Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:58:10.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Technology, Use and Reuse of Gold during the Middle Period: The Case of Casa Parroquial, Atacama Desert, Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2021

María Teresa Plaza Open the ORCID record for María Teresa Plaza [Opens in a new window]  and
Marcos Martinón-Torres
María Teresa Plaza
Affiliation:
Escuela de Antropología Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860 Macul Santiago Chile Email: tereplazacalonge@gmail.com
Marcos Martinón-Torres
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology University of Cambridge Cambridge CB2 3EJ UK Email: m.martinon-torres@arch.cam.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The life-histories of gold artefacts can provide rich insight into technology and culture, but so far the potential of this research approach has not been exploited in the south central Andes. Here we present the analysis of 34 gold and silver objects from the Middle Period cemetery of Casa Parroquial (San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile), using pXRF, SEM-EDS, PIXE and digital microscopy. Chemical analyses detected variable compositions (2.4–73.1 per cent Ag and 0.2–3.4 per cent Cu) suggesting that artisans used both native gold and artificial gold-silver-copper alloys. Based on their manufacturing techniques, quality and designs, we identify two working styles, one technically more ‘careful’ than the other. Given their elemental and technological variety, together with the lack of local production evidence, we propose that these artefacts were imported as finished objects from Tiwanaku or Cochabamba and northwest Argentina. However, we identify a series of objects that were modified or reshaped as they entered a new cultural context, revealing complex life-histories. Modifications used relatively simple mechanical means: punching, cutting and folding, most likely made in multi-craft contexts by non-metallurgists from San Pedro.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 613 - 637
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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

Alarcón, H. & Fornari, M., 1994. Análisis de oro por microsonda (E.P.M.A.) en depósitos primarios de oro de la provincia metalogénica andina de Bolivia y su significado genético [Analysis of gold by microprobe (E.P.M.A.) in primary gold deposits of the Andean metallogenic province of Bolivia and its genetic significance], in Memorias Del XI Congreso Geológico de Bolivia [Proceedings of the XI Bolivian Geology Conference], eds Boliviana, Sociedad Geológica. Santa Cruz: Sociedad Geológica Boliviana, 304–11.Google Scholar
Aldenderfer, M., Craig, N.M., Speakman, R.J. & Popelka-Filcoff, R., 2008. Four-thousand-year-old gold artifacts from the Lake Titicaca basin, southern Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(13), 5002–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angiorama, C.I., 2001. De metales, minerales y yacimientos. Contribución al estudio de la metalurgia prehispánica en el extremo noroccidental de Argentina [Of metals, minerals and deposits. Contribution to the study of pre-Hispanic metallurgy in the north-west extreme of Argentina]. Estudios Atacameños 21, 63–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angiorama, C.I., 2004. Estudio de objetos de oro prehispánicos procedentes de Los Amarillos (Jujuy, Argentina) [Study of prehispanic gold objects from Los Amarillos (Jujuy, Argentina)], in Tecnología Del Oro Antiguo: Europa y América. Anejos de Archivo Español de Arqueología XXXII [Ancient gold technology: Europe and America. Annexes to the Spanish Archaeology Archive XXXII], eds Perea, A., Montero, I. & García-Vuelta, Ó.. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 149–56.Google Scholar
Barón, A.M., 2004. Excavación del cementerio de Larache, Conde Duque en San Pedro de Atacama [Excavation of the Larache, Conde Duque cemetery in San Pedro de Atacama], in Tiwanaku. Aproximaciones a Sus Contextos Históricos y Sociales [Tiwanaku. Approaches to its historical and social contexts], eds Rivera, M. & Kolata, A.. Santiago: Universidad Bolivariana, 67–97.Google Scholar
