By Caroline Vieira

In 1835, in the region known as Campo da Pólvora in Salvador, Bahia, four Africans convicted of participating in the Malê Revolt were killed. Their bodies were buried in a common grave in a nearby cemetery for the indigent and enslaved. This statement was written by historian João José Reis and published in the book Inventory of places of memory of the Atlantic slave trade and the history of enslaved Africans in Brazil in 2013. 

The death inflicted on these Africans, considered rebels, becomes even more violent when we learn that they were buried in a common grave, in a cemetery that has been erased from history. At least that was what it seemed until then, when it was announced to the press on May 26, 2025, that preliminary excavations confirmed the existence of bones in the old cemetery of the Africans in Campo da Pólvora in Salvador.r, in Bahia. 

The location was developed as a result of research being developed by Silvana Olivieri. She tells us that the process began as a result of her doctorate in the Postgraduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism at UFBA. and also, from his experience in Candomblé and his involvement with contemporary debates in the fields of philosophy and anthropology, seeking to show how urbanization processes have served what Ailton Krenak calls the “war of worlds”. 

“While doing field research in Belém in May of last year, I learned that there was an old cemetery for enslaved people, indigenous people and the homeless, buried by urbanization. I returned home with a question: would there be a similar cemetery in Salvador, which eu I didn't know? After two weeks of intense investigation, I not only discovered the existence of the Campo da Pólvora cemetery, but I was also able to identify its exact location, information missing from recent studies and historiographical works related to the funeral space.”

“Initially, the evidence was obtained by cross-referencing 18th century maps and plans of Salvador with a satellite image of the area, which was attached to other bibliographic documents (books and magazine articles) that mentioned the fate of the cemetery land after its deactivation in 1844, all indicating that the cemetery was located under the parking lot of the Pupileira Complex, a property of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia, in the neighborhood of Nazaré”, explains Olivieri. 

The researcher reports that there was a long process between locating the cemetery and assembling a commission involving archaeologists. “Together with Samuel Vida, a professor at the Faculty of Law and coordinator of the Law and Ethnic-Racial Relations Program at UFBA, we prepared a dossier gathering all the documentation related to the location of the Campo da Pólvora cemetery and, at the end of July (2024), we sent it to IPHAN, accompanied by a request for institutional support to carry out archaeological research in the parking lot of the Pupileira Complex, in search of the remains of the people buried in the old cemetery,” she explains. 

“Initially, negotiations with Santa Casa to obtain authorization to carry out archaeological research were conducted by IPHAN. Given the difficulties encountered, in December, We also asked for support from the Public Prosecutor's Office of Bahia, more specifically from the Center for the Defense of Historical, Artistic and Cultural Heritage – NUDEPHAC. At the end of March, through a Technical Cooperation Agreement drawn up by four prosecutors from the Public Prosecutor's Office, Santa Casa finally authorized the research to be carried out. Coordinated by archaeologist and anthropologist Jeanne Dias, who had joined us in July, the research - financed by the company Arqueólogos with its own resources - took place between May 13 and 23, 2025, with human bone remains being found in the first two surveys.”

At first, according to information from archaeologist Jeanne Dias, “the research had a diagnostic purpose, that is, to locate the presence of traces of these burials at the site, which was successful on May 19 when we identified human bone fragments from a depth of 3 meters”. One of the greatest difficulties reported by the archaeologist was precisely the enormous density of the landfill, which made it difficult to reach an archaeological layer considered interesting for research.

The first remains were identified on the fifth day, in an area equivalent to approximately three spaces, as the cemetery was also “buried” as a way of hiding this episode in the history of Brazil in Bahia and of the enslaved. With the findings of the research, the cemetery can be identified as one of the largest public cemeteries in Latin America. It is estimated that more than 100 bodies were buried there during the period in which the space was used for this purpose. According to historical sources, the cemetery was first administered by the City Council and, soon after, responsibility was assumed by the Santa Casa da Misericórdia. 

Historically, the existence of this supposed cemetery was known in the Campo da Pólvora area, but the question we ask those involved is the following: Why the delay in identifying, locating and recognizing this space?

Recent studies and historiographical works, explains researcher Silvana Olivieri, which “talked about the Campo da Pólvora cemetery, especially the book Death is a party, by João José Reis, published in 1991 and reissued in 2022, did not reveal its exact location, nor what happened to the place after it was deactivated by Santa Casa in May 1844. This gap in historiography certainly contributed to the delay in finding it. Reis's statement that the remains belonging to the old cemetery were transferred to the new Campo Santo cemetery may also have contributed. Now, if the remains had actually been removed, there would be practically nothing left to find there, with the place losing its archaeological interest. This hypothesis fell apart when we found the remains during the excavations”, contextualizes Olivieri.

“The Santa Casa, in turn, although publicly declaring that it did not know the location of the Campo da Pólvora cemetery, sent us the deed of purchase and sale of Pupileira in December, which states that the property includes “the land that was formerly used as a cemetery”. This allows us to conclude that the institution always knew that the old cemetery was in front of its property, hiding this information from the public by placing a parking lot on top of the dead,” he confirms. 

The discovery of human bones in the Campo da Pólvora Cemetery dates back 150 years of history about this space, which was created in the 18th century. A highly precarious place that revealed how Bahian society viewed those people. The fact is that groups of people were buried without any religious rite. We asked Silvana how the bodies were transported by Santa Casa and if those people could at least be identified. 

Again in Death is a party, one of the main references of our research, João José Reis says that “burials in the Campo da Pólvora cemetery were carried out in common and superficial graves, generally in very precarious and undignified conditions, without any religious ceremony or funeral rite, nor is there any record of a chapel. The bodies were transported to the cemetery in the banguês, simpler and cheaper coffins of the Santa Casa, which held the monopoly of funeral services at the time. Banguê Books, a collection of 11 volumes very well preserved by Santa Casa, brings valuable information about the people taken in the banguês for burial in the cemetery between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, including the ethnicity", adds Silvana. 

"Despite this terrible historical fact, with the discovery of the space, its real location and the completion of the excavations on May 23, the old Campo da Pólvora cemetery was registered by archaeologists in the National Registry of Archaeological Sites of IPHAN as an “African Cemetery”, and is therefore already safeguarded and protected by IPHAN regulations for this type of cultural and historical heritage, and now Santa Casa has the responsibility of preserving it. As soon as the archaeological report is completed, the Public Prosecutor's Office should call a public hearing to hear the black communities of Salvador about the cemetery, and decide what the next steps should be. One of the ideas we intend to discuss at the event is the creation of a memorial/museum, as has already occurred/is occurring with other cemeteries of slaves located in cities such as New York, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo”, concludes Silvana Olivieri. 

Archaeologist Jeanne Dias also hopes that the population will be interested in following the developments following the public hearings mediated by the Public Prosecutor's Office, with the delivery of the final report. For Dias, this type of discovery provides “a settling of accounts with History, generating engagement in Brazilian society and especially in Bahian society, with regard to à discussion about racism and social discrimination. The discovery may also be an opportunity to talk a little more about the history of these individuals during this dark period, a recent period, but one that left its mark on society and that we still feel today. And to think about the formation of a collective memory about black populations that came from Africa and that were inhumanely treated and buried with dignity.” 

Finally, may this important discovery, led by the two researchers, Silvana Olivieri and Jeanne Dias, serve, if not to give dignity to those who were buried as abject beings, to illuminate the present, preventing similar conditions from being repeated in the favelas of Brazilian capitals.


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