Grupo Documento has constructed a legacy in archaeology and cultural heritage over 27 years through applied science and collaborative projects. It has expanded to include heritage management and the natural cultural environment approach. Current projects focus on stakeholder collaboration, local empowerment, planning for sustainable development, and measuring social and environmental impacts at local to international scales. Partnerships with Brazilian institutions like Instituto Rio Itariri, Instituto Olho D'Água, and the "Da Aldeia de Carapicuíba à Cultura de Rua" project apply these principles to promote cultural preservation, social cohesion, and sustainable communities.

1. CONTINUOUS ARCHAEOLOGY: SCIENCE APPLIED TO THE
NATURAL CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
L.D. Dra. Erika M. Robrahn-González

2. 1987 2013
Timeline
Grupo Documento constructed a great legacy in
Archaeology and Cultural Heritage during the past 27
years through Applied Science. Since than, It has
gradually expanded its offering to Heritage Management
and Natural Cultural Environment.

3. Collaborative Ecosystem
ArqueoParque

4. Project Design
Think Tank
Documento Cultural

5. THINK
TANK
CONTEXT
APPLIED
SCIENCE
PUBLIC
POLICY

6. THINK
TANK
CONTEXT
APPLIED
SCIENCE
PUBLIC
POLICY
Project Development in: Stakeholders Mediation, Local
Empowerment, Collaborative Management, Planning and Natural
Cultural Environment.
•Local, Regional and International Parameter Measuring
•Knowledge Ecology
•Applied Collaborative Science for Context transformation
THINK
TANK

7. THINK
TANK
•Social Demand
•Natural Cultural Environment Approach
• Development Strategy
•Sustainability Initiatives
CONTEXT
THINK
TANK
CONTEXT
APPLIED
SCIENCE
PUBLIC
POLICY

8. Brazil
Local
Context World
Globalization
Cultural
DiversityEcosystem
Cultural
Occupation
Social-
Environmental
Issues
Idiosyncrasies
Heritage
Social
Organizations
Process
Transformation
Simultaneity
Territories in
Transformation
Multicultural
Territories
Collaboration
for Knowledge
Search for
Sustainable
Models
Regional
Disparities
Communication
Transformation

9. • Cultural Diplomacy Advocacy
• Management Planning
• Territorial Management
• Cultural Risk
• Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development
THINK
TANK
CONTEXT
APPLIED
SCIENCE
PUBLIC
POLICY
THINK
TANK

10. Conceitos
Utilizados
Natural Cultural Environment: It represents
the combination of the natural physical
environment and man made landscape
through time. Culture and Environment are
thus inseparable and are responsible for the
social-natural processes formed by the
totality of physical and cultural phenomena of
a landscape.
Collaboration: Development of
practices in identification,
protection, recovery and support
of Heritage shared Scientific and
Communities in a coordinated
way. It demands the
comprehension of Cultural
Heritage as dynamic and
integrated to society as
fundamental for the
maintenance of social cohesion
and culture preservation.
Consilience: The capacity of performing
transversally thru disciplines and
communities developing what is know as “Life
Science”. Natural Cultural Environmental
development then searches for the essence
and common ground between disciplines in a
holistic manner.

11. Resiliência: Resiliência originalmente se
refere à propriedade que tem alguns
materiais de acumular
energia quando exigidos ou submetidos à
pressão, sem que ocorra ruptura. Resiliência
para a física é, portanto, a capacidade de um
material voltar ao seu estado normal depois
de ter sofrido tensão. Este termo também
tem aplicação em economia e ecologia,
onde se refere à capacidade de recuperação
de um ambiente frente a um impacto como,
por exemplo, uma queimada. Assim, o
conceito de resiliência exibe grande
correlação com a capacidade de um sistema
permanecer enquanto tal, ou seja,
sobreviver. Sua importância deriva do
esforço da ciência em compreender a
grande estabilidade e longevidade de alguns
sistemas, enquanto outros caminham muito
mais rapidamente para o colapso ou
ruptura.
Sustentabilidade: a viabilidade de
serem mantidas relações
socialmente definidas entre a
natureza e a comunidade durante
longos períodos de tempo.
Paisagem Cultural: Lugar onde diferentes
sociedades humanas interagiram através
de seu conhecimento, ou ainda, de sua
“sabedoria ambiental” . É, assim,
formada por diferentes assinaturas
antrópicas deixadas pelas comunidades
ao longo do tempo e resultando em um
conjunto/design único, indissociável e
em perpétua evolução que necessita de
uma abordagem integrada e
transdisciplinar

12. Inter and Trans-disciplinarity: Are well
recognized practices in education and
correspond to contemporary knowledge
(MORIN). Both traditional educational
systems and large scale communication
networks follow this tendency with
positive results.
Cultural Heritage Management. Consists in the liaison between
scientific research findings and application of concepts with current
local Public Policy. Scientists´ social role, then, make them develop
projects that involve the interpretation of culture as a dynamic and
continuous process and not the history of the “other”.

