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Domestic renovation in an old property in Gamboa revealed traces of the Cemetery of the New Blacks, an archaeological site linked to the African diaspora in Brazil, and transformed a common house in the port area of Rio into a space for Afro-Brazilian memory, research, and preservation.
A renovation in an old house in Gamboa, the port area of Rio de Janeiro, revealed under the floor one of the most important archaeological sites linked to the African diaspora in Brazil, in an area marked by the arrival of enslaved Africans to the country.
The property belonged to the couple Ana Maria de la Merced Guimarães and Petruccio Guimarães and concealed part of the Cemetery of the New Blacks, a space used during the colonial and imperial periods to bury enslaved Africans who died shortly after disembarking.
What began as a common renovation within an 18th-century residence changed the property’s trajectory and brought back to the surface a historical memory that had remained buried by the urban occupation of the region.
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During the excavation carried out by workers on site, the discovery of human remains led to the identification of an ancient burial space, covered over time by layers of soil, successive renovations, and constructions built on the land.
Renovation in Gamboa revealed the Cemetery of the New Blacks
According to the Science and Culture magazine, from the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science, the cemetery was discovered by chance during the renovation of the Guimarães couple’s house in Gamboa, an area linked to the old port zone of Rio.
The publication records that archaeologists and technicians found 28 skeletons in the property, as well as artifacts such as glass beads, clay pieces, porcelain, shells, oysters, and traces of bonfires associated with the archaeological site.
More than an old structure hidden under a house, the find revealed a place directly linked to the history of Africans forcibly brought to Brazil and who died before even being sold during the slavery period.
In the language used at the time, these people were called “new blacks,” an expression applied to newly disembarked Africans who arrived in Brazilian territory after the Atlantic crossing and had not yet been inserted into the sales system.
Old house was located in the historic Valongo region
Located in the Valongo area, the house was part of a strip of the old port area of Rio de Janeiro linked to the disembarkation, circulation, and trade of enslaved Africans during the colonial and imperial periods.
This region received a large influx of people brought from the African continent and today gathers landmarks associated with the black memory of Rio, such as the Valongo Wharf and the Institute of New Blacks, both connected to the history of Little Africa.
The impact of the discovery grew due to the contrast between the everyday scene of a residential construction and the historical dimension of what was beneath the floor, hidden for decades within an apparently ordinary property.
Instead of being restricted to the structure of the house, the work revealed a space erased from the urban landscape and once again recognized as a place of memory, research, and education about the African presence in Brazil.
Property transformed from old residence to research space
After the discovery, the house ceased to be just an old residence and began to receive researchers, archaeologists, and technicians involved in the preservation of the site and the analysis of the remains found beneath the property.
From this process, the property became a reference for studies on the African presence in Brazil, the funerary practices of the slavery period, and the physical and symbolic erasure of parts of the history of the black population.
The Cemetery of New Blacks operated in the Valongo region between the 18th and 19th centuries, when Rio de Janeiro held a central position in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans to Brazilian territory.
According to the same source, it is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were buried there, a number that highlights the historical importance of the archaeological site found beneath the floor of the house in Gamboa.
Urban growth covered part of the historical memory
The identification of the cemetery also highlighted a profound change in the occupation of the area, as the lands in the region were divided, occupied, and incorporated into urban growth after the closure of funeral activities.
With the passing decades, houses and other constructions began to cover part of the ancient layers of the land, while the exact location of the cemetery drifted away from public memory and disappeared from the visible landscape.
The case of Gamboa shows how old urban centers can hide, beneath seemingly ordinary properties, decisive records of the formation of a city and historical processes that profoundly marked Brazilian society.
Unlike preserved ruins in plain sight, the archaeological site remained hidden by the very dynamics of the neighborhood’s occupation, which turned the renovation of the house into a turning point for the recovery of this history.
Instituto dos Pretos Novos was born after the discovery
The institutional transformation occurred years after the discovery, when the Guimarães couple created, with the support of friends and family, the Instituto de Pesquisa e Memória Pretos Novos in the same property where the site was identified.
Created in 2005, the space began to function as a memorial museum, research center, gallery, and place for educational activities focused on preserving African and Afro-Brazilian memory in the port area of Rio.
The old house in Gamboa thus gained a public function and began to receive visitors, researchers, students, and teachers interested in understanding the history of Valongo and the African presence in the city’s formation.
Previously invisible under the floor, the discovery became the axis of an institution dedicated to keeping alive a memory that had been buried by urbanization and the historical erasure of part of the black experience in Brazil.
Archaeological find connects domestic work to the history of Brazil
The interest around the site is not limited to archaeological value, because the story connects a domestic gesture, like renovating a house, to a decisive chapter in the social, cultural, and urban formation of Brazil.
When removed during the work, the floor revealed not only material remnants but a territory of memory linked to thousands of people who arrived in the country under conditions of violence and dehumanization.
In practice, the find repositioned the house within the cultural map of Rio de Janeiro and reinforced the importance of Gamboa as part of a region marked by traditions, religious spaces, cultural manifestations, and black memories.
The existence of the Instituto dos Pretos Novos expanded the debate on heritage preservation in urban areas transformed by works, renovations, and successive occupations, especially when these interventions reveal forgotten historical layers.
Discovery under the floor became a reference for Afro-Brazilian memory
The strength of this story lies precisely in how it begins: a renovation, an opened floor, and an unexpected discovery inside a common house in one of the most symbolic regions of Brazilian history.
What seemed like a private intervention revealed an archaeological site of national significance, capable of bringing the reader closer to a past that remained hidden beneath the port area of Rio de Janeiro.
Today, the Instituto dos Pretos Novos functions as a memory space built from this encounter between domestic work and urban archaeology, preserving remnants and stories associated with the African diaspora in the country.
The former residence of the Guimarães couple is no longer remembered solely for the chance discovery and has come to represent a point of preservation, research, and reflection on the African presence in the formation of Brazil.
If a renovation inside an old house managed to reveal such a profound part of Brazilian history, how many other memories might still be hidden beneath the floors of the cities?
