Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mining Archaeology in the Nasca and Palpa Region, South Coast of Peru

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Abstract

While research about mining archaeology in the Andes has focused mainly on the north coast of Peru, the south coast has been widely neglected despite some pioneering studies which pointed to the importance of the region. In the interdisciplinary Nasca–Palpa project we documented mining activities in the vicinity of prehispanic settlements. We identified mines and quarries, as well as working places with stone tools. Mineral samples were tested in the laboratory. The preliminary results demonstrate the importance of the region for the production of gold, copper, semi-precious stones and obsidian especially in the Paracas, Nasca, and Late Intermediate periods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Benfer, R. (1999). Proyecto de excavaciones en Paloma. Valle de Chilca, Perú. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP, 3, 213–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Asaro, F. (1979). Análisis de los rasgos significativos en la obsidiana de los Andes. Revista del Museo Nacional, 43, 281–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., & Glascock, M. D. (2000). Locating the Quispisisa Obsidian Source in the Department of Ayacucho, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 11, 258–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burger, R. L., Mohr Chavez, K. L., & Chavez, S. J. (2000). Through the glass darkly: Prehispanic obsidian procurement and exchange in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia. Journal of World Prehistory, 14, 267–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desaulty, A.-M., Telouk, P., Albalat, E., & Albarède, F. (2011). Isotopic Ag-Cu–Pb record of silver circulation through 16th-18th century Spain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(22), 9002–9007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eerkens, J. W., Vaughn, K. J., & Linares Grados, M. (2009). Pre-Inca mining in the Southern Nasca Region, Peru. Antiquity, 83, 738–750.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eitel, B., Hecht, S., Mächtle, B., Schukraft, G., Kadereit, A., Wagner, G. A., Kromer, B., Unkel, U., & Reindel, M. (2005). Geoarchaeological evidence from desert loess in the Nazca-Palpa region, southern Peru: Palaeoenvironmental changes and their impact on Pre-Columbian cultures. Archaeometry, 47(1), 137–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eitel, B., & Mächtle, B. (2009). Man and environment in the Eastern Atacama Desert (Southern Peru): Holocene climate changes and their impact on pre-columbian cultures. In M. Reindel & G. A. Wagner (Eds.), New technologies in archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Nasca and Palpa, Peru (pp. 17–37). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, F. A. (1966). Geografía humana prehistórica y agricultura precolombina de la quebrada de Chilca. Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, F. A. (1980). Paloma village 613: A 6000 year old “Fog Oasis” village in the Lower Central Andes of Peru. In F. A. Engel (Ed.), Prehistoric andean ecology. Man, settlement and environment in the Andes (pp. 103–135). New York: Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, F. A. (1988). Ecología prehistórica andina. El hombre, su establecimiento y el ambiente de los Andes. La vida en tierras áridas y semiáridas. Chilca, pueblo 1. Implementos de hueso. Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glascock, M. D., Speakman, R. J., & Burger, R. L. (2007). Sources of archaeological obsidian in Peru. Descriptions and geochemistry. In M. Glascock (Ed.), Archaeological chemistry. Analytical techniques and archaeological interpretation (pp. 522–552). Washington, DC: ACS symposium series 968.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • González, C., & Westfall, C. (2005). Consideraciones sobre la prehistoria de Atacama: El Salvador y sus aportes locales e interregionales. Boletín de la Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología, 38, 53–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, C., & Westfall, C. (2008). Atacameños en El Salvador: Nuevas apreciaciones sobre un fardo funerario del Cementerio Las Turquesas. Estudios Atacameños, 35, 49–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isla Cuadrado, J. (2009). From hunters to regional lords: Funerary practices in Palpa, Peru. In M. Reindel & G. A. Wagner (Eds.), New technologies for archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru (pp. 119–139). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isla Cuadrado, J., & Reindel, M. (2006a). Una tumba Paracas Temprano en Mollake Chico, valle de Palpa, costa sur del Perú/Ein Grab der frühen Paracas-Zeit in Mollake Chico, Palpa-Tel, Südküste Perus. Zeitschrift für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen, 1, 153–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isla Cuadrado, J., & Reindel, M. (2006b). Burial patterns and sociopolitical organization in Nasca 5 society. In W. Isbell & H. Silverman (Eds.), Andean archaeology III: North and south (pp. 374–400). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, S., Domergue, C., Lahaye, Y., Brey, G. P., & von Kaenel, H.-M. (2009). The lead and copper isotopic composition of copper ores from the Sierra Morena (Spain). Journal of Iberian Geology, 35, 59–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuramoto, J. (2001). La Minéria Artesanal e Informal en el Perú. Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development, 82, 1–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lechtman, H. (1976). A metallurgical site survey in the Peruvian Andes. Journal of Field Archaeology, 3(1), 1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lechtman, H. (1991). The production of copper-arsenic alloys in the Central Andes: Highland ores and coastal smelters. Journal of Field Archaeology, 18(1), 43–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lechtman, H. (2007). The Inca, and Andean metallurgical tradition. In R. Burger, R. Morris, & R. Matos Mendieta (Eds.),Variations in the expression of Inca power. A symposium in Dumbarton Oaks, 1997 (pp. 313–355). Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lechtman, H., & Macfarlane, A. W. (2005). La metalurgia del bronce en los Andes Sur Centrales: Tiwanaku y San Pedro de Atacama. Estudios atacameños, 30, 7–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lothrop, S. K. (1937). Gold and silver from Southern Peru and Bolivia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 67, 305–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lothrop, S. K. (1951). Gold artifacts of Chavin Style. American Antiquity, 3, 226–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montoya, M., Garcia, W., Caldas, J. (1994). Geologia de los cuadrangulos de Lomitas, Palpa, Nasca y Puquio. Carta Geológica Nacional 53. Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, G. (1970). Minería y Metalurgia en el Antiguo Perú. Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, U. (1979). Metallogenesis in South America: Progress and problems. Episodes 4, 3–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, U. (1989). Geological framework of Andean Mineral Resources. In G. E. Erickson, M. T. Cañas Pinochet, J. A. Reinemund (Eds.), Geology of the Andes and its relation to hydrocarbon and mineral resources. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, v. 11, Houston, Texas, 213–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reindel, M. (2009). Life at the edