Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America

Sican tumi, or ceremonial knife, Peru, 850–1500 CE

Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America is the extraction and purification of metals, as well as creating metal alloys and fabrication with metal by Indigenous peoples of the Americas prior to European contact in the late 15th century. Indigenous Americans have been using native metals from ancient times, with recent finds of gold artifacts in the Andean region dated to 2155–1936 BCE.^[1] and North American copper finds dated to approximately 5000 BCE.^[2] The metal would have been found in nature without need for smelting techniques and shaped into the desired form using heat and cold hammering techniques without chemically altering it by alloying it. To date "no one has found evidence that points to the use of melting, smelting and casting in prehistoric eastern North America."^[3] In South America the case is quite different. Indigenous South Americans had full metallurgy with smelting and various metals being purposely alloyed. Metallurgy in Mesoamerica and Western Mexico developed from contacts with South America through Ecuadorian marine traders.^[4]

South America

South American metal working seems to have developed in the Andean region of modern Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina with gold and copper being hammered and shaped into intricate objects, particularly ornaments.^[1][5] Recent finds date the earliest gold work to 2155–1936 BCE.^[1] and the earliest copper work to 1432–1132 BCE.^[5][6] These works originated in the context of a society undergoing social and economic changes but still very much a small food producer and not yet quite sedentary. This contrasts with the idea that this type of metal work developed in societies with enough food surplus to support an élite. Rather than being a product of a hierarchical society, gold might have been meshed in the development of such a society. Further evidence for this type of metal work comes from the sites at Waywaka, Chavín and Kotosh,^[7] and it seems to have been spread throughout Andean societies by the Early horizon (1000–200 BCE).

Unlike in other metallurgy traditions where metals gain importance due to their widespread use in fields ranging from weaponry to everyday utensils, metals in South America (and later in Central America) were mainly valued as adornments and objects representative of a high status (though some more functional objects might have been produced). During the Early horizon, advancements in metal working result in spectacular and characteristically Andean gold objects made by the joining of smaller metal sheets, and also gold-silver alloy appears.

Two traditions seem to have developed alongside each other – one in northern Peru and Ecuador, and another in the Altiplano region of southern Peru, Bolivia and Chile. There is evidence for smelting of copper sulphide in the Altiplano region around the Early horizon. Evidence for this comes from copper slag recovered at several sites,^[8] with the ore itself possibly coming from the south Chilean-Bolivian border. Extensive use of "portable" smelting kilns in the vicinity of Puma Punku, Bolivia and at three additional sites in Peru and Bolivia to manufacture, in situ, "I" beams as connectors to large stone blocks during the construction process represent a seemingly anomalous function for metal smelting. The reported chemical analysis of these metal pours is 95.15% copper, 2.05% arsenic, 1.70% nickel, .84% silicon and .26% iron. The estimated date of these pours lies between 8000 BCE–500 CE.

Evidence for fully developed smelting, however, only appears with the Moche culture (northern coast, 200 BCE–600 CE).^[9] The ores were extracted at shallow deposits in the Andean foothills, whether by specialised workers or slaves/prisoners is unclear. In any case the ores are believed to have been smelted at nearby locations, evidenced in the actual metal artifacts and from ceramic vessels depicting the process, which is believed to have occurred in adobe brick furnaces with at least three blow pipes to provide the air flow needed to reach the high temperatures. The resulting ingots would then have been moved to coastal centres where shaping of the object would occur in specialised workshops.^[10] Both of the workshops found and studied were located near the administrative sections of the respective towns – again indicative of the high value placed upon metal.

The objects themselves were still mainly adornments, now often being attached to beads. Some functional objects were fashioned but they were elaborately decorated and often found within high-status burial contexts. For this reason, it is believed that they were still being used more for symbolic purposes. The appearance of gold or silver seems to have been important, with a high number of gilded or silvered objects as well as the appearance of Tumbaga, a copper/gold and sometimes also silver alloy. Arsenic bronze ^[11] was also being smelted from sulphidic ores, a practice either independently developed or learned from the southern tradition.

This technology gradually spread north into Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica, reaching Guatemala and Belize by 800 CE.

