SPECIAL EDITION Se eee eeN CRN Ry 2005 WW itonteeymtate Ancient Ones= ¥ The Lost if Citeg sl riety — 9 Everyday Life ae in « os fe) “ if Pry (onic e 24 4 i , Equality 9 Gold Masters of | parr | | aPrecious Metal Objects of the MIDDLE SICAN A Peruvian culture older than the Incas made unprecedented use of gold and other metals. Studies of Sican metalworking techniques offer hints about this mysterious society Id ceremonial masks and knives are popular symbols of pre-Hispanic Peruvian culture. Examples adorn the covers of books on Peruand serve as, ‘emblems for some Peruvian institutions. These precious metal artifacts are often attributed, even by knowledgeable per- sons, to the Incas or to their coastal ri: vals, the Chima, Yet many of them are not Incan of Chimiat all: they were cre- ated much earlier by the Sican culture, ‘which was centered in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru and flourished from the ninth to the 14th centuries. ‘The Middle Sican era, between 900 and 1100 C.E., produced enormous quantities of precious metal artifacts, many showing extraordinarily high craftsmanship. We and our colleagues 80 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN from several disciplines have seruti nized the metalwork from one Middle Sicén trovein an artempt to reconstruct, the technology and organization of pre- cious metal production and to define the meaning of those products within the culture. We determined that the scale and the range of metal use by the people of the Middle Siean was unprec ‘edented inthe pee-Hispanic New World ‘That culture's extensive production of arsenical copper ushered the bronze age into northern Peru. Gold alloys were the ‘most prestigious media for political, so- cial and religious expression. In fact, we suspect that metallurgical production ‘was a prime mover of Middle Sicain cul tural developments. Ambiguity and ignorance have tradi tionally shrouded precious metal arti By Izumi Shimada and Jo Ann Griffin OWA NATIONAL MstoriealSanctuaryis. locatedonthe northern coast ofPeru The first tomb of member ofthe Middle Siedn ruling tlass tobe scientiically excavatedis atHuaca Lore, an adabe platform moundwithin the oma sanctuary, Excavation revealed myriad precious metal objects and muchnew Information about what had been alte known presncaculture, MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT ONES saan (ap), Yorn osExcavating a Middle Sican Tomb facts of the Middle Sicdn. Almost all of those in private and public collections ‘were looted from tombs within what is today the Poma National Historical Sanctuary in the mid-La Leche Valley, about 800 kilometers north of Lima. ‘The modern period of intensive grave robbery began in the 1930s. Treasure hunters sank vertical prospecting pits into likely spots, then dug horizontal tunnels outward. With the discoveries ‘of more rich tombs, the extent of the looting continued to increase through the 1940s and 1950s. It culminated in the late 1960s, when a bulldozer was ‘employed for a year to remove the sur- face oil so that outlines of the comb pits could be seen more easily. Looting took place sporadically until the mid-1970s, effectively hindering any longe-term sci- entific study of the regional prehistory When one of us (Shimada) began fil work in 1978, he counted more than 82 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN large 100,000 looters’ holes and hundreds of Jong bulldozer trenches on aerial photo- graphs of the Poma sanctuary. The lack of contextual information for those looted artifacts greatly limits understanding of their sociopolitical, religious and economic significance. Moreover, looters and collectors often took questionable and undocumented measures to “restore” stolen artifacts. Pigments, feathers and ancient tool marks on gold objects could have been removed by careless cleaning. “Miss ing” inlay pieces or bangles were often arbitrarily replaced. Asa result, the ap- pearance of objects cannot be taken at face value, which limits the informa- tion that can be drawn from them. Any attempr to understand the objects, their ‘cultural significance and the techniques used in their manufacture is therefore best founded on those artifacts scien: tifically recovered from intact rombs. sifrom he tomb TOMB AT HUACA LORO eid the remains of a member ofthe Sicén elit, a man 40 to 5D years of age (1). He was feeompanied by twe young women and two cilsren, who had apparently been sacrifices. The rectangle shows the body ofthis elt Inaivigual, who was buried ina seates, detachea ramhisboa fo thatthe top pointed upward. His face was c ‘enclosed by the sition. His head had been and bent back bye \dmask(2], whichis also shown shortly afterremev- ensively deformed and restoration process (4), Aakingof.Inaition tothe bodies and their elaborate cav- erngs, the tomb contained 1.2 tons of eiverse grave