Metro excavation unearths clues to São Paulo's lost urban quilombo

Deep beneath the construction site for São Paulo's new orange metro line, workers have uncovered brick structures that may finally offer physical proof of something the city has largely forgotten: that an urban quilombo once existed here, in the heart of what is now the Bixiga neighborhood, a place better known for its Italian heritage than for the Black community that occupied it generations ago.

The excavation, part of a metro extension that will eventually connect the northern zone to the central Liberdade district, sits near Praça 14 Bis in the Bela Vista district, roughly a kilometer from Avenida Paulista. The work is happening on land where the Vai-Vai samba school once stood before the property was seized for the project. What the diggers have found—two substantial brick structures buried four meters down—may indicate where a creek called Saracura was channeled underground, likely in the mid-twentieth century. But the real significance lies in what those structures suggest about displacement: that the descendants of enslaved people who may have settled along the creek's banks in the nineteenth century were pushed out as the city expanded and modernized around them.

The artifacts emerging from the site tell a partial story. Hundreds of items have been recovered—clothing fragments, ritual objects associated with African-rooted religions, everyday tools—the material traces of a community that left few written records. Danilo Nunes, a historian and geographer who oversees the federal heritage institute IPHAN in São Paulo, explains that infrastructure projects like this one have historically been instruments of displacement. The structures found here may help confirm where the quilombo actually stood and how urbanization forced its residents away. But Nunes is careful: the evidence is suggestive, not yet conclusive. The brick structures prove nothing definitive on their own.

What troubles IPHAN officials, however, is how these discoveries are being handled. A federal inspection report from November documented serious problems with preservation. Since August of the previous year, the structures had been partially exposed, then covered with sand and a geotextile mat—a fabric normally used for soil drainage. IPHAN found no authorization for these procedures. An October inspection noted that the archaeological site was in a state of "total abandonment." The construction company, Acciona, and the line's operator, Linha Uni, contracted an archaeological firm called A Lasca to manage the site. A Lasca responded that the site has been under continuous monitoring and that the protective mat was necessary during heavy rains—standard preservation practice. The justifications were filed in the official record.

But the local community, organized through the Mobiliza Saracura/Vai-Vai movement, sees something different: a lack of transparency and a failure to include residents in decisions about their own neighborhood's history. Luciana Araújo, part of the movement, acknowledges that dialogue with IPHAN has improved since the federal government changed hands, particularly with the formation of a commission that includes local residents. Yet progress feels glacial. The commission was only established in December 2023 and has held just two meetings with metro and state officials. One of the community's main complaints is the slow release of images documenting the hundreds of artifacts found. A Lasca argues that cleaning the pieces and conducting rigorous scientific analysis takes time. IPHAN agrees that archaeological work moves at its own necessary pace.

The real challenge ahead may be even more daunting than documentation. The brick structures sit four meters deep in terrain prone to flooding and structural instability from the weight of surrounding buildings. Preserving them while construction continues will require work that crosses from archaeology into engineering—procedures that push beyond what standard excavation can accomplish. Nunes acknowledges this will be the most difficult phase. Linha Uni has stated in writing that all necessary measures have been taken to protect the archaeological heritage and that all parties remain committed to responsible construction in strict compliance with IPHAN regulations. What remains to be seen is whether that commitment will extend to the transparency and community involvement that residents have been demanding since the digging began.