Benavente, A., Massone, C. & Thomas, C., 1986. Larrache, evidencias atípicas. ¿Tiahuanaco en San Pedro de Atacama? [Larrache, atypical evidence. Tiahuanaco in San Pedro de Atacama?]. Chungará (Arica) 16–17, 67–73.Google Scholar
Bennett, W., 1934. Excavations at Tiahuanaco. Anthropological Papers of The American Museum of Natural History 34(3), 350–494.Google Scholar
Bennett, W., 1936. Excavations in Bolivia. Anthropological papers of The American Museum of Natural History 35(5), 194.Google Scholar
Berenguer, J., 1994. La muerte como un discurso para los vivos: Hacia una semiótica de la evidencia funeraria [Death as a discourse for the living: towards a semiotics of funerary evidence]. Boletín de la Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología 19, 23–7.Google Scholar
Berenguer, J., 1998. La iconografía del poder en Tiwanaku y su rol en la integración de zonas de frontera [The iconography of power in Tiwanaku and its role in the integration of border areas]. Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 7, 19–37.Google Scholar
Berenguer, J., Castro, V. & Silva, O., 1980. Reflexiones acerca de la presencia de Tiwanaku en el norte de Chile [Thoughts about the presence of Tiwanaku in northern Chile]. Estudios Arqueológicos 5, 81–93.Google Scholar
Boric, R., Díaz, F. & Maksaev, V., 1990. Geología y Yacimientos Metalíferos de La Región de Antofagasta [Geology and metalliferous deposits of the Antofagasta Region]. (Boletín 40.) Santiago: Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería de Chile.Google Scholar
Carcedo, P., Vetter, L. & Canseco, M.D., 2004. Los vasos-efigie antropomorfos: un ejemplo de la orfebrería de la costa central durante el Periodo Intermedio Tardío y el Horizonte Tardío [Anthropomorphic effigy vases: a silvermith's production during the Late Intermediate period and Late Horizon]. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 8, 151–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castro, V., Berenguer, J., Gallardo, F., Llagostera, A. & Salazar, D., 2016. Vertiente Occidental Circumpuneña. Desde las sociedades postarcaicas hasta las preincas (ca. 1.500 años a.C. a 1.470 años d.C) [The western Circumpuna. From the postarchaic societies to the pre-Inca (ca. 1500 BC to AD 1470)], in Prehistoria En Chile. Desde Sus Primeros Habitantes Hasta Los Incas [Prehistory in Chile. From its first inhabitants to the Incas], eds Falabella G, F.., Uribe, M., Sanhueza, L., Aldunate, C. & Hidalgo, J.. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 237–84.Google Scholar
Chapman, R.J., Leake, B. & Styles, M., 2002. Microchemical characterization of alluvial gold grains as an exploration tool. Gold Bulletin 35(2), 53–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cifuentes, A., Figueroa-Larre, V., Salazar, D. & Mille, B., 2018. Producción metalúrgica local y coexistencia de tecnologías metalúrgicas en San Pedro de Atacama durante el Período Medio (400–1000 DC) [Local metal production and coexistence of metallurgical technologies in San Pedro de Atacama during the Middle Period (AD 400–1000)]. Chungará 50(3), 423–39.Google Scholar
Crumley, C., 1995. Heterarchy and the analysis of complex societies., in Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies, eds Ehrenreich, R.M., Crumley, C. & Levy, J.E.. (Archeological Papers 6.) Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association, 1–6.Google Scholar
Crumley, C., 2007. Notes on a new paradigm, in Socialising Complexity: Approaches to power and interaction in the archaeological record, eds. Kohring, S. & Wynne-Jones, S.. Oxford: Oxbow, 30–36.Google Scholar
DeMarrais, E., 2013. Art as an affecting presence: infant funerary urns in pre-Hispanic northwest Argentina. World Art 3(1), 101–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeMarrais, E., Castillo, L.J. & Earle, T., 1996. Ideology, materialization, and power strategies. Current Anthropology 37(1), 15–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dillehay, T. & Núñez, L., 1988. Camelids, caravans and complex societies in the South-Central Andes, in Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology vol 2, eds Saunders, N. & Montmollin, O.. (BAR International series S421.) Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 603–34.Google Scholar
Flores, J., Kuon, E. & Samanez, R., 1998. Qeros. Arte Inka En Vasos Ceremoniales [Qeros. Inka art in ceremonial cups]. Lima: Banco de Crédito del Perú.Google Scholar
