Archaeology of the lower South of Bahia: engenho rio de contas, Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil

The Engenho Rio de Contas is a sugar mill that operated along the river Rio de Contas in Bahia, between the 18th and early 20th centuries. In 2007, the construction of highway BA-001 (Camamu and Itacaré) gave the opportunity to collect and analyze the historical and archaeological data of this facility. This site was analyzed from the notion of “sugar mill” elaborated for the understanding of the productive system and distant from the traditional conceptions minted in the official historiography. Thus, it was interpreted as a large production structure, adapted to the local reality and immersed in a network of production and commerce, with diffuse territorial control.