A study investigating copper smelting remains from San Bartolo, Chile

Abstract

Introduction: Research on the metallurgy of archaeological artifacts has focused primarily on the examination of objects to reveal their design, their composition, the properties of the material people selected to achieve the design, and the fabrication processes used in managing the metal to produce the end product. Recently that focus has begun to broaden, and archaeologists are taking a step back to investigate the earliest stages of prehistoric metal processing that precede object manufacture, namely ore mining and extractive metallurgy. However, little archaeological work on mining and extraction has been accomplished to date, in part because so few metal processing sites have been identified. These sites are very difficult to find because of the lack of standing architecture, particularly smelting installations. Prehistoric smelting furnaces tend to be small and are either excavated beneath the ground surface or are above ground but made of impermanent materials.