Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T04:21:58.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Moche Copper Analyses: Early New World Metal Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Arnold M. Friedman
Affiliation:
Chemistry Division, Argonne National Laboratory
Edward Olsen
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History
Junius B. Bird
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Abstract

Eighteen analyses are presented for 12 different Moche copper pedestal cups. Eight of the cups were made from naturally-occurring copper metal ore; the remaining 4 from copper obtained by smelting of complex oxidized ores. The use of both ore types suggests either a matter of convenience or technology in transition. In general, these people possessed a more advanced level of metallurgical technology than their utilization of primitive naturally-occurring copper metal implies.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Friedman, A. M., and others 1966 Copper artifacts: correlation with source types of copper ores. Science 152:15041506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroeber, A. L. 1944 Peruvian archeology in 1942. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology 4.Google Scholar