New research of the sediments allowed researchers to discover what was smelted at what time. By retrieving a one-metre lake-sediment core, Colin Cooke, a University of Alberta Ph.D. candidate in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and his research team were able to measure the amount of metal pollution deposited in the lake over the past 1,000 years.
"We found the Andean people switched to smelting silver around 1450 AD, about the same time the Incas moved into the area," said Cooke.
He and his research team believe the switch to silver was made so the Andean people could pay the heavy taxes the Incas demanded in the form of silver objects.
Cooke said the research also revealed that atmospheric pollution increased tenfold when the Spanish arrived about 80 years later. He attributes that to a dramatic increase in production once the Spanish arrived.
Although it was known the Incas used silver extensively, this is the first time evidence of local smelting has been found. The research was published in the most recent issue of Environmental Science and Technology.
Cooke, who is the first author on the paper, believes there hasn't been any evidence of smelting yet because archaeologists typically deduce matters based on finding artifacts rather than look for environmental clues. As pre-colonial smelters were likely made of clay, they are poorly preserved in the archaeological record. As a result, Cooke and his team looked for the environmental legacy of smelting.
Other research team members include Dr. Mark Abbott of the University of Pittsburg, Dr. Alexander Wolfe of the U of A and Dr. John Kittleson from Pennsylvania State University.
Abbott and Wolfe had previously found evidence of pre-Inca silver smelting in the Bolivian Andes and published their findings in Science in 2003.
The research team now plans to do a bigger survey to investigate how the technology was spread throughout what was then the New World.
To help find those answers, Cooke studied Spanish documents that indicate where colonial mining took place in the Andes from 1533 onwards. Based on those documents, he identified and will study a series of sites from Ecuador to Bolivia and hopes to reconstruct the evolution of metallurgy in the New World.
Source: University of Alberta
Related stories:
Archaeologists discover Roman fort
University of Exeter archaeologists have discovered a Roman fort in South East Cornwall. Dating back to the first century AD, this is only the third Roman fort ever to have been found in the county. The team believes its location, close to a silver mine, may be significant in shedding light on the history of the Romans in Cornwall.
Study: Inhabitants of early settlement were desperate to find metals
A new study provides evidence that the last inhabitants of Christopher Columbus’ first settlement desperately tried to extract silver from lead ore, originally brought from Spain for other uses, just before abandoning the failed mining operation in 1498. It is the first known European extraction of silver in the New World.
Archaeologists to establish true value of Roman silver coins
An archaeologist at the University of Liverpool is examining more than 1,000 Roman silver coins from museums around the world in order to establish their true economic value.
Smoke smudges Mexico City's air, chemists identify sources
Mexico City once topped lists of places with the worst air pollution in the world. Although efforts to curb emissions have improved the situation, tiny particles called aerosols still clog the air. Now, atmospheric scientists from UC San Diego and six other institutions have sorted through the pall that hangs over the city to precisely identify aerosols that make up the haze and chart daily patterns of changes to the mix.
Between water and rock -- a new science
Water chemistry and mineralogy are scientific fields that have been around long enough to develop extensive knowledge and technologies. The boundary of water and rock, however, is not a thin wet line but the huge new field of nanoparticle science.
Opium and marijuana research go underground
The world’s leading expert on the opium poppy has joined forces with researchers working on another infamous drug-producing plant – cannabis – in hopes of finding new uses for the much-maligned sources of heroin and marijuana.
Mercury concentrations in fish respond quickly to increased deposition
A joint Canadian-American research team have, for the first time, demonstrated that mercury concentrations in fish respond directly to changes in atmospheric deposition of the chemical. The international team’s research began in 2001 at the Experimental Lakes in Northern Ontario and is featured in this week’s
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The mysterious case of Columbus's silver ore
Silver-bearing ore found at the settlement founded by Christopher Columbus's second expedition was not mined in the Americas, new research reveals. The ore that researchers excavated from the settlement, La Isabela, came from Spain, said Alyson Thibodeau, who analyzed the ores.
