In this episode, Dr. João Carlos Moreno de Sousa (Laboratory of Human Evolutionary Studies, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo) takes us through his work in Paleoindian archaeology, prehistoric Brazilian stone tool analyses and science communication.



Hunter-gatherer sites excavated by archaeologists have long been considered to contain either the Itaparica or Umbu traditions of stone tools. This depended on where in Brazil theses sites were located and if their assemblages contained either ‘projectile points’ or lesmas (a lesma is a slug-shaped unifacial tool with one pointed tip and biconvex edges. A closer look at these Paleoindian lithic industries by JuCa and his collaborators has revealed that: (a) these traditional categories of stone tool actually subsumed a greater diversity of lithics than what was known, and (b) there were some industries yet that had yet to be classified under earlier simpler models.

JuCa is also a science communicator and co-creator of online archaeology content on the website, Arqueologia e Pré-Historia, and YouTube channel, Arqueologia em Ação. We speak about his thoughts on archaeology outreach in Brazil, and especially as a response to recent political events and cuts in governmental funding for archaeological research and science.



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Show notes

If you have feedback or questions for JuCa, you can find him on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow his academic output on ResearchGate and Academia.edu. You can also check out his YouTube channel Arqueologia em Ação and the website Arqueologia e Pré-Historia.

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