Only with the Incas did metals really come into more utilitarian use. Nonetheless, they remained materials through which to display wealth and status. The characteristic importance placed on colour, which had led to some of the earlier developments, was still present (sun/moon association with gold/silver). Metals other than gold also had an intrinsic value, with axe pieces being of particular note in this regard. With the spread of metal tools being carried out by the Incas, it is thought possible that a more Old World use of metals would have become more common. In any case, as Bruhns notes, "Bronze can be seen as an expensive substitute for the equally efficient stone".^[7]:183

Central America

Gold, copper and tumbaga objects started being produced in Panama and Costa Rica between 300–500 CE. Open-molded casting with oxidation gilding and cast filigrees were in use. By 700–800 CE, small metal sculptures were common and an extensive range of gold and tumbaga ornaments comprised the usual regalia of persons of high status in Panama and Costa Rica.^[12]

Mesoamerica

Mixtec gold pendant representing a snailshell, ca. 900—1520 CE

Metallurgy only appears in Mesoamerica in 800 CE with the best evidence from West Mexico. Much like in South America, fine metals were seen as a material for the elite. Metal's special qualities of colour and resonance seemed to have appealed most and then led to the particular technological developments seen in the region.^[13]

Exchange of ideas and goods with peoples from the Ecuador and Colombia region (likely via a maritime route) seems to have fueled early interest and development. Similar metal artefact types are found in West Mexico and the two regions: copper rings, needles and tweezers being fabricated in the same ways as in Ecuador and also found in similar archaeological contexts. There is also a multitude of bells found, but in this case they were cast using the same lost-wax casting method as seen in Colombia.^[13] During this period, copper was being used almost exclusively.

Continual contact kept the flow of ideas from that same region and later, coinciding with the development of Andean long distance maritime trade, influence from further south seems to have reached the region and led to a second period (1200–1300 CE to the Spanish arrival).^[13] By this time, copper alloys were being explored by West Mexican metallurgists, partly because the different mechanical properties were needed to fashion specific artefacts, particularly axe-monies – further evidence for contact with the Andean region. However, in general the new properties such alloys introduced were developed to meet regional needs, especially wirework bells, which at times had such high tin content in the bronze that it was irrelevant for its mechanical properties but gave the bells a golden colour.

The actual artifacts and then techniques were imported from the south, but west Mexican metallurgists worked ores from the abundant local deposits; the metal was not being imported. Even when the technology spread from West into north-eastern, central and southern Mexico, artifacts that can be traced back to West Mexican ores are abundant, if not exclusive. It is not always clear if the metal reached its final destination as an ingot, an ore or a finished artifact. Provenance studies on metal artifacts from southern Mesoamerica cast with the lost-wax technique and dissimilar to west Mexican artefacts have shown that there might have been a second point of emergence of metallurgy into Mesoamerica there since no known source could be identified.^[14]

The Aztecs did not initially adopt metal working, even though they had acquired metal objects from other peoples. However, as conquest gained them metal working regions, the technology started to spread. By the time of the Spanish conquest, a bronze-smelting technology seemed to be nascent.

North America

Hopewell copper falcon, ca. 200 BCE–1 CE, Ohio^[15]

Plates from Malden, Etowah and Spiro

Mace shaped copper headdress ornaments from Moundville

Archaeological evidence has not revealed metal smelting or alloying of metals by pre-Columbian native peoples north of the Rio Grande; however, they did use native copper extensively.^[16]

As widely accepted as this statement might be it should not be considered synonymous with a lack of metal objects, as it points out native copper was abundant particularly in the Great Lakes region and "overlooks the simple fact that there was really very little to be gained by smelting..."^[17] The latest glacial period had resulted in the scouring of copper bearing rocks. Once the ice retreated, these were readily available for use in a variety of sizes.^[17] Copper was shaped via cold hammering into objects from very early dates (Archaic period in the Great Lakes region: 8000–1000 BCE). There is also evidence of actual mining of copper veins (Old Copper Complex), but disagreement exists as to the dates.^[17]

Extraction would have been extremely difficult. Hammerstones may have been used to break off pieces small enough to be worked. This labor-intensive process might have been eased by building a fire on top of the deposit, then quickly dousing the hot rock with water, creating small cracks. This process could be repeated to create more small cracks.

The copper could then be cold-hammered into shape, which would make it brittle, or hammered and heated in an annealing process to avoid this. The final object would then have to be ground and sharpened using local sandstone. Numerous bars have also been found, possibly indicative of trade for which their shaping into a bar would also serve as proof of quality.

