Andean reverberation furnaces. The dynamics of innovation and transfer of indigenous and european metallurgical technologies

Abstract

Bringing together information from colonial-era historical sources, archaeological data, and the results of archaeological experimentation, this work addresses reverberation furnaces, a kind of metallurgical furnace used in the southern Andes from the first moments of Spanish colonial efforts to produce silver in the region. Evidence of this three-chamber oven (composed of a fire chamber, vaulted work chamber, and chimney), has been identified and studied in different mining and metallurgical contexts in the south of Bolivia (Potosí, Santa Isabel, Mina Santiago, Escoriani, among others). Here, we show the continuities between pre-Hispanic metallurgy and reverbation furnaces. We challenge the general characterization of these furnaces as a European tradition, and propose instead that they were the result of local technological developments and later spread throughout Europe.