[Archport] Archaeologist 'strikes gold' with finds of ancient Nasca iron ore mine in Peru

["Alexandre Monteiro" <alexandre.monteiro@gmail.com>]

>January 29, 2008
>
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>Archaeologist 'strikes gold' with finds of ancient Nasca iron ore
>mine in Peru
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>
>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Kevin J. Vaughn
><http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2008/vaughn-peru.jpg>Download photo
>caption below
>[]
>
>A Purdue University archaeologist discovered an intact ancient iron
>ore mine in South America that shows how civilizations before the
>Inca Empire were mining this valuable ore.
>
>"Archaeologists know people in the Old and New worlds have mined
>minerals for thousands and thousands of years," said Kevin J.
>Vaughn, an assistant professor of anthropology who studies the Nasca
>civilization, which existed from A.D. 1 to A.D. 750. "Iron mining in
>the Old World, specifically in Africa, goes back 40,000 years. And
>we know the ancient people in Mexico, Central America and North
>America were mining for various materials. There isn't much evidence
>for these types of mines.
>
>"What we found is the only hematite mine, a type of iron also known
>as ochre, recorded in South America prior to the Spanish conquest.
>This discovery demonstrates that iron ores were important to ancient
>Andean civilizations."
>
>In 2004 and 2005, Vaughn and his team excavated Mina Primavera,
>which is located in the Ingenio Valley of the Andes Mountains in
>southern Peru. The research team performed field checks and
>collected some samples in 2006 and 2007. The findings of the
>excavation are published in December's Journal of the Minerals,
>Metals & Materials Society.
>
>The researchers determined that the mine is a human-made cave that
>was first created around 2,000 years ago. An estimated 3,710 metric
>tons was extracted from the mine during more than 1,400 years of
>use. The mine, which is nearly 700 cubic meters, is in a cliffside
>facing a modern ochre mine.
>
>Vaughn hypothesizes that the Nasca people used the red-pigmented
>mineral primarily for ceramic paints, but they also could have used
>it as body paint, to paint textiles and even to paint adobe walls.
>The Nasca civilization is known for hundreds of drawings in the
>Nasca Desert, which are known as the Nasca-Lines and can only be
>seen from the air, and for an aqueduct system that is still used today.
>
>Vaughn and his team discovered a number of artifacts in the mine,
>including corncobs, stone tools, and pieces of textiles and pottery.
>The age of the items was determined by radiocarbon dating, a process
>that determines age based on the decay of naturally occurring elements.
>
>"Archaeologists have a very good sequence of pottery from this
>region, so I can look at most pots from this region and determine a
>date within a century that is based on stylistic changes of the
>pottery," Vaughn said. "Even before the dating, we knew this was an
>ancient mine because of the ceramic pieces. These very small
>fragments, about the size of a penny, had distinct designs on them
>that are characteristic of the early Nasca civilization."
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>The artifacts from the excavation are being curated by the Instituto
>Nacional de Cultura of Peru at its museum in Ica, Peru.
>
>Now that there is archaeological evidence that ancient cultures in
>the Andes were mining iron ore, it is important to give credit to
>New World civilizations, Vaughn said.
>
>"Even though ancient Andean people smelted some metals, such as
>copper, they never smelted iron like they did in the Old World," he
>said. "Metals were used for a variety of tools in the Old World,
>such as weapons, while in the Americas, metals were used as prestige
>goods for the wealthy elite."
>
>This excavation was part of Vaughn's Early Nasca Craft Economy
>Project, a multiyear National Science Foundation-funded study of
>Nasca ceramic production and distribution. The project's goal is to
>better understand the origins of inequality and political economy in
>this ancient culture.
>
>Vaughn says material scientists and engineers, as well as
>mineralogists, will be interested in this discovery.
>
>"This study of mining is a great example of how archaeology bridges
>the social and physical sciences," he said.
>
>The National Science Foundation and the Heinz Foundation funded the
>Mina Primavera excavation. Next, Vaughn will be excavating a
>habitation site that has a 4,000-year occupation in hopes of
>understanding the long-term settlement history of the region.
>
>"I hope to continue surveying for mines and mining-related sites in
>the region, and hopefully undertake additional excavations at the
>mine," he said.
>
>Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723,
><mailto:apatterson@purdue.edu>apatterson@purdue.edu
>
>Source: Kevin J. Vaughn, (765) 494-4700,
><mailto:kjvaughn@purdue.edu>kjvaughn@purdue.edu
>
>Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096;
><mailto:purduenews@purdue.edu>purduenews@purdue.edu
>
>PHOTO CAPTION:
>Kevin J. Vaughn, a Purdue assistant professor of anthropology, holds
>a pottery fragment he discovered at an excavation site in Nasca,
>Peru. The piece of pottery is from about the 5th century A.D., which
>is the same time period as other artifacts he uncovered at Mina
>Primavera. Vaughn hypothesizes the mine was the source of some of
>the iron ore pigments used to produce the vibrant colors as seen on
>this pottery.  (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
>
>A publication-quality photo is available at
><http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2008/vaughn-peru.jpg>http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2008/vaughn-peru.jpg
>
>
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>ABSTRACT
>
>Hematite Mining in the Ancient Americas: Mina Primavera, A
>2,000-Year-Old Peruvian Mine
>
>Kevin J. Vaughn, Moises Linares Grados, Jelmer W. Eerkens and
>Matthew J. Edwards
>
>Mina Primavera, a hematite (Fe2O3) mine located in southern Peru,
>was exploited beginning approximately 2,000 years ago by two Andean
>civilizations, the Nasca and Wari. Despite the importance of
>hematite in the material culture of ancient Americas, few hematite
>mines have been reported in the New World literature and none have
>been reported for the Central Andes. An estimated 3,170 tonnes of
>hematite were extracted from the mine for over 1,400 years at an
>average rate of 2.65 tonnes per year, suggesting regular and
>extensive mining prior to Spanish conquest. The hematite was likely
>used as pigment for painting pottery, and the mine demonstrates that
>iron ores were extracted extensively at an early date in the Americas.
>
>
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