|
INDICE
|
|
Metallurgy and anthropology: two
studies from prehispanic America
WARWICK BRAY
INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
|
|
|
Fig. 1. Distribution of diagnostic items of the Initial Metal
Group and of Early Tairona double spirals. The illustrated pieces
are from excavated sites in Panama: a, C, e from El Cafetal; b from
Las Huacas; d from La In dia-l (see Cooke & Bray
1985).
|
|Acknowledgements: This paper
draws on conversations with many colleagues over a period of years.
I would especially thank Richard Cooke, Ana María Falchetti,
Roberto Lleras, josé Oliver, Clemencia Plazas, Fred Lange, Jalil
Sued Badillo and María Alicia Uribe. Fig 6 was drawn by Tessa
Rickards. An earlier version of this paper was delivered to the
symposium 'Metalurgia Prehispánica de América' at the 49th
International Congress of Americanists (Quito), and I am grateful
to the Museo del Oro, Bogotá, for making my attendance at this
meetin pssible.
|Abstract: Orily raw material and technology differentiate
metallurgical objects from other cultural artifacts. Many
archaeo-rnetallurgists usually stress to much technical topics,
thus ignoring cultural problems, wich are more important. This
article examines some "anthropologic" (non-technologic) issues in
the study of pre-Columbian metallurgy on the basis of two cases:
the goldwork produced by Chibcha speaking groups of Caribbean
Colombia and Central America, and the meaning of guanin
(gold-copper alloy) in the Caribbean.
|Resumen: Los únicos elementos que diferencian los objetos
de metalurgia de otros artefactos culturales son la materia prima y
la tecnología de fabricación. Muchos arqueometalurgistas han
exagerado el énfasis en los aspectos técnicos ignorando los
problemas culturales, que son mayores. Este artículo examina
algunas perspectivas "antropológicas" (no tecnológicas) para el
estudio de la metalurgia prehispánica.
The impetus for this essay is a conviction that studies of
archaeological metalwork can contribute to mainstream anthropology.
In this wider context we must look for ways in which the artifacts
can be used as a bridge into the minds of the people who made them,
and also as a bridge between scientific analysis and
anthropological theory.
My contribution presents two studies based on work in progress.
The first one takes as its point of departure the belief-systems
encoded in metal objects from Colombia and the Isthmus. The second
study deals with indigenous attitudes towards metal itself, in this
case the gold-copper alloy (guanín) used in the Antilles at the
time of European contact.
|