Copper sources, metal production, and metals trade in Late Postclassic Mesoamerica

Science

Volumn 273, Issue 5283, 1996, Pages 1819-1824

  Hosler, Dorothy ^a   Macfarlane, Andrew ^b  

^a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge   (United States)

^b FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COPPER; METAL;

ARCHEOLOGY; ARTICLE; ARTIFACT; COMMERCIAL PHENOMENA; GEOLOGY; METAL INDUSTRY; MINING; PRIORITY JOURNAL; UNITED STATES;

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; COPPER MINING; HISTORICAL STUDY; METALLURGY; METALS PRODUCTION; METALS TRADE;

CENTRAL AMERICA;

EID: 0029659872     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5283.1819     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. D. Hosler, thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara (1986).
2. _, Am. Anthropol. 90, 832 (1988).
3. _ and G. Stresser-Péan, Science 257, 1215 (1992).
4. D. Hosler, The Sounds and Colors of Power: The Sacred Metallurgical Technology of Ancient West Mexico (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994).
5. R. Brill and J. M. Wampler, Am. J. Archaeol. 71, 63 (1967); Z. Stos-Gale, in Archeologia Delle Attvita Estrattive e Metallurgiche (Quaderni del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti Sezione Archeologica, Université di Siena, Siena, Italy, 1991), pp. 593-627; E. Pernika, Archaeometry 35, 259 (1993).
6. R. Brill and J. M. Wampler, Am. J. Archaeol. 71, 63 (1967); Z. Stos-Gale, in Archeologia Delle Attvita Estrattive e Metallurgiche (Quaderni del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti Sezione Archeologica, Université di Siena, Siena, Italy, 1991), pp. 593-627; E. Pernika, Archaeometry 35, 259 (1993).
7. R. Brill and J. M. Wampler, Am. J. Archaeol. 71, 63 (1967); Z. Stos-Gale, in Archeologia Delle Attvita Estrattive e Metallurgiche (Quaderni del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti Sezione Archeologica, Université di Siena, Siena, Italy, 1991), pp. 593-627; E. Pernika, Archaeometry 35, 259 (1993).
8. 204Pb ratio). In-run precisions were nearly always better than 0.01 % per amu. Measurements were normalized to the National Bureau of Standards SRM 981 and 982 Ll standards; replicate analyses of the same samples (and of different samples from the same deposits) made in different laboratories were consistent within the stated errors. Ore fields enclose the 2σ envelopes of all analyses. Chemical compositions of artifacts were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and neutron activation analyses.
9. The geographical distribution of copper and copper alloy artifact designs and compositional types is well established (1-4).
10. We also analyzed 15 samples from a lead-zinc-silver deposit in the State of Mexico and rock samples from Puebla to establish overall trends (A. Macfarlane and D. Hosler, in preparation).
11. See (33) for tables giving Ll ratios of ores and Ll ratios and chemical compositions of artifacts.
12. J. S. Stacey and J. D. Kramers, Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 26, 207 (1975).
13. G. L, Gumming, S. E. Kesler, D. Kristic, Econ. Geol. 74, 1395 (1979).
14. J. L. Pindell, in Caribbean Geology: An Introduction, S. K. Donavan and T. A. Jackson, Eds. (University of West Indies Publishers Association, Kingston, Jamaica, 1994). pp. 13-39.
15. In ancient Mesoamerica, objects made from metal smelted from mixed ores (such as of copper and silver or copper and lead) typically contain silver or lead in concentrations of >0.50 weight %. Because lead occurs in extremely low concentrations in cassiterite, we maintain that it did not affect the Ll ratios of copper-tin alloys. Intentional copper-tin alloys in Mesoamerica typically contain >1% tin. Tin can occur in chalcopyrite ores to ∼0.40 weight %. Artifacts containing tin in concentrations between 0.50 and 1% were excluded from the plots because they are not intentional copper-tin alloys, nor do they represent disseminated tin in chalcopyrite.
16. F. Valdez and K. Liot, in El Antiguo Michoacan, B. Boehm de Lameiras, Ed. (Gobierno Del Estado de Michoacan and Colegio de Michoacan Zamora, Michoacan, Mexico, 1994), pp. 285-335.
17. H. Pollard, Proyecto los senoríos Urichu, Xaracuaro, y Pareo, 1994-1995, Informe técnico parcial de las temporades de campo 1994 y 1995 al Consejo de Arqueologia, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico (1996).
18. Stone artifacts said to reflect metal processing appear on the surface at La Verde [D. Grinberg, Cienc. Desarrollo 15, 37 (1989)].
19. No evidence exists that El Taviche or Los Ocotes were exploited until recently, although R. Acuña (Relaciones Geográficas del Siglo XVI Antequera, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico City, 1984) mentions that copper was mined at Nexapa, a large region east of these mines.
20. E. Barrett, The Mexican Colonial Copper Industry (Univ. of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1987).
21. D. Hosler, data from archives of Industrial Minera México, San Luis Potosi, Mexico (1982).
22. R. Acuna, Relaciones Geográficas del Siglo XVI, Nueva Galicia (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, 1988).
23. I. Kelly, The Archaeology of the Autlän- Tuxcacuesco Area of Jalisco (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1948); personal communication; D. Hosler, unpublished notes, American Museum of Natural History collections (1980).
24. I. Kelly, The Archaeology of the Autlän- Tuxcacuesco Area of Jalisco (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1948); personal communication; D. Hosler, unpublished notes, American Museum of Natural History collections (1980).
25. M. E. Smith, Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology 4 (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 1992).
26. _, J. Sorrenson, P. Hopke, Obsidian Exchange in Postclassic Central Mexico; New Data from Morelos, unpublished manuscript.
27. See D. Hosler, H. Lechtman, O. Holm, Axe-Monies and Their Relatives (Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, 1990).
28. Artifacts from the Soconusco region come from Acapetagua and Las Morenas [D. Hosler, field notes, Museo Regional de Tuxtla-Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico (1995)].
29. D. Hosler, unpublished notes, Collections of National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, 1993.
30. For Aztec trade, merchants, and markets, see M. E. Smith, The Aztecs (Blackwell, Oxford, 1996).
31. M. Hodge and M. Smith, Economies and Polities in the Aztec Realm (Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, 1994).
32. H. Ball and D. Brockington, in Mesoamerican Communication Routes and Cultural Contacts, vol. 40 of Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation (New World Archaeological Foundation, Provo, UT, 1978), pp. 75-106.
33. R. Matheny et al., Investigations at Edzna Campeche, Mexico, vol. 46 of Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation (New World Archaeological Foundation, Provo, UT, 1983).
34. R. Blanton and R. Feinman, Am. Anthropol. 86, 673 (1984).
35. D. Hosler, in (4), pp. 227-251.
36. Further data are available at Science's Beyond the Printed Page site on the World Wide Web: http://www.sciencemag.org/science/feature/ beyond/ #hosler.
37. Ore sampling was carried out by D.H. with the assistance of Mexico's Consejo de Recursos Minerales. Archaeological sampling was done under permits granted by Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia to D.H. Funding was provided by Grupo México (Industrial Minera México), American Smelting and Refining Company, and Southern Peru Copper, in a grant to D.H. The National Geographic Society funded chemical analyses of Urichu artifacts in a grant to H. Pollard with a subcontract to D.H. We thank these institutions for their support. We thank T. Tartaron, J. Pinson, and G. Roulette for assistance with data processing. W. Powell rendered the map.