goods {shrmostofprecious meta. THE OPPORTUNITY fogain justsuch an understanding came about with the first scientific excavation of the tomb of a member of the Middle Sicdn elite at Hoaca Loro,an adobe platform mound in the Poma sanctuary. The tomb was apparently one of a string left by the Middle Sicén, some of which had al- ready been looted, along the east and south bases of Huaca Loro. Shimada recognized it during a survey of Batin Grande in 1978. He planned its excava tion over thenext 10 yearsas part of his, broader sampling of Sicdn tombs for the elucidation of that culture’s social ‘organization. Preparations included as sembling a group of specialists and piecing together a Sicén cultural chro- nology, as well as the performance of ‘other background research, In particular, Shimada needed to make certain that the groundwater lev MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT ONEScl was sufficiently low to allow safe ex- cavation. He also gave a series of pub- lic talks on the scientific value of the planned tomb excavation to local resi- dents, who were weary of tomb looting. ‘The chamber was finally excavated, under Shimada’s supervision, by the Sicin Archaeological Project between October 1991 and March 1992. The central person buried in the tomb was a 40- to 50-year-old man who had been one of the elite. He was accompanied by the bodies of two ‘women and two children who appar- ently had been sactificed. The si month excavation yielded approxi- ‘mately 1.2 tons of diverse grave goods packed in a burial chamber roughly three meters on a side at the bottom of an I1-meter vertical shaft. By weight, ‘metal objects and scrap account for nearly three quarters of the grave goods, Most of the objects, according to a systematic analysis of some 1,000 samples by Adon Gordus, professor of chemistry at the University of Michi- gan at Ann Arbor, appear to be 12- to 18-karat gold-silver-copper alloys roughly equivalent to the gold com- monly used today for jewelry. Some ob- jects and nearly all the serap are tum- ‘aga, gold-silver-copper alloys that are high in copper and have a few to 10 karats, Arranged concentrically, the objects surrounded the body of the man, which was thoroughly painted with cinnabar (an intensely red paint made up of mer- cure sulfide and a binder), The body was seated and placed in an inverted po- sition [see (1) in box on opposite page]. ‘The head, with its three sets of attached car ornaments and its large gold mask, was detached from the body and rotated 180 degrees so that his head was right side up and facing west. A mantle (its cloth long since decayed) onto which nearly 2,000 gold foil squares had been sewn was laid on the floor underlying. the inverted body. Placed on, around and underneath the body were a staff with gold and tumbaga ornaments on top of a wooden shaft, a gold headdress with a sculptural representation of an animal head, a pair of gold shin covers, a pair of meter-long tumbaga gloves (one holding a gold cup with a silver rar tle base), a gold ceremonial knife (or tui) and a cluster of six magnificently made pairs of gold earspools. His chest was bedecked with a nearly 10-centi: ‘meter-thick layer of beads (made of so- dalite, amethyst, quartz crystal, tur- quoise, amber, fluorite, calcite, shell and. other materials). Farther away, near the edges of the chamber, were about 500 kilograms of tumbaga scrap and more than 250 kilograms of arsenical copper implements, | __By far the most impressive find within therombis Gold Cache 1, which ofthe burial chamber. Inside a ectan- gular box lined with woven mats were atleast 60 major objects, most of gold sheet, the balance of iter or tombaga Thise of ritual paraphernalia and personal bands, a east 12 tumi-shaped head ornaments, at least six sets of gold featherhead ornament thre nanbaga fansand 14 lange disks that were either ornaments for staffs or the backs of headdress. At the bottom were the largest objects: Four ses of parabolic headdresses that would have been set on top and infront of the eown, Two ofthe seven niches carved into the walls of the burial chamber also contained metal objects. A pit dug into the largest niche, inthe east wall, wae packed with an estimated 1,500 bun. Ales of naipes. These arsenical copper sheet objets of uniform shape and ire may have served as currency. Each bun. Aleconsisted of 12 or 13 naipes. The pit also held two silver alloy tm knives, thousands of small gold foil squares and atleast wo dozen tumbaga masks identical in shape othe large gold mask on the buried man but smaller, echni- cally inferior and less ornamented. A second niche contained Gold Cache 2—another collection of gold orna: ments and ritual objects, We also te. covered from this grave more than 50 kilograms of diverse stone and shel beads, the carved wooden frame of a Titer, about theee kilograms of einna- bar and 