Great Lake artifacts found in the Eastern Woodlands of North America seem to indicate there were widespread trading networks by 1000 BCE. Progressively the usage of copper for tools decreases with more jewellery and adornments being found. This is believed to be indicative of social changes to a more hierarchical society.^[17]

However this Great Lake model as a unique source of copper and of copper technologies remaining somewhat static for over 6,000 years has recently come into some level of criticism, particularly since other deposits seem to have been available to ancient North Americans, even if a lot smaller.^[18][19]

During the Mississippian period (800–1600 CE, varying locally), elites at major political and religious centers throughout the midwestern and southeastern United States used copper ornamentation as a sign of their status by crafting the sacred material into representations connected with the Chiefly Warrior cult of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (S.E.C.C.).^[20] This ornamentation includes Mississippian copper plates, repousséd plates of beaten copper now found as far afield as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Some of the more famous of the plates are of raptorial birds and avian-themed dancing warriors. These plates, such as the Rogan plates from Etowah, the Spiro plates from the Spiro in Oklahoma, and the Wulfing cache from southeast Missouri, were instrumental in the development of the archaeological concept known as the S.E.C.C.^[20]

The only Mississippian culture site where a copper workshop has been located by archaeologists is Cahokia in western Illinois.^[21] Excavations of the copper workshops at Mound 34 (a small mound located on the Ramey Plaza east of Monks Mound^[22]) indicate copper was worked there. Numerous copper fragments as well as ashes from fires were found in the area as well as the remains of three tree stumps thought to have been used to hold anvil stones used for beating out the flattened sheets of copper.^[21]

After the collapse of the Mississippian way of life in the 1500s with the advent of European colonization, copper still retained a place in Native American religious life as a special material. Copper was traditionally regarded as sacred by many historic period Eastern tribes. Copper nuggets are included in medicine bundles among Great Lakes tribes. Among 19th century Muscogee Creeks, a group of copper plates carried along the Trail of Tears are regarded as some of the tribe's most sacred items.^[23]

Northwest Coast

Metal working on the Northwest Coast pre-dates recorded contact with Europeans or other outsiders. Copper and iron items have been found in both archaeological and ethnographic collections, and metals, particularly copper have significance in the cultures. The Ozette Indian Village Archeological Site in what is now Washington State was buried by a mudslide some 500 years ago is one example of pre-contact metal items - including iron. In this part of the world the date 1560 (site date - Ozette Indian Village Archeological Site) pre-dates recorded contact with Europeans.

Coppers - a traditional form of ceremonial object - these objects have significant historical and ceremonial meaning across a large area. While the advent of trade copper certainly increased the size and number of coppers, they did not originate at or after contact.

Cold hammered copper daggers, and a few instances of iron were also evident. Bone antecedents show the development of the form.

"If it were not for the statements of early travelers on the Northwest Coast it would be difficult to believe that the many beautifully forged steel daggers collected there were made by native smiths.^[24]" p. 66. Vaughan & Holm 1990

In numerous early accounts by explorers and traders, Indians were eager to trade and demand for metal was intense.

See also

• Axe-monies
• Cape York meteorite
• Copper Inuit
• Mississippian copper plates
• Muisca goldworking
• Native copper

Notes

Further reading

• Leibsohn, Dana, and Barbara E. Mundy, “The Mechanics of the Art World,” Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820 (2015). http://www.fordham.edu/vistas.

Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek Complex Caborn-Welborn Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Leon-Jefferson Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Tchefuncte Tocobaga Troyville
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick Clovis burial Bandelier National Monument The Bluff Point Stoneworks Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Archaeological State Park Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds National Monument Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Site Fort Ancient Fort Center Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Glenwood Grimes Point Holly Bluff Site Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Huápoca Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds L'Anse aux Meadows Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena Site Ocmulgee National Monument Old Stone Fort Paquime Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Recapture Canyon Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Russell Cave National Monument Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Spiro Mounds SunWatch Taos Pueblo Toltec Mounds Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River site West Oak Forest Earthlodge Winterville Wupatki National Monument
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Minnesota Woman Spirit Cave mummy
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Portal of Indigenous peoples of North America Pre-Columbian era