I
went with Dr. Mark Barringer, chairman of the History Department of the Stephen
F. Austin State University (Texas), to visit some old miners’ shelters at a
place called “Café-sem-troco” = “coffee,
but no change”*. The name dates to the time when the federal highway was being
constructed (in the late 1950s/early 60s) as part of the many infrastructure investments
that accompanied moving the Brazilian capital from Rio de Janeiro to the
interior of that country. Brasília was built in the middle of nowhere (as if
Washington DC were to be rebuilt in Oklahoma) – requiring not only a new mega-city
(and preplanned suburbs) but new roads radiating like spokes from a central hub.
Before
I visited Brasília I imagined it was a sparkling metropolis built in a huge
clearing in the Amazon jungle – but it was actually erected on the rolling
plains of open savanna grasslands (locally “Cerrado”)
in central Brazil that lacked only zebras, wildebeests, lions, and giraffes to
be a carbon copy of the Serengeti plains. A bit disappointing – especially
since there are absolutely no animals to be seen – much less uncounted millions
of examples of the African Pleistocene megafauna.
If
you ever get a chance to go to Brasília, don’t. Buy some postcards instead. Dreadful place – a
perfect example of the Jetsons-dream of the midcentury – a fully modern city
built from scratch but planned only for cars – human interactions be damned.
But
I digress…… The region around Café-sem-troco
was intensively mined (by hand) for diamonds in the late 1800s. Extensive
exposures of the conglomerate rocks associated with diamonds are found there,
and every square inch of the land was scoured for precious stones. I read a
report by a state official who visited the area at that time and noted many
makeshift dwellings. Some of them have survived to today.
After
the diamond boom wound down and the new road was built, rock cutters reoccupied
the miners’ shelters for a time to produce cobblestones and paving stones.
The
shelters (tocas) were built under
rock overhangs that provided rustic roofs, and the living areas were defined by
stone walls raised without mortar or plastering. Just a doorway, never a
window; maybe an open cooking hearth, never a chimney (the smoke would escape
through the porous walls); beds would be made from thin poles cut from
saplings, but they quickly rot away.
I
had visited this site many years ago (before there were digital cameras or accurate
GPS coverage) but, being right near the highway, it was a convenient trip to
show off the archaeological features and update my data.
After
the creation of the National Park in 1985, rock cutting dwindled and the
shelters were only used by occasional hunters or hermits/semi-crazies who would
stay for a while before moving on.
I
must note that that the site sits on a hairpin curve that presents a very convenient
place for trucks to overturn. Two huge tandem trailers carrying soybeans have flipped
over in the past 10 or so months – depositing tons of beans into a swampy area of
impeded drainage right at the curve. The result is a huge cauldron of
fermenting beans that will certainly continue to stink up the area for years to
come. Remnants from the crashes, including scraps of canvas and pieces of
plywood, have been incorporated into two of the tocas – adding another chapter to their serial occupation and
modification.
As
these tocas are right along the road
and very near a popular tourist spot (the Mucujezinho River) we hope that the
next stage will be controlled and informative visitation to these historic
features of the diamond mining era.
*Apparently
the old woman who set up the stand to sell morning coffee and snacks to the
workers (and, presumably, after-hours hooch) never had (or hid) any small
change in him - but would gladly discount those monies from the next round of
refreshments.