Glowacki, M. & Malpass, M., 2003. Water, huacas, and ancestor worship: traces of a sacred Wari landscape. Latin American Antiquity 14(4), 431–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González, L.R., 2003. El oro en el noroeste argentino prehispanico. estudios tecnicos sobre dos objetos de la Casa Morada de la Paya [Gold in pre-Hispanic northwest Argentina. Technical studies on two objects from the Casa Morada de la Paya]. Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología 28, 75–99.Google Scholar
González, L.R., 2004a. El oro y el moro. Tecnología y universo simbólico en el Noroeste Argentino Prehispánico [‘El oro y el moro’. Technology and symbolic universe in prehispanic northwest Argentina], in Tecnología Del Oro Antiguo: Europa y América. Anejos de Archivo Español de Arqueología XXXII [Ancient gold technology: Europe and America. Annexes to the Spanish Archaeology Archive XXXII], eds Perea, A., Montero, I. & García-Vuelta, Ó.. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 329–37.Google Scholar
González, L.R., 2004b. Bronces Sin Nombre. La Metalurgia Prehispánica En El Norte Argentino [Bronzes with no names. Pre-Hispanic metallurgy in northern Argentina]. Buenos Aires: Fundación Ceppa.Google Scholar
González, L.R., 2006. El poder de los metales [The power of metals], in Tesoros Precolombinos Del Noroeste Argentino [Precolumbian treasures from northwest Argentina], ed. Goretti, M.. Buenos Aires: Fundación Ceppa, 93–263.Google Scholar
González, L.R. & Vargas, A., 1999. Tecnología metalúrgica y organización social en el noroeste argentino prehispánico [Metallurgical technology and social organisation in prehispanic northwest Argentina]. Chungará (Arica) 31(1), 5–27.Google Scholar
Gosden, C. & Marshall, Y., 1999. The cultural biography of objects. World Archaeology 31(2), 169–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guerra, M.F. & Calligaro, T., 2004. Gold traces to trace gold. Journal of Archaeological Science 31(9), 1199–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guerra, M.F., Fernández, S., Delaveris, I., Encuentra, J.O. & Villanueva, J., 2019. Small gold bells and miniature keros: an approach to understanding the technologies and alloys employed in Pre-Columbian Andes. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 24, 967–77.Google Scholar
Guerra, M.F. & Rehren, T., 2009. In-situ examination and analysis of the gold jewellery from the Phoenician tomb of Kition (Cyprus). ArcheoSciences (33), 151–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauptmann, A. & Klein, S., 2009. Bronze Age gold in southern Georgia. ArchéoSciences (33), 75–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helms, M., 1993. Crafts and the Kingly Ideal. Art, trade and power. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hérail, G., Fornari, M., Viscarra, G. & Miranda, V., 1990. Morphological and chemical evolution of gold grains during the formation of a polygenic fluviatile placer: the Mio-pleistocene Tipuani placer example (Andes, Bolivia). Chronique de la Recherche Minière 500, 41–9.Google Scholar
Hérail, G., Lagos, J. & Vivallo, W., 1999. Gold dispersion in Andean desert environments (Atacama, Chile). Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66(3), 427–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horta, H., 2012. El Estilo Circumpuneño en el arte de la parafernalia alucinógena prehispánica (Atacama y Noroeste Argentino) [The Circumpuneño Style in the art of prehispanic hallucinogenic paraphernalia (Atacama and Northwest Argentina)]. Estudios Atacameños (43), 5–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horta, H., 2014. Lo propio y lo ajeno: definición del estilo San Pedro en la parafernalia alucinógena de los oasis del Salar de Atacama [Local and introduced styles in the hallucinogenic paraphernalia of the Salar de Atacama oases]. Chungará (Arica) 46(4), 559–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horta, H. & Faundes, W., 2018. Manufactura de cuentas de mineral de cobre en Atacama (Chile) durante el Período Medio (ca. 400-1.000 dC): Nuevas evidencias contextuales y aportes desde la experimentación arqueológica [Manufacture of copper ore beads in Atacama (Chile) during the Middle Horizon (ca. AD 400–1000): New contextual evidences and contributions from experimental archeology]. Chungará (Arica) 50(3), 397–422.Google Scholar
