PREHISPANIC METALLURGY IN NORTHWEST ARGENTINA (SOUTH-AMERICAN ANDES)

L. R. GONZÁLEZ; G. A. GLUZMAN

Aquilea

Conferencia; Archaeometallurgy in Europe 2007; 2007

Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia

The native societies that in settled the territory of the Northwest of Argentina began to experiment with metals at least two millennia before the arrival of Europeans. The production of metallic objects gained technical and expressive sophistication in line with the growth of complex society. Around the 15th century, coinciding with the incorporation of the region into the Inca Empire, some sectors of the Northwest were prosperous social organizations that covered extensive territories, with agglomerated settlements lodging thousands of inhabitants. The increase of social inequality and of worship activities created an environment for the production of wealth and objects for ceremonial use in which metals occupied a prominent place. This metallurgical tradition was based in copper and its principal alloy, tin bronze.In this presentation we review the trajectory of pre-Hispanic metallurgy in the Northwest, considering its technical and expressive aspects. In particular, we highlight the role of tin bronze as the material selected to produce objects that acted not only as signs of status in the social organizations but also as connective elements with the tutelary deities. We argue, from different lines of evidence, that the metallurgical tradition of the region acquired its own identity in the more extensive landscape of the South-American Andes. This identity was reflected as much in the formal characteristics of the goods produced as in the technical procedures developed.