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Silver Mines of the Northern Lake Titicaca Basin

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Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Abstract

The Puno Bay in the Department of Puno, Peru is the location of a very early industry for the purification of silver ores into metals. It is the location of the Laykakota/Salcedo bonaza mines of the colonial period. Industries to exploit a range of Tertiary-period, Cenozoic-era volcanic deposits caused the geological environment to become a metallurgical landscape early in development of social complexity in the northern basin. Minimally by the Upper Formative period (ca. ad 100), high temperature cupellation-technologies were fully developed and in evidence in the workshop debris coinciding with Qaluyu-affiliated levels at the site of Huajje. In the environment surrounding Huajje is a suite of sites related to mining and metals refining. This paper describes these sites and the potential that they hold for demonstrating multi-crafting in metals and the organization of labor across sites during the Formative and later periods.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Surface density estimates are defined as “low” (0–2 artifacts/1 m2), “medium” (2–10 artifacts/1 m2), and “high” (10+ artifacts/1 m2).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the UCLA Department of Anthropology and Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University Research Expeditions Program (UREP), and the National Science Foundation (NSF #BCS 9905138). Thanks also to the great help provided by Charles Stanish, Mark Aldenderfer, Edmundo de la Vega Machicao, Fernando John Sosa Alcón, Rolando Paredes, Karen Doehner, Cecilia Chávez Justo, Anita Piña, Mourik Bueno de Mesquito, Elizabeth Arkush, Aimee Plourde, Elizabeth Klarich, Javier Challcha Saroza, Amadeo Mamani Mamani, David Oshige Adams, Barbara Carbajal, Sarah Abraham, Ulli Green, Keith Carlson, Ilana Johnson, Javier Pilco Quispe, Yan de Julia, Norfelinda Cornéjo Gallegos, Michael Timm, Ian Stonerock, Howard Tsai, Robin Beck, Karin Klemic, Ana González, and many others. Post-field analyses were supported by Thilo Rehren, Scott Kuehner, James Feathers, David Scott, and Nicholas Tripcevich.

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  1. Historical Research Associates, Inc., 1904 3rd Avenue, Seattle, Washington, 98101, USA

    Carol A. Schultze

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  1. Carol A. Schultze
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Correspondence to Carol A. Schultze .

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  1. Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, College Building 2251, Berkeley, 94720-1076, California, USA

    Nicholas Tripcevich

  2. , Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, West State St 700, West Lafayette, 47907, USA

    Kevin J. Vaughn

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Schultze, C.A. (2013). Silver Mines of the Northern Lake Titicaca Basin. In: Tripcevich, N., Vaughn, K. (eds) Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5200-3_11

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