Hough, R., Butt, C. & Fischer-Bühner, J., 2009. The crystallography, metallography and composition of gold. Elements 5(5), 297–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janusek, J.W., 1999. Craft and local power: embedded specialization in Tiwanaku cities. Latin American Antiquity 10(2), 107–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janusek, J.W., 2003. Vessels, time and society. Toward a ceramic chronology on the Tiwanaku heartland, in Tiwanaku and Its Hinterland. Vol. 2, Urban and Rural Archaeology, ed. Kolata, A.. Washington (DC): Smithsonian Institution Press, 30–91.Google Scholar
Joyce, R. & Gillespie, S., 2015. Making things out of objects that move, in Things in Motion. Object itineraries in anthropological practice, eds Joyce, R. & Gillespie, S.. Santa Fe (NM): School of Advanced Research Press, 3–19.Google Scholar
Kopytoff, I., 1986. The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process, in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in cultural perspective, ed. Appadurai, A.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 64–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpisaari, A., 2006. Death in the Bolivian High Plateau: Burials and Tiwanaku society. (BAR International series 1536). Oxford: Archaeopress.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpisaari, A., Sagárnaga, J. & Väisänen, R., 2011. Archaeological Excavations on the Island of Pariti, Bolivia: New light on the Tiwanaku Period in the Lake Titikaka Region. (Ancient America 11.) Barnardsville (NC): Boundary End Archaeology Research Center.Google Scholar
Kuijpers, M.H.G., 2015. Some thoughts on quality and skill in Early Bronze Age axes, in Metaaltijden 2. Bijdragen in de Studie van de Metaaltijden [Metal Ages 2. Contributions to the Study of the Metal Ages], eds Ball, E.A.G. & Arnoldussen, S.. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 19–28.Google Scholar
Kuijpers, M.H.G., 2017. The Bronze Age, a world of specialists? Metalworking from the perspective of skill and material specialization. European Journal of Archaeology 21(4), 550–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuijpers, M.H.G., 2018. A sensory update to the chaîne opératoire in order to study skill: perceptive categories for copper-compositions in archaeometallurgy. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 25(3), 863–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazzari, M., 2016. Stones to build a world: circulation and value of materials in pre-Columbian northwestern Argentina. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 26(1), 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lechtman, H., 1978. Temas de Metalurgia Andina [Andean metallurgy issues], in Tecnología Andina [Andean Technology], ed. Ravines, R.. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP)/Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica, Industrial y de Normas Técnicas, 489–520.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H., 1991. Los Orfebres Olvidados de América [The forgotten metalsmiths of America]. Santiago: Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H., 1993. Technologies of power: the Andean case, in Configurations of Power: Holisitic anthropology in theory and practice, eds Henderson, J.S. & Netherly, P.. New York (NY): Cornell University Press, 244–80.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H., 1996. El bronce y el horizonte medio [Bronze and the Middle Period]. Boletín Museo del Oro 41, 2–25.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H., 2014. Andean metallurgy in prehistory, in Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective: Methods and syntheses, eds Roberts, W.B. & Thornton, P.C.. New York (NY): Springer, 361–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lechtman, H. & Macfarlane, A., 2005. La metalurgia del bronce en los Andes Sur Centrales: Tiwanaku y San Pedro de Atacama [Bronze metallurgy in the South Central Andes: Tiwanaku and San Pedro de Atacama]. Estudios Atacameños 30, 7–27.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. & Macfarlane, A., 2006. Bronce y redes de intercambio andino durante el Horizonte Medio: Tiwanaku y San Pedro de Atacama [Bronze and Andean exchange networks during the Middle Horizon: Tiwanaku and San Pedro de Atacama], in Esferas de Interacción Prehistóricas y Fronteras Nacionales Modernas: Los Andes Sur Centrales [Prehistoric spheres of interaction and modern national frontiers: The Central South Andes], ed. Lechtman, H.. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP)/Institute of Andean Research (IAR), 503–50.Google Scholar
