From funerary taphonomy to mortuary practices: a case study of the archaeological site Caixa d\'Água (Buritizeiro - MG)

The mortuary practices of the human groups that inhabited Central Brazil, during the middle Holocene, are still largely unknown by Brazilian Archeology, due to the scarcity of sites from this period. The Caixa D\'água archaeological site, located on the banks of the São Francisco River, in the municipality of Buritizeiro (MG), is an important exception, as it has dozens of skeletons putatively dated to the middle Holocene. In the present work, this material was studied from the perspective of Funerary Taphonomy. Skeletons were diagnosed for sex and age using osteological markers. A database in binary matrix format with the information recorded in the field and in the laboratory of the burials was created. The information was interpreted from the point of view of Funerary Taphonomy. These data were analyzed using multivariate statistics to identify funerary patterns. The correlation between funerary organization and the material culture associated with skeletons was investigated. (AU)