PREHISTORIC POPULATION STUDIES

Abstract

This paper provides an attempted evaluation of prehistoric populations. The Sources employed are the archaelogical sites of the Sambaqui type in Paraná (Brazil). A review is made of research conducted in America focusing studies on indigenous populations prior to contacts with Europeans, and those, which employing archaeological and historical sources, seek to evaluate the population and establish depopulation indexes for the said societies. Based on palaeodemography the paper attempts to show how the structure of European prehistoric populations has been analysed and its relation to the groups culture and society. For Brazilian Sambaquis, the works inc1uding studies on populations are analysed, in the same way that in Paraná, a "quantum" evaluation is also attepted.