Llagostera, A., 2004. Los Antiguos Habitantes Del Salar de Atacama: Prehistoria Atacameña [The ancient inhabitants of the Salar de Atacama: Atacama prehistory]. Santiago: Pehuén Editores Limitada.Google Scholar
Llagostera, A., 2006. San Pedro de Atacama y el sistema reticular de interacción puneña [San Pedro de Atacama and the reticular system of interaction in the Puna], in Esferas de Interacción Prehistóricas y Fronteras Nacionales Modernas: Los Andes Sur Centrales [Prehistoric spheres of interaction and modern national frontiers: The Central South Andes], ed. Lechtman, H.. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP)/Institute of Andean Research (IAR), 303–28.Google Scholar
Llagostera, A., Torres, C.M. & Costa-Junqueira, M.A., 1988. El complejo psicotrópico en Solcor-3 (San Pedro de Atacama) [The psychotropic complex in Solcor-3 (San Pedro de Atacama)]. Estudios Atacameños 9, 67–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macfarlane, A.W. & Lechtman, H.N., 2016. Andean ores, bronze artifacts, and lead isotopes: constraints on metal sources in their geological context. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 23, 1–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maldonado, B., Rehren, T., Pernicka, E., Núñez, L. & Leibbrandt, A., 2010. Early copper metallurgy in northern Chile. (Poster), in Metalla. Archäometrie Und Denkmalpflege [Metalla. Archaeometry and monument preservation], eds Hahn, O., Hauptmann, A., Modarressi-Tehrani, D. & Prange, M.. Bochum: Museum Bochum, 96–8.Google Scholar
Maldonado, B., Rehren, T., Pernicka, E., Núñez, L. & Leibbrandt, A., 2013. Early copper metallurgy in northern Chile. Open Journal of Archaeometry 1(1), 26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinón-Torres, M. & Uribe, M.A., 2015. The prehistoric individual, connoisseurship and archaeological science: the Muisca goldwork of Colombia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 63, 136–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinón-Torres, M., Rojas, R.V., Cooper, J. & Rehren, T., 2007. Metals, microanalysis and meaning: a study of metal objects excavated from the indigenous cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba, Journal of Archaeological Science 34(2), 194–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinón-Torres, M., Valcárcel Rojas, R., Sáenz Samper, J. & Guerra, M.F., 2012. Metallic encounters in Cuba: the technology, exchange and meaning of metals before and after Columbus. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 31(4), 439–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEwan, C. & Haeberli, J., 2000. Gold diadems from the far south coast of Peru, in Precolumbian Gold. Technology, style and iconography, ed. McEwan, C.. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 16–27.Google Scholar
Money, M., 1991. El ‘tesoro de San Sebastian’: una tumba importante de la cultura Tiwanaku [The ‘treasure of San Sebastian’: an important burial of the Tiwanaku culture]. Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Archäologie 11, 189–98.Google Scholar
Nielsen, A.E., 2006. Pobres jefes: Aspectos corporativos en las formaciones sociales pre-inkaicas de los andes circumpuneños [Poor bosses: corporate aspects in the pre-Inca social formations of the Circumpunean Andes], in Contra la tiranía tipológica en arqueología. Una visión desde Suramérica [Against typological tyranny in archaeology. A view from South America], eds Gnecco, C. & Langebaek, C.. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, 121–50.Google Scholar
Nielsen, A.E., 2007. Bajo el hechizo de los emblemas: políticas corporativas y tráfico interregional en los Andes Circumpuneños [Under the spell of the emblems: corporate policies and interregional traffic in the Circumpunean Andes], in Producción y circulación prehispánicas de bienes en el surandino [Prehispanic production and circulation of goods in the southern Andes], eds Nielsen, A.E., Rivolta, C., Seldes, V., Vázquez, M.M. & Hercolli, P.. Córdoba: Editorial Brujas, 393–412.Google Scholar
