Everything built through human physical and intellectual labor carries meaning. It is within physical matter that we find the remains of ancient civilizations, and through these records, we understand their characteristics, the technologies involved, and their social organization. Cities and major urban centers hold layers upon layers of events recorded in their streets, buildings, plazas, and parks. Often, depending on the development of the place, this evidence is gradually erased, disregarded, and altered.
Consequently, communities make great efforts to safeguard their narratives in order to preserve their memory. A recent example of this was the discovery of a set of nine skeletal remains in the Liberdade neighborhood of São Paulo, bringing to light material evidence of the existence of the city's first public necropolis, the Cemitério dos Aflitos, also known as the Cemitério dos Enforcados. This discovery brought to the forefront a broader discussion about the erasure of Black and Indigenous history, not only in the neighborhood but across the city, and spurred a series of academic studies and grassroots initiatives aimed at keeping this memory alive.
