importance as a world heritage

The quay is the most important ground monument of the arrival of African slaves on the American continent; Despite its size, the slave trade has left few archaeological traces. The Valongo-Kai thus stands for one of the great crimes of mankind and the largest forced migration movement in history (criterion iv). For the Brazilian population, the majority of whom have African ancestors, this place has symbolic significance. Since the site was uncovered, events have taken place here that make the Afro-American tradition visible.

history

Directly on the coastline, on the sandy beach, a mooring was set up between 1811 and 1817, parts of the stone paving, remains of wooden posts and two steps have been preserved. The facility served to make it easier to leave the slave ships. Small boats of various types ( sumacas , patachos and bergantins ) brought the people from the slave ships in groups to this quay, where they entered the mainland. The fact that the effort was made to pave the quay shows the extent of the slave trade carried out via Rio de Janeiro: between 1811 and the ban on the transatlantic slave trade in 1831, it is estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people landed here. (The unpaved stretch of beach has been used accordingly since 1774.)

The structures of the quay were preserved as a ground monument, because they were built over from 1842 by a large, representative quay ( Cais da Imperatriz ). This quay was rebuilt for the arrival of Tereza Cristina de Bourbon , wife of Emperor Pedro II . Between 1904 and 1910, the coastline was shifted 344 meters by landfilling, so that the archaeological site is now in the old town and no longer on the beach.

description

Although there is no line of sight to the sea from the historic Valongo Quay, what the viewer sees are not reconstructions, but the original building fabric, which was protected from changes under the Cais da Imperatriz . The remains of the Cais da Imperatriz (careful paving, stepped street layout, memorial column) dominate the overall impression of the exposed ground monument. Of the three components of the Valongo quay: the paved area of ​​the sandy beach, ramp and stairs, only the first is visible after the excavation has been completed; the other two have been covered again.

The quay included trading houses in which the slaves were offered for sale, a cemetery and a hospital. The remains of the buildings that may still be present as ground monuments are located in the buffer zone (41,698 hectares) and are protected, but not exposed. Most of the houses in the buffer zone, part of the historic old town of Rio de Janeiro, were heavily redesigned in the early 20th century. However, there are also houses that are contemporary with the slave market and give an impression of the architecture of the time, for example Rua Sacadura Cabral 173–175.

Discovery and Exploration

In 1996, finds in Rua Pedro Ernesto 36 showed the location of the slave cemetery ( Cemitério dos Pretos Novos , a euphemism because a funeral did not actually take place); The mostly very young Africans who died on the crossing or shortly after arriving in the port were buried here. It is the largest American slave cemetery with 20,000 to 30,000 burials.

In 2010 the city council of Rio de Janeiro arranged for preliminary archaeological investigations for the Porto Maravilha Project on the Praça Jornal de Comércio. The area was still known in the local tradition as the place where the slave ships were unloaded. The quay was exposed in 2011.

This archaeological site consists of several layers of pavement, the oldest of which, in the pé de moleque style, is identified as the quay for the slave ships. This facility, which was built from 1811, includes the remains of a drainage ditch, the road leading to the quay and two cobblestone steps. These were part of a staircase on which the slaves went ashore.

The pé de moleque paving, typical of the time, served its purpose: without any mortar, the workers laid house stones of various types and sizes directly in the sand, while maintaining the natural terrain profile so that rainwater was drained off well. From the original development of the adjacent street, only a compaction of the soil and a row of four wooden stakes could be determined - too little to interpret the findings (perhaps primitive shelters).

During the excavation of the Valongo wharf, over 400,000 artifacts were found. The African slaves arriving here had practically no material possessions that would represent any value, but they wore pearls and other jewelry made from seed pods, cowrie shells , corals and other materials. The interest of African slaves in jewelry is also documented by contemporary sources and was a possibility for them to see themselves as a person in this miserable situation. These small finds are carefully evaluated. They enable conclusions to be drawn about the regions of origin of the Africans. Some artifacts had magical or apotropaic meaning. Glass beads and the like were probably also given away by slave owners, but reinterpreted by the slaves.

  • Slave market scene, Rua do Valongo (Jean-Baptiste Debret)

  • Slave market scene, Rua do Valongo (Jean-Baptiste Debret)

  • Slave Market Scene, Rua do Valongo (Augustus Earle)

reception

In July 2012, the Valongo Quay was ritually washed, a candomblé ceremony attended by archaeologists and city officials and considered significant by many Rio de Janeiro residents. Since then, the ritual (Lavagem) has always taken place on the second Saturday in July. It is meant to ease the burden of pain and fear that stems from the traumatic experiences in this place.

literature

Web links

Commons : Valongo-Kai Archaeological Site  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b The Valongo Wharf Archeological Site . February 2017, p. 21 .
  2. ^ The Valongo Wharf Archeological Site . February 2017, p. 32 .
  3. ^ The Valongo Wharf Archeological Site . February 2017, p. 33 .
  4. ^ The Valongo Wharf Archeological Site . February 2017, p. 24-25 .
  5. ^ The Valongo Wharf Archeological Site . February 2017, p. 77 .
  6. ^ The Valongo Wharf Archeological Site . February 2017, p. 96-97 .