Yanaconas del rayo. reflexiones en torno a la producción de metales en el espacio surandino (Bolivia, siglos xv-xvi)

Abstract

While pre-Hispanic mining in the Andes is generally understood to have been limited to the exploitation of superficial deposits, pre-Hispanic metallurgy reached high levels of technological development. Metallurgical techniques permitted the production of complicated alloys and sophisticated objects. Spanish takeovers of New World mines brought Spaniards into contact with knowledge and techniques unknown to them at the time. These rich mines and the specialists working them were concentrated in the high-altitude lands of Qollasuyu. In this article, we use data obtained from mining and metallurgical sites located in the Bolivian altiplano (Berenguela, Potosi-Porco, San Antonio de Lipez) and cross-reference them with information found in historical sources, in order to address certain aspects of metal production in the southern Andes during the Incan Period and the Period of Contact (XV and XVI centuries).