Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T09:04:24.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Investigating a Moche Cast Copper Artifact for Its Manufacturing Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2014

Aaron Shugar ,
Michael Notis ,
Dale Newbury  and
Nicholas Ritchie
Aaron Shugar
Affiliation:
Art Conservation Department, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Michael Notis
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
Dale Newbury
Affiliation:
Materials Measurement Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Nicholas Ritchie
Affiliation:
Microanalysis Research Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Get access

Abstract

A Moche cast copper alloy object was investigated with focus on three main areas: the alloy composition, the casting technology, and the corrosion process. This complex artifact has thin connective arms between the body and the head, a situation that would be very difficult to cast. The entire artifact was mounted and polished allowing for complete microstructural and microchemical analysis, providing insight into the forming technology. In addition, gigapixel x-ray spectrum imaging was undertaken to explore the alloy composition and the solidification process of the entire sample. This process used four 30 mm2 SDD-EDS detectors to collect the 150 gigabyte file mapping an area of 46 080 × 39 934 pixels. Raman analysis was performed to confirm the corrosion compounds.

Keywords

artarchaeologyscanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1656: Symposium PP – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology X , 2014 , pp. 95 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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

REFERENCES

Stöllner, T., “Gold in Southern Peru? Perspectives of Research into Mining Archaeology,” in New Technologies for Archaeology, Reindel, M. and Wagner, G., eds., ed: Springer Berlin, 2009, pp. 393–407.10.1007/978-3-540-87438-6_23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pease, F. G. Y, El dios creador andino. Lima: Mosca Azul Editores, 1973.Google Scholar
Urton, G., Inca Myths: University of Texas Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A. M., “The Seed of Life: Symbolic Power of Gold-Copper Alloys and Metallurgical Transformations,” in Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia, Quilter, J. and Hoopes, J. W., eds., Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2003, pp. 345–381.Google Scholar
Donnan, C. B., Moche Art of Peru: Pre-Columbian Symbolic Communication: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1978.Google Scholar
Donnan, C. B., Scott, D. A., and Bracken, T., “Moche Forms for Shaping Sheet Metal,” in The Art and Archaeology of the Moche: An Ancient Andean Society of the Peruvian North Coast, Bourget, S. and Jones, K. L., Eds., ed: University of Texas Press, 2009, pp. 113–128.Google Scholar
Easby, D. T. Jr., “Pre-Hispanic Metallurgy and Metalworking in the New World,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 109, pp. 89–98, 1965.Google Scholar
Lechtmann, H., “Traditions and Styles in Central Andean Metalworking,” in The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys. Maddin, R., ed., Cambridge: MIT Press, 1988.pp. 344–378.Google Scholar
Nicholson, H. B., Cordy-Collins, A., and Land, L. K., Pre-Columbian Art from the Land Collection: California Academy of Sciences, 1979.Google Scholar
Newbury, D. E. and Ritchie, N. W. M., “Elemental mapping of microstructures by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS): extraordinary advances with the silicon drift detector (SDD),” Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, vol. 28, pp. 973–988, 2013.10.1039/c3ja50026hCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. M., Newbury, D. E., Ritchie, N. W., Vicenzi, E. P., Bentz, D. P., and Fahey, A. J., “Bridging the Micro to Macro Gap: A New Application for Milli-probe X-ray Fluorescence,” Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 13, pp. 410–417, 2011.10.1017/S1431927611000183CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, R. T., The RRUFF Project: an integrated study of the chemistry, crystallography, Raman and infrared spectroscopy of minerals. in Program and Abstracts of the 19th General Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association in Kobe, Japan. 3–13, 2006.Google Scholar
Bright, D. and Milans, K., “Lispix: a public domain scientific image analysis program for the PC and Macintosh,” Microscopy and Microanalysis New York -, vol. 6, pp. 1022–1023, 2000.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H., “Middle Horizon bronze: centers and outliers,” in Patterns and Process: a Festschrift in honor of Dr. Edward V. Sayre, vanZelst, L., Ed., ed Suitland MD, Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education, 2003, pp. 168–248.Google Scholar
Guzei, L., “Arsenic-Copper-Nickel,” in Ternary Alloys: A Comprehensive Compendium of Evaluated Constitutional Data and Phase Diagrams. As-Cr-Fe to As-I-Zn. vol. 10, Petzow, G., Effenberg, G., and Aldinger, F., Eds., ed: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 1994, pp. 92–97.Google Scholar
Ritchie, N. W. M.. (2013). DTSA-II. Available: http://www.cstl.nist.gov/div837/837.02/epq/dtsa2/ Google Scholar
Cassayre, L., Chamelot, P., Arurault, L., Massot, L., Palau, P., and Taxil, P., “Electrochemical oxidation of binary copper–nickel alloys in cryolite melts,” Corrosion Science, vol. 49, pp. 3610–3625, 2007.10.1016/j.corsci.2007.03.020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rioult, F., Pijolat, M., Valdivieso, F., and Prin-Lamaze, M.-A., “High temperature oxidation of a Cu-Ni based cermet: kinetic and microstructural study,” Journal of the American Cermaic Society. vol 89, no. 3 pp. 996–1005 2006.10.1111/j.1551-2916.2005.00898.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capers, D. J., “Dhokra: The Lost Wax Process in India,” ed. Orissa, India, 1989, 26 mins. Film.Google Scholar
Sias, F. R., Lost-wax Casting: Old, New, and Inexpensive Methods: Woodsmere Press, Pendleton, SC. 2005.Google Scholar