21 ceramic vessels, Notable contensinclided clusters of 179 thorny oyster (Spondylus princeps) and 141 Conus (C. ferguson topical seashells | probably imported from coastal Eeua che contains a peculiar mixture UM! SHIMADA and the late JO ANN GRIFFIN joined forces to investigate the precious ‘metal artifacts theSicén.Shimadahas conducted feldworkon the northcoastof Pera forthe past 30 years and maintain interestsin ancient technologies and the evolution of complex societies, Anativeof Japan, Shimada received his Ph.D. fromthe University of rizona. He joined the department of anthropology at Southern Ilinais University in 1994. Grif had for almost 30 years been a goldsmith and conservator specializing in re-Hispanicmetalurgy,workingwith someof the largest public and private collections of pre-Hispanic gold in the world, Updated from the April 1994 Issue 83niques sed by the Sian goldsmiths are demonstated by JoAnn Gaff, one ofthe authors ofSicdn sheet etatabjects began with aningot of metal. Usingthe domed face ofthe hammerstone, the ancient goldsmith struck theingotonastone anvil involves using nother umboge tooltopushupthe gross form dor. These shells are known to have held considerable symbolic value relat ing to and ferclity. Our study differed from earlier ones in two important respects: we had ac cess to materials from an intact tomb, and we had the benefit of the insights of working specialists. Most pub: lished studies have focused on single as- pects of the manufacture or use of pre Hispanic precious metal artifacts, Such studies relied primarily if not exclusive he concepts of life force, water ly on laboratory analyses of looted ob- jects. Also, the investigators who have made inferences about the manufactur- | ing techniques have rarely had personal knowledge of metalworking as a craft, The reconstructions emerging from 84 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN the sheet, the metalworker Usedthe fat faceafthehammer This process also remaved dimples caused by the domed ace Themetalworker applies detailsto the rontothe object by engraving orembossing those narrow, academic studies are therefore tenuous and biased. What this area of archaeology needs is more com- prehensive studies of scientifically exca- vated samples from a multitude of ana- lytical and interpretive perspectives. Only then will we gain an in-depth ap- preciation forthe organization of metal production and the meaning of metal products within a culture—a “holistic vision” of metallurgy. ‘One of us (Griffin) a skilled metal smith and longtime conservator, had experience with many pre-Hispanic collections. Because of her background, she was able to elucidate much about Sican precious metal production by ex mining the Huaca Loro artifacts. Spe cialists in related fields helped us to the sheet toshape was done with ‘tumbage cise! interpret the evidence of other metal samples, feathers, beads and remains, including human skeletons, associated with the metal objects. From its documented beginning around 1500 B.C.E., Andean metal- lurgy emphasized the use of sheet met- al fashioned from ingots with stone anvils and hammers, in contrast to gold works in Central America and Colombia, where lost-wax casting was the main technique. Gold crowns and other ornaments found at various sites are all essentially gold sheets decorated with repoussé and cutout designs. In terms of the dimensions, smoothness, consistent thickness and overall quan- tity, the objects from the Huaca Loro tomb are prime examples ofthis sheet metal tradition, The primary tools for making sheet and wire are handheld stone hammers and companion anvils, chisels and chasing tools made of arsenical copper and tumbaga. The hammers are com: monly of magnetite, hematite or fine grained basalt; they range from very tiny to the size of a man’s fist. One hammer face is usually domed for stretching the metal, and the other face is flat for planishing—removing the shallow dimples left by the stretching blows. When properly executed, this technique yields a flat, smooth sheet. Though simple to describe, the task r quites considerable time and skill. Be- MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT ONEScause the sheet-metal maker must forge the gold while its cold, the metal must be annealed regularly to prevent stress cracks. Many gold objects in the Huaca Loro grave attest to remarkable exper- Many gold objects i only about 0.15 to 0.18 millimeter thick, The smith knew just how much to planish the sheer to give it the right amount of springiness soit would wave with each movement of the head but not crack or bend, in the Huaca Loro grave are the imprints of fine threads that ap- parently stitched them to some cloth backing. The overall design and struc ‘ure, as with the u-shaped headdress es, allowed the feathers to sway gently with head movements while staying