Provenance studies of the siliceous sedimentary raw material used by ancient communities are essential to understanding the mobility and exchange networks of these communities. The establishment of the direct procurement territory is the first step to understanding the role of the 'imported' artefacts. In this study, flint cores, flakes, bladelets and debitage from the Chalcolithic settlement of Zambujal (Estremadura, Portugal), recovered in excavations between 1964 and 1979, are analysed.We attempt to identify the local and regional source areas of these stone materials and compare their petrography (facies and microfacies textures). This study demonstrates the importance of employing three scales of analysis in petrographic studies (the macro-, meso-and micro-) to structure and determine flint provenance.Analysis of cortical material shows the relevance of secondary detrital outcrops during the Chalcolithic of the Portuguese Estremadura. Small cobbles were directly collected in both local and regional formations dated to the Palaeogene and Cenomanian, in a large (approx. 40 km) exploration territory, to produce expedient and specialized artefacts (i.e., bladelets). However, a large portion of stone tools from Zambujal made from Cenomanian flint cannot be assigned to local or regional procurement. The unclear provenance of these materials suggests directions for future research.

The mineralogical fingerprint of both archaeological and geological flint, measuring by Raman microspectroscopy the α-quartz, and the minor elements was studied. Quartz crystallinity index, by XRD, was calculated in geological samples. An estimation of the degree of crystallinity through Raman analysis could be used to infer quartz crystallinity in archaeological materials. The evaluation of moganite content allowed a better differentiation among Cenomanian flints from different places. It was possible to confirm the correlation between archaeological microfacies M1-TV with the Torres Vedras Cenomanian flint and warn that the M2 flint preliminary associated to Lisboa region could be from another source area.

A hermenêutica e a pós-modernidade antropológica, como metodologias científicas, ocupam uma parcela significativa na maneira de refletir dos autores pós-modernos, em especial, os norte-americanos, acarretando, consequentemente, uma nova forma de abordagem na relação sujeito-objeto na pesquisa de campo e no estilo etnográfico. Neste trabalho apresenta-se um panorama do fazer e pensar antropológicos pós-moderno americano, abordando os seus principais representantes e analisando os limites e as possibilidades da relação sujeito-objeto na prática da pesquisa de campo e no texto etnográfico. Palavras-chave: Etnografia; hermenêutica; pós-moderno; antropologia; ciência.