Ancient West Mexican Metallurgy: South and Central American Origins and West Mexican Transformations

Abstract

Metallurgy first appeared in Mesoamerica at about A.D. 800, introduced via a maritime route from Central and South America into West Mexico. During the initial period of the establishment of the technology (approximately A.D. 800 to between A.D. 1200 and 1300) technical links were closest with the metallurgies of Ecuador, Colombia, and lower Central America. During the second period of West Mexican metallurgy (A.D. 1200–1300 to the Spanish invasion) new elements from these same regional metallurgies were introduced, in addition to technical components from the metallurgy of southern Peru. Although the roots of West Mexican metallurgy lay in the metallurgies to the south, the elements that had been introduced from those areas were reinterpreted and transformed, resulting in the development of a technically original, highly inventive regional technology in West Mexico.

Geographical Origins of the Tarascans

“…However, because of its declination, this asterism appears at a very low angle as seen from Michoacan. Even in A.D. 800, which is a good approximation for the time of the Purepecha migration from South America, because the first evidence of metallurgy in Mesoamerica appears then (Hosler 1988), it would have been seen at an altitude of between 14? and 20?…”

A Tentative Model of the Organization of Copper Production in the Tarascan State

“…Evidence for the presence of specialized Tarascan smelters is found in testimony in Legajo 1204, which, in reference to copper smelters in La Huacana region in 1533, states Final Processing. The types of metal artifacts and the manufacturing methods and materials (pure metals and alloys) that Tarascan metalworkers employed in their fabrication have been relatively well documented (e.g., Grinberg 1990Grinberg , 1996Grinberg , 2004Hosler 1988aHosler , 1988bHosler , 1988cHosler , 1994Pendergast 1962;Rubín de la Borbolla 1944). Copper was alloyed with tin and/or arsenic to produce bronzes or mixed with various concentrations of silver, gold, or both to fashion bells, ornamental tweezers, rings, and body ornaments.…”

Selective Faunal Provisioning in the Southern Highlands of Formative Ecuador

“…Linkages variably functioned through centralized markets (tiangueces), longdistance merchant specialists (mindaldes), archipelago-like (kamayujkuna) elements, and interpersonal ties at varying levels, with each link guaranteed through chiefly power residing in stratified and centralized chiefdoms (Salomon 1986:42-43; see Ramirez-Horton 1982, for a postconquest perspective from northern Peru). (e.g., Anawalt 1992;Estrada 1990;Hosler 1988;Hosler et al 1990;Muse 1991;Paulsen 1974;Pillsbury 1996; Szasdi Nagy 1982-83; Villamarin and Vil-lamarin 1999; Zeidler 1991). The study of trade networks that moved precolumbian goods throughout wide reaches of the native world has been dominated historically by an interest in coastal, maritime-based exchange.…”