rig- attest to remarkable expertise in sheet making, tise in sheet making. Consider, for ex- ample, the long borders on four para- bolic head ornaments. Two of them are two-meter-long continuous strips of forged metal with an even width (around 4.5 centimeters) and thickness (about 0.15 millimeter)—vietuoso per- formances in sheet making. The mask (46 by 29 centimeters) that covers the face of the man buried in the tomb is another tour de force. It was fashioned froma sheet about 0.6 millimeter thick. The metal, composed of 52 percent gold, 31 percent silver and 17 percent copper (about 12.5 karats), had to be thin to keep down the mask’s weight (only 677 grams) yer thick enough to allow the large naturalistic nose to be raised some four centimeters from the center without causing stress cracks. The high silver content, in addition to the gold ofthe alloy, provided the mal- leability necessary for the job. Silver: copper sheet metal was used for the whites of the eyes with a large pierced amber and emerald bead representing the iris and pupil of each eye, respec- tively. Our analysis indicates that the amber and emeralds were most likely imported from Colombia. Overall, the mask represents an elegant solution to the technical challenges as well as aes- thetic and symbolic considerations of the Middle Sican culture More than a dozen tumi-shaped headdresses provide additional illustra tions of expert sheet-metal making. ‘The tang, or stem, of each headdress had to be narrow but sufficiently stout (about a millimeter thick) to stay up- right when inserted into a turban or ‘crown socket. At the top the sheet is The same is true for six sets of gold feathers that are believed to have been part of an elaborate headdress. The sets wwe have studied consist of 11 or 12 feathers, each about 20 to 21 centime- ters long and two centimeters wide. Each feather tapers in thickness from the stem (abour 0.10 millimeter) to the ‘upper tip (about 0.07 millimeter). The sets as a whole have a fan shape: the central feather is straight, and those to the sides are increasingly more curved to the right or left. The component feathers are mechanically joined by straps and slots near their stems. Below the straps, each feather hasa slight ridge along the longitudinal axis to provide some rigidity. Preserved on the stems Closer Look id and light enough to mount securely oon the headdress. In general, Middle Sicdn precious metalworking empha- sized movement as much as color (not only of gold but those of feathers, inlays and paints) and sound, ‘The six pairs of gold earspools found near the southeast corner of the tomb demonstrate a level of technical mastery rarely seen in pre-Hispanic gold objects. They display a constella- tion of design features that may well represent. single school of goldsmiths. The varied and advanced metalwork ing effects, not usually found together, include forged wire, true filigree, excel- lent finish and polish, and protobraz~ ing. Protobrazing is a superbly simple —_— THROUGH TS FLAWS, ag helps reveal the method craftsmen, Thebe modern drawing (elon) The toolused forchasing was too wide andits edges toosharpto execute overheating there are alse traces of sllveron the lower part ofthe god beaker, ting that partofthesiverbase melted accidencaly while twa joinedtathe bottom af the beaker. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 85method of joining gold or silver alloys that utilizes either the copper in those alloys or the verdigris (copper acetate) in an organic glue. The pieces to be joined are heated over charcoal ina re- duction atmosphere; atthe right ten perature a new alloy forms where the ‘metals touch, To prevent the earspools from devel- ‘oping a torque while being inserted into the earlobes, the metalsmiths had made them froma relatively heavy gauge met- al about 0.35 00.55 millimeter thick) ‘might be called a “sketch” or trial piece, shows how the Sicén goldsmiths gradu- ally refined the mechanical solutions to problems posed by an intricate new de- sign. In this pair, very fine gold wire was used to anchor a circular frame to the ¥-brace below it. Other pairs, which ‘were presumably made later, show the use of permanent protobraze joins for the same purpose, An additional indication of careful planning comes from the gold mask, ‘which has ts own pair of largeearspools, SWALL GLO MASK about seven centimeters Inheight} shows the exquisite chasing repoussé details that are characteristic of these imetalworkers.Aclose-upof the eyes and nose luminates the oval indentation eftby the tals, cutout designs. It fit onto the base of the gold beaker and was intended to con- tain rattle stones, Part ofthe rim of che silver base is melted, and the base shows an “orange peel” texture, the result of ‘overheating, The lower part ofthe gold beaker displays a distinctly gray semi- circular coating that extends