Oakland, A., 1992. Textiles and ethnicity: Tiwanaku in San Pedro de Atacama, north Chile. Latin American Antiquity 3(4), 316–40.Google Scholar
Ogburn, D., 2004. Evidence for long-distance transportation of building stones in the Inka Empire, from Cuzco, Peru to Saraguro, Ecuador. Latin American Antiquity 15(4), 419–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogden, J., 2000. Metals, in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, eds Nicholson, P. & Shaw, I.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 148–76.Google Scholar
Palacios, C., Hérail, G., Townley, B.K., et al. , 2001. The composition of gold in the Cerro Casale gold-rich porphyry deposit, Maricunga belt, Northern Chile. Canadian Mineralogist 39, 907–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paulsen, A.C., 1974. The thorny oyster and the voice of god: Spondylus and Strombus in Andean prehistory. American Antiquity 39(4), 597–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, G., 1970. Minería y metalurgia en el antiguo Perú [Mining and metallurgy in ancient Peru]. Lima.Google Scholar
Posnansky, A., 1957. Tihuanacu. La cuna del hombre americano [Tihuanacu. The cradle of American man]. Vols III & IV. La Paz: Ministerio de Educación de Bolivia.Google Scholar
Ramos, W. & Fornari, M., 1994. Problemática de la presencia de oro en Los Lípez [The problem of the presence of gold in Los Lípez], in Memorias Del XI Congreso Geológico de Bolivia [Proceedings of the XI Bolivian Geology Conference], ed. Boliviana, Sociedad Geológica. Santa Cruz: Sociedad Geológica Boliviana, 248–59.Google Scholar
Root, W.C., 1949. The metallurgy of the southern coast of Peru. American Antiquity 15(1), 10–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rovira, S., 1994. Pre-Hispanic goldwork from the Museo de América, Madrid: a new set of analyses, in Archaeometry of Pre-Columbian Sites and Artefacts. (Proceedings of a Symposium Organised by UCLA Institute of Archaeology and the Getty Conservation Institute, March 1992), eds Scott, D.A. & Meyers, P.. Los Angeles (CA): J.P. Getty Trust, 323–49.Google Scholar
Sáenz Samper, J. & Martinón-Torres, M., 2017. Depletion gilding, innovation and life-histories: the changing colours of Nahuange metalwork. Antiquity 91, 1253–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sagárnaga, J., 2007. Investigaciones arqueológicas en Pariti (Bolivia) [Archaeological investigations in Pariti (Bolivia)]. Anales del Museo de América 15, 67–88.Google Scholar
Salazar, D., Figueroa-Larre, V., Morata, D., Mille, B., Manríquez, G. & Cifuentes, A., 2011. Metalurgia en San Pedro de Atacama Durante el Período Medio?: Nuevos Datos, Nuevas Preguntas [Metal production during the Middle Period in San Pedro de Atacama: New data, new questions]. Revista de Antropología 23, 123–48.Google Scholar
Salazar, D., Niemeyer, H.M., Horta, H., Figueroa-Larre, V. & Manríquez, G., 2014. Interaction, social identity, agency and change during Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile): a multidimensional and interdisciplinary perspective. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 35, 135–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samusikov, V.P., 2002. Relationships between Ag and Au in Au-Ag natural system. Russian Geology and Geophysics 43(8), 746–53.Google Scholar
Schlosser, S., Robert, K., Ernst, P., Detlef, G. & Tellenbach, M., 2009. Fingerprints in gold, in New Technologies for Archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru, eds Reindel, M. & Wagner, G.A.. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 409–36.Google Scholar
Shimada, I., Griffin, J.A. & Gordus, A., 2000. The technology, iconography and social significance of metals. A multi-dimensional analysis of Middle Sicán objects, in Precolumbian Gold. Technology, style and iconography, ed. McEwan, C.. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 28–61.Google Scholar
Spielmann, K.A., 1998. Ritual craft specialists in middle range societies, in Craft and Social Identity, eds Costin, C.L. & Wright, R.. Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association, 153–60.Google Scholar
