UCL Andean Conference (2015)

This article explores the relationship between craft production, exchange, and power in the pre-Incaic Andes, with a focus on recent archaeological evidence from Chavin, Nasca, Tiwanaku, Wari, and Moche. I argue that craft production and exchange in concert with materialized ideologies played vital roles in the development of political power in the Andes. In later state societies, craft production, exchange, and materialization were critical in maintaining and legitimizing established political power.

Journal of Archaeological Research , 2019

Metal production in the prehistoric Andes entailed an array of political, economic, and ritual relationships that are increasingly the focus of archaeological investigation. One theme directing recent research is the link between metallurgy and political organization, including the origins of metal production, its relationship to socio-political complexity, and how shifts in the organization of metal production reflect and shape diachronic political transformations. A second theme is the use of metals to identify and interrogate interregional connections. Patterns in the circulation of different alloys and metal isotopes, as well as the transfer of technology, provide insight into the shifting constellations of economic and political connections maintained by prehispanic Andean populations. A final theme is ritual and meaning in Andean metallurgy, where I explore how the stages of mining, extractive metallurgy, and the production of metal objects added multivalent layers of meaning and value to metal artifacts. Operating in distinct ways across time and space, metallurgy in the ancient Andes could stimulate political complexity, drive geopolitical expansion and the integration of new subject populations, differentiate individuals and groups, connect people to one another and to the landscape, and harness the power of the numinous.

Andean Past 10 (2012), 2012

Historical Archaeology, 2012

The first Spanish silver mines in South America were located in Porco, Bolivia, and while these were rapidly eclipsed by the spectacular output from nearby Potosí, Porco has remained an important mining center until the present. The long-term history of mineral production is embodied in the landscape, which bears evidence of a diverse set of labor practices and technologies deployed at different scales to process ore. A decade of archaeological research at Porco demonstrates the role this landscape has played in mediating the relationship between indigenous workers and the broader political and economic forces that prevailed under the Inka, Spanish, and Republican regimes.

archaeology. Our understanding of the nature of these relationships has been limited by the lack of craft production evidence for many of the exotic artifacts found far from their raw material source. The discovery of an intact sequence (800 -400 cal BC) of refuse deposits at Las Orquídeas, Imbabura, Ecuador, filled with waste from crafting both local and non-local materials provides an unparalleled opportunity to better characterize interregional interaction in the Ecuadorian Late Formative.

International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2020

The aim of this article is to analyze the ore dressing technics present during the peak production period of a silver mine in the Seventeenth-Century Andes, from an archaeological and historical perspective. It is not focused on the silver refinery constructions, or their description and social relationships, which are presented in the specialized literature, but rather on attention to the objects that were necessary for the silver production and to their location. We redefined those constructions, identified their social relations through historical sources and their characteristics regarding this particular period, type of mining camp, stage of the mines' silver production, and the power and labor relations.

This paper explains what Shimada has termed a holistic approach to craft production and illustrates its value by discussing insights gained into the style, technology, and organization of Middle and Late Sicán (ca. AD 900-1,375) mining and copper-arsenic metallurgy. After a brief characterization of the geographical and cultural settings of pertinent research by the Sicán Archaeological Project (1978-present) and the holistic approach, we discuss specific methods and strategies for locating and dating pre-Hispanic mines. Based on our examination of eight mines in the study area that supplied copper oxides and/or arsenic-bearing ores, we offer a general characterization of Sicán mining, emphasizing the integral character of local mining and autochthonous copper-arsenic alloy (also called arsenical bronze) production at nearby smelting sites (six excavated to date). Our analyses of primary context samples of ore and smelting products and by-products recovered at smelting sites show that copper-arsenic was deliberately and locally smelted and that arsenic was derived from scorodite (oxide form of arsenopyrite) and/or weathered sulfide ores available near the surface of local mines. Additionally, we discuss insights gained into careful and sustainable charcoal fuel management and the "modular organization" of metallurgical and other productive activities. (1978-presente) y del enfoque holístico, discutimos métodos y estrategias específicas para ubicar y datar las minas prehispánicas. Basados en nuestra evaluación de ocho minas en el área de estudio que proveían de óxidos de cobre y/o minerales conteniendo arsénico, ofrecemos una caracterización general de la minería Sicán, enfatizando el carácter integral de la minería local y producción autóctona de cobre arsenical en sitios cercanos de fundición. Nuestros análisis de muestras de minerales y productos y subproductos de fundición muestran cómo las aleaciones de cobre arsenical fueron deliberadas y fundidas localmente, y que el arsénico fue derivado de la escorodita (óxido de arsenopirita) y/o minerales sulfuros erosionados disponible cerca la superficie de las minas locales. Adicionalmente, discutimos visiones adquiridas acerca del manejo cuidadoso y sostenible del combustible de carbón vegetal y de la "organización modular" de la metalurgia y otras actividades productivas.

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