up the side, where a patt of the silver base rim is missing. Those features suggest that partof the rim melted accidentally while the silver base was being joined to the bottom of the gold beaker. The cup was Sican culture must have employed a sizable COTPS of master sheet makers who produced sheet good: The front flange was domed by striking it from the back with a hammer against a shallow depression, probably in wood. ‘The resultant domed flange greatly in- creased the twist strength while adding needed depth to the design of the piece. Intheee of the pairs the metalsmiths implemented complex decorative de- signs by means of mechanical solutions that are simple and elegant. One such solution is the “tab and slot” joining of the sheet metal that forms the central rod connecting the front and back flang- ¢s. In several pais the smiths also used wire structural supports to create the illusion thatthe central elements of the design “float” within the frame of che front flange. One pair of the earspools, which 8G SclENTIFIC AMERICAN anchored directly on the metal earlobes by straps and slots. Not only do the size and shape ofthe earlobes match those of, the back flanges of theearspools, but the slots forall three straps on each ear also match. The slots were punched through both pieces simultaneously by the same vertical strokes. Iris quit likely chat the ‘mask and all the earspools were m facrured according to high-quality tan- dards in che same workshop. Not all of the objects found in the Huaca Loro tomb are flawlessly fin. ished. One exampleis the small double bottomed beaker (about 12 centimeters hhigh and 10 centimeters in diameter) found in the hand of a ceremonial gold slove. The base of the beaker is made of a raised silver sheet ornamented with cal S for various applications. placed in the brazier upside down. It ‘would nor take more than a few seconds of overheating for the silver co mele and create the observed features. The base Of the gold beaker was covered by a flash of melting silver as it flowed down, towaed the heat source. In general, the flawed pieces are most informative as to the manufacturing techniques and process, Sound Practice the beaker are also informative. For ex- ample, itis decorated with three chased representations of a Sicén lord, To cre- ate the image, the goldsmith used a tool called a tracer about three to four mil- limerers in width. That tool was too MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT ONESwide and its edges too sharp for execut- ing the round chin of the figure’s faces asa result, the chin line is ragged. The ‘metalworker made no attempt to cor- rect the error when the chasing was fin- ished on the outside of the beaker. This kind of mistake generally indicates haste or an apprentice worker. The goldsmith would have stopped frequently to anneal the piece to prevent stress cracks from developing. How could he have known when to anneal? Immediately after annealing, the metal ‘emits a dull sound when struck with a hammer. After repeated blows, the pitch of the sound becomes much high- ety rising from a thuk sound to a think, With experience, one can tel from the pitch when itis time to anneal. The impressive scale of sheet mak- ing during the Middle Sicdn can best be seen in the 500 kilograms of scrap piled along the edges of the burial chamber at Huaca Loro. These piles are apparently not unique: local old-time looters recall finding similar quantities of scrap in other tombs nearby. In addi- tion, we documented the extensive use of tumbaga sheets to line the interior of the gigantic Middle Sican tomb at Hua- ca Las Ventanas. That tomb measured 15 by 15 meters atthe mouth and three by three meters at the bottom, which was about 11 meters below the surface, Rectangular sheets of set dimensions ‘were carefully placed side by side on the interior surface. They were then cov- cred with cotton cloth that was painted with elaborate polychrome religious images and scenes. The total surface area of the sheets lining this tomb may hhave exceeded 100 square meters. ‘The scrap is essentially small pieces leftover from sheet-metalworking pro- cesses and rejects from manufacturing, mishaps. It includes, for example, a partially used twmbaga ingot, square gold foils with poorly executed perfora- tons, broken wires and bells, and sheet-metal trimmings that still retain the outline of the cutout pieces. Such scrap would have been carefully saved for recycling into new ingots. The scrap clearly represents an enor- ‘mous investment of manpower and ma- RECONSTRUCTION ofthe principal person inthe Huacs Lore tomb shows him inhisreglia. tis based ona golé cut-out igure, found insie histomb, thatis thought torepresent him. He holds a ceremonial staffin islet dart thrower and dartsin his ight. ‘These andtheltems he wears were all found onorciosetohim within the tomb, terials, Its