Spiridonov, E. & Yanakieva, D., 2009. Modern mineralogy of gold: overview and new data. ArcheoSciences 33, 67–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stovel, E., 2001. Patrones funerarios de San Pedro de Atacama y el problema de la presencia de los contextos Tiwanaku [Funerary ritual in San Pedro de Atacama: Evidence for Tiwanaku interment?]. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP (5), 375–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stovel, E., 2008. Interaction and social fields in San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile, in Handbook of South American Archaeology, eds Silverman, H. & Isbell, W.. New York (NY): Springer, 979–1002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stovel, E., 2013. Prehistoric atacameño ceramic styles and chronology reassessed. Chungará (Arica) 45(3), 371–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamblay, J., 2004. El Cementerio Larache, los metales y la estratificación social durante el horizonte Tiwanaku en San Pedro de Atacama [The Larache cemetery, metals and social stratification during the Tiwanaku horizon in San Pedro de Atacama], in Tiwanaku: Aproximaciones a Sus Contextos Históricos y Sociales [Tiwanaku: Approaches to its historical and social contexts], eds Rivera, M. & Kolata, A.. Santiago: Universidad Bolivariana, 37–73.Google Scholar
Tarragó, M., González, L.R., Ávalos, G. & Lamamí, M., 2010. Oro de los señores. La tumba 11 de la Isla de Tilcara (Jujuy, noroeste Argentino) [The lords’ gold. Tomb 11 of the Island of Tilcara (Jujuy, northwestern Argentina)]. Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 15(2), 47–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Téllez, F. & Murphy, M., 2007. El cementerio Casa Parroquial; un rescate afortunado. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile [The Casa Parroquial cemetery: A lucky rescue. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile], in Metalurgia en la América antigua. Teoría, arqueología, simbología y tecnología de los metales prehispánicos [Metallurgy in ancient America. Theory, archaeology, symbolismand technology of prehispanic metals], ed. Lleras, R.. Bogotá: Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales/Banco de la República de Colombia/Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, 53–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, C., Benavente, A. & Massone, C., 1985. Algunos efectos de Tiwanaku en la cultura de San Pedro de Atacama [Some effects of Tiwanaku in the culture of San Pedro de Atacama]. Dialogo Andino 4, 259–75.Google Scholar
Torres-Rouff, C., Knudson, K.J., Pestle, W.J. & Stovel, E., 2015. Tiwanaku influence and social inequality: a bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and contextual analysis of the Larache cemetery, San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 158(4), 592–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townley, B.K., Hérail, G., Maksaev, V., et al. , 2003. Gold grain morphology and composition as an exploration tool: application to gold exploration in covered areas. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis 3(1), 29–38.Google Scholar
Uribe, M. & Agüero, C., 2001. Alfarería, textiles y la integración del Norte Grande de Chile a Tiwanaku [Pottery, textiles and the integration of the arid north of Chile to Tiwanaku]. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 5, 397–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uribe, M.A. & Martinón-Torres, M., 2012. Composition, colour and context in Muisca votive metalwork (Colombia, AD 600–1800). Antiquity 86, 772–91.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material

Table S4

Download Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material(File)
File 19.5 KB
Supplementary material: File

Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material

Table S1

Download Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material(File)
File 24.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material

Table S2

Download Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material(File)
File 20.4 KB
Supplementary material: File

Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material

Table S3

Download Plaza and Martinón-Torres supplementary material(File)
File 17.6 KB