13. THINK
TANK
CONTEXT
APPLIED
SCIENCE
PUBLIC
POLICY
Project Development in:
Stakeholders Mediation,
Local Empowerment,
Collaborative Management,
Planning and Natural
Cultural Environment.
•Local, Regional and
International Parameter
Measuring
•Knowledge Ecology
•Applied Collaborative
Science for Context
transformation
•Social Demands
•Natural Cultural
Environment Analysis
•Social Issues
•Entrepreneurship
• Cultural Diplomacy
Advocacy
• Management Planning
• Territorial Management
• Cultural Risk
• Cultural Heritage and
Sustainable Development
THINK
TANK
CONTEXT
APPLIED
SCIENCE

14. Brazil
Local
TT Projects World
Globalization
Cultural
DiversityEcosystem
Cultural
Occupations
Social-
Environmental
Issues
Idiosyncrasies
Heritage
Social
Organizations
Process
Transformation
Simultaneity
Territories in
Transformation
Multicultural
Territories
Collaboration
for Knowledge
Search for
Sustainable
Models
Regional
Disparities
Communication
Transformation

15. NATURAL CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT PROJECTS
• Scientific praxis and communities knowledge conciliation as support of
social-environmental challenges
• To make Cultural Heritage recognition and identification more democratic
by the observation of the diversity of vision and interpretation
possibilities.
• Develop heritage identification, protection, recovery and stimulation
practices, shared by academia and communities in a coordinated and
solidary way.
• Acknowledge Cultural Heritage as dynamic and integrated to society as a
fundamental element for the maintenance of culture preservation and
social cohesion.
• Adopt the principle: Only local community involvement in Cultural
Heritage projects allows Project sustainability and maintenance

16. Brazilian Institutions Partnerships
- Instituto Rio Itariri
- Instituto Olho
D´Água
- “Da Aldeia de
Carapicuíba à Cultura de
Rua” Project

17. Instituto Rio Itariri´s goal is to become a center of reference (hub) for a
diversity of social, cultural, economic and environmental Initiatives in the Vale do Ribeira
region (São Paulo state, Brazil). Access to knowledge and Experience Sharing are its' main
priorities.
Main objective: Provide Access to knowledge and Experience Sharing
The Institute proposes the construction of a Culture Circuit within it´s physical space where
the main region´s initiatives are going to be mapped. The Cultural Circuits going to be
developed by a Cultural Lab where local communities demands are going to be aligned with
the Institute´s principles and propositions. The complementation of Cultural Circuits and
Cultural Labs is ideal for the realization of the Institute´s main objective.

18. Instituto Olho D´Água is a NGO situated in Coronel José Dias Village (Piauí, Brazil),in
the outskirts of the “Serra da Capivara National Park”.
Main Objective: Valorization of memory, tradition and local identity through the use
of the Natural Cultural Environment concept for the promotion of social sustainable
development.
This object is going to be accomplished by the production of research and
development of projects based in the association of territory and memory integrating
material and immaterial heritage.
The Institute proposes the local culture valorization also by fostering initiatives that
strengthen communities cultural manifestations, traditional knowledge, territorial
organization and socio-political networks.

19. Da Aldeia Carapicuíba à Cultura de Rua is a Project developed for local
communities in the Carapicuíba city region (São Paulo, Brazil), comprehending the neighbor cities of:
Barueri, Cotia, Embu, Osasco, Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo (Jaraguá and Perus) and Taboão da
Serra.
Main Objective: Identify, Dimension, and Valorize regional Cultural Heritage through the rescue and
link with local history
For that, it is expected that a collaborative research is going to be made, joining Cultural Heritage
scientists and local community individuals. The research's results are going to bring an integrated
perspective in the history that transformed an indigenous settlement in urban neighborhood and it´s
resulting cultural metamorphosis.
The concept of Natural Cultural Environment will also guide de actions in this projects as a reference
for collaborative knowledge construction and social sustainability, which means the communities´
capacity of maintaining the Project in a independent and collaborative way.

20. Thank You!