and centre-west regions. The focus fell on symbols associated with ethnicities that spoke Yoruba, grouped under the Mina 'nation', and the Makua, grouped under the Mozambique 'nation'. In the former, the similarities are found in the parallel, vertical and horizontal lines cut in threes or fours, present in contexts with a significant presence of Africans from the Mina 'nation' in Bahia, Goiás and Mato Grosso. In the latter, short, sinuous lines and concentric semicircles found in the contexts of São Paulo and Mato Grosso reflect the varied presence of the Mozambique 'nation'. For the authors, the reproduction of these marks on ceramic holders represents the creation of these diasporic identities based on pre-existing symbolic references involving appropriation, transformation and recontextualization.