presence inthe tomb testifies to the political power ofthe person bur- ied there. In one experiment, using an- cient stone hammers, Griffin needed abouta day and half to produce uni- formly thin sheet 10 by 15 centimeters in size from a 30-gram gold nugget. Moreover, the ancient Sicén metal- ‘workers added another step: they teat- cd tumbaga sheets with acid, which ds solved some of the copper near the sur: face. Asa result, the tumbaga sheets had an appearance that approximated that of 24-karat gold. This process is generally known as depletion gilding. ‘The metalsmiths then burnished the sheets, which imparted an excelent fn ish and compacted the layer of spongy gold left by the depletion gilding. In our ‘opinion, this compacted layer is the peeling gold often seen on gilded tum- baga pieces. Some researchers have proposed that this gilt was deposited electrochemically, but none of the ex- aminations of the sheets conducted by us and others using microscopes and clectron microprobes can find any evi- dlence to support that idea. Sica culture must have employed a sizable corps of master sheet makers who produced sheet goods for various applications. The remarkable degree of control over forging and finishing seen in these objects argues persuasively that those activities were in the hands of fall-time specialists. These master sheet makers would have been assisted by per- haps dozens of apprentices who would have carried out repetitive and time ‘consuming tasks, such as burnishing or SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 87the early stages of remelting scraps to | prentices and a sizable output. Sheet prepare ingots for making sheets. making, which entails long hours of Thismaster-apprentice arrangement | rhythmic hammering periodically inter- is clearly visible in the manufacturing | rupted by annealing, most likely took stages of other objects, One crown in | place in a well-ventilated room. Polish- particular shows well-done chasingand | ing was probably done in a separate, perforations in the front but uneven | well-protected room, because airborne hhammerblowsand perforations, aswell | sand and other contaminants would as ine-scribed guidelineson the back. It | ave wreaked havoc with the polishing. is likely that the front was begun by a | efforts. Significantly, multiroom adobe master who showed an apprentice how | structures atop the north platform of the remainder was to be done and then | Huaca Loro and northeast of Huaca went on to another task Las Ventanas have benches, split-level This type of workshop would prob- | floors, and many dispersed spots where ably have required series of multiroom | onecan find slag fragments, droplets of shops, each with a fair number of ap- | copperalloysand evidence that fire was Making an Earspool Ap so00s represent some ofthe mest technologically sophisticated metalwork ofthe Middle Sicdn. Aback view bottom eft] shows construction detail, including an X-shaped brace attached by protobrazing. Aside view [bottom ight} details another method of joining, the slot-and-tab construction Spools ae about 10 contimetersin diameter. 8B scleNTIFIC AMERICAN used there. Those two areas were prob- ably centers of metalworking, Making metal sheet requires great finesse. The shaping and ornamenta- tion of gold objects would have been in the hands of even more consummate master specialists. Because of their ex: ceptional quality, innovative designs and technical distinctiveness, the mask and earspools in the Huaca Loro tomb are probably the products of only one or two masters. Other gold objects, we suspect, were manufactured in other workshops. Although those workshops may have performed different func~ | tions, itis unlikely chae they were iso lated: part of the apprenticeship train- ing would have depended on frequent association with the masters. The ap- prentices were no doubt given tasks, such as making bangles, that were in- structive but did not pose too many technical challenges. Some of the observed technical variation may reflect the goldsmiths’ personal styles. Many of the gold ob: jects from Huaca Loro are nearly iden tical in size and shape but were clearly made in different ways. For example, ‘on some rattles, bangles were attached tothe “floating” circular bands by pro- tobrazed wires, whereas others were attached by wire loops. Some of the sharp gold nails used on a dare thrower were cut in a sawtooth pattern from hhand-forged wire with a chisel; others ‘were cut from the end of wire that had been filed to a conical shape. Such observations lead us to con clude thar the production of metal ob- jects was organized into task-specific work groups, which in turn were based oon a nested hierarchy of masters, ap- prentices and other supportive person- nel, Precious metalworking must not be viewed in isolation from other crafts. Considerable effort had