Shell mounds
Prehistoric finds.
Isabel Rodrigues Pereira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabel Rodrigues Pereira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabel Rodrigues Pereira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabel Rodrigues Pereira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabel Rodrigues Pereira — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Sambaqui Man Museum in central Florianópolis is devoted to natural and cultural history, with displays of native animals and human artefacts. It is the fruit of years of work by the researcher João Alfredo Rohr, who came to the city in 1941 to teach physics, chemistry and natural sciences and expanded the museum already in his school. Rohr carried out his first field excavation in 1958 and surveyed more than 400 archaeological sites in Santa Catarina through meticulous fieldwork, using techniques that leading archaeologists only described years later; most digs took place in the south of the island. The museum was called the «Museum of American Man» in 1963 and the «Sambaqui Man Museum» from 1964. «Sambaqui» is a Tupi word meaning «shell mound»: heaps of shells and organic matter built up by people along the state's coast and petrified over time. The museum also holds historical items, including a letter signed by Paraguayan president Francisco Solano López in 1864. Check opening times.
Prehistoric finds.
Natural history.
From Solano López.
Central Florianópolis, Santa Catarina
Florianópolis Public MarketThe Public Market is a historic building of two wings separated by an open centr12 minutes walk4.6
Praça XV de Novembro (Florianópolis)Praça XV de Novembro, or «Fig Tree Square» as locals call it, is Florianópolis's13 minutes walk
Hercílio Luz BridgeThe Hercílio Luz Bridge is the symbol of Florianópolis, a city that lies mostly 15 minutes walk4.7A Tupi word for «shell mound», heaps built up by ancient coastal peoples.