This research aimed contributing to the understanding of the settlement pattern of sambaqui dwellers who occupied the Saquarema lagoonar system (Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil) between 6600 and 1500 cal years BP. It considers the premise that studies of continuity and change are the base to the development of regional synthesis. The model developed presumes that two factors, environmental change and intersocietary contact, have influenced the processes of sociocultural change in the sambaqui society. From this point of view, it is suggested that, although sambaqui people shared common characteristics that allowed them to keep an identity, sambaqui groups presented differences between each other, which resulted from a long adaptative process. This identitary character may be recognized in their settlement pattern, in which social relationships were established in relation with the Saquarema Lagoon. However, gradual changes in the availability of malacological resources induced the reinforcement of some groups over the others. Better-adapted groups, represented by the occupants of sambaquis Saquarema and Pontinha, have established contacts with ceramists related to Una tradition, who occupied Ilha dos Macacos. This contact is attested by the characteristics of the technological apparatus (absolute predominance of flaked artifacts), by the adoption of new funerary practices (cremation, manipulation of human bones) and by the concomitance of occupations. Around 2000 cal years BP, this contact, associated to a process that had already been developing inside the sambaqui system, marked the beginning of the collapse of the sambaqui society in the Saquarema lagoonar system. KEYWORDS Cultural change-settlement system-sambaqui society-intersocietal contact-collapse SUMÁRIO LISTA DE ILUSTRAÇÕES LISTA DE GRÁFICOS LISTA DE QUADROS INTRODUÇÃO CAPÍTULO 1-ENCAMINHAMENTO DA PESQUISA 1.1 Hipótese 1.2 Pressupostos teórico-metodológicos 1.2.1 Os modelos pescador-coletor 1.2.2 Continuidade e mudança: proposta para um modelo de pescador-coletor 1.3 A área de pesquisa: a Região dos Lagos e o Complexo Lagunar de Saquarema 1.3.1 Complexo Lagunar de Saquarema: caracterização das lagunas e lagoas 1.3.2 Fisiografia 1.3.3 Geologia 1.3.4 O nível relativo do mar 1.3.5 Vegetação CAPÍTULO 2-ARQUEOLOGIA DE ASSENTAMENTO, MUDANÇA SOCIAL E CONTATO INTERSOCIETAL: UMA REVISÃO BIBLIOGRÁFICA 2.1 Arqueologia de assentamentos 2.1.1 Padrão de assentamento e sistema de assentamento: apresentando conceitos 2.1.2 Estudos de arqueologia de assentamento no Brasil 2.2 Mudança sociocultural e contato intersocietal 2.2.1 Os estudos de mudança sociocultural em contexto nacional CAPÍTULO 3-CONTEXTO ARQUEOLÓGICO REGIONAL 3.1 A Região dos Lagos 3.1.1 As pesquisas arqueológicas no Complexo Lagunar de Araruama e na Planície do Rio São João 3.1.2 As pesquisas arqueológicas no Complexo Lagunar de Saquarema CAPÍTULO 4-OS SÍTIOS ARQUEOLÓGICOS DA ÁREA DE ESTUDO 4. 1 A definição da amostra 4.