NEW EVIDENCE ON METALWORK UNDER THE INKA DOMAIN AND THE BEGINNING OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST IN THE SANTIAGO VALLEY (CENTRAL CHIL0E)

Abstract

We present the characterization of five metallic objects from the sites of Talleres-Cocheras del Metro and Salvador 1, both located in the Santiago basin. Morphological, microstructural, and chemical composition analyses indicate that the objects from the first site are an unalloyed copper horseshoe manufactured by casting, two iron horseshoe fragments and a coppertin alloy chisel, whereas the artefact from Salvador 1 is a chisel made of a copper-tin alloy. The results are compared to contemporary pieces from central Chile and the semiarid north, concluding that the chisel from Salvador 1 might be part of a pre-Inka tradition, characteristic of the southern sector of the semiarid north, while the Talleres-Cocheras chisel may be the product of a later tradition, with technological influences from northwestern Argentina that had been spread by the Inka. In addition, the copper horseshoe was probably manufactured in central Chile following a pre-Hispanic technological style typical of the southern Andes, suggesting a possible continuity of this metallurgical tradition under Spanish rule.