to go into the procurement and preparation of feath~ ers, cinnabar, hematite and other mate- rials that covered the metal objects. Turquoise, shells, bitumen and other substances were needed for inlays. Res- ins and pitch had to be prepared to make adhesives. Cloth had to be woven as a backing material. We know that MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT ONESarsenical copper was produced on a large scale at specialized settlements close to the mines. All these activities need to be considered to appreciate the impressive magnitude and co of the production of sumpruary goods during the Middle Sican, Meaning of Metalwork FOR THE SICAN PEOPLE tohavein vested so much effort in meta metal objects must have held strong meaning for them. We have developed some working hypotheses about what thar meaning was. Gold objects seem to have been the aesthetic locus of Middle working, Sicén art—they embodied the highest standards for artistic expression in the culture. And itis among the gold ob: jects that we find the most explicit ex pressions of the important Middle Sicén icons and scenes. Ceramic deco: rations, in comparison, present only partial or simplified versions of these portrayals Differential access to a range of metals seems to have marked the social strata. Approximately five dozen exca. vated burials can be grouped into those that contain no metal objects, those that contain only arsenical copper, those that have arsenical copper and tumbaga items, and those that have gold in addition to those other mater als, Tumbs ver, seems to have been used to symbol: ize political power or high social status and to convey religious messages. In © of production and the jumbaga appears to top along with gold and sil range of use, 4 ‘CUTOUT FIGURES {about 12centimeters inheight) once decoratedtheupper right sleeve ofthe drese ‘wornbyoneafthetwo Sacrificed women, the list of precious metals. Yet it was ) ducted, he would have worn various secondary to gold in the perception of | headdresses—sometimes a crown deco- the Middle Sicdn elite. The personal or- | rated with sets of gold feathers or tum rnaments immediately surrounding the | shaped ornaments, sometimes a large central body at Huaca Loro were all | parabolic headdress in addition to the gold. The twnbaga objects were placed | crown, The upper perimeter and drap. at the periphery of the burial chamber, | ing sides of that parabolic headdress | bably auxiliary. | would have been decorated with color: | Inother words, the gold objects were | ful bird feathers and bangles that | reserved for the personal use (including | reached almost to the shoulders. Over and their use was pr ‘ornamentation and ritual parapherna- | his face he would have worn a gold lia) ofthe highest elite, whereas gilded | mask. He was probably carried on a tumbaga was used to decorate itemsas- | wooden litter decorated with thecarved sociated with them as well asthe objects | heads of mythical animals, The litter used by lower-echelon elites. Tumbaga | was likely to have been flanked by peo: allowed those ower instatustocmulate | ple waving long tumbaga fans and pre their social superiors. Gilded tumbaga | ceded by someone holding a staff or with relatively low gold content would | standard almost two meters high, have beenamost practical substitutefor | which was bright and colorful with meeting the broad demand forrichgold- | gold and feathers. With each step, each colored sheet metal breathofairthebangleygodteahers | Many of the precious metal objects | and other delicately articulated metal found in the comb were probably used | objects would have been setin motion | together in public settings for ostenta- | tocreatea dazzling visualand auditory tious displays to impress onlookers. | effect. tis not hard to be entranced by The full ceremonial regalia of the im- | the thought ofthat luminous figure—or portant person buried in the Huaca | by thoughts of what future studies of Loro tomb offers a vivid example. Sican artifacts may yet tell us about MTSE Copper-Alloy Metallurgy in Ancient Peru I2umiShimada and John F.Merkelin Scientific American Vol. 265, No.1, pages 0-6, July 1994 ASicén Tomb in Peru, tum Shimada and John Merkelin Minerva, Vol. 4,No. 1, pages 18-25 January/February 1993, Technology, Iconography, and Social Significance of Metals: AMulti-Dimensional Analysis of Middle Sieh Objects. ium Shimada, JoAnn Grifin and Adon Gordus in Precolumbian Gold: Technology, Styleand eonography. Edited by Colin McEwan. British Museum Prese, 2000, An Integrated Analysis ofPre-Hispanie Mortuary Practices: A Middle Sicdn Case Study Izumi Shimada, Kenichi Shinoda, Julie Farnum, RbertCorrucini and Nirekatsu Watanabe In Current | Anthropology, Vol. 45, No, 3;pages 269402, 2004 | Depending on the ritual to be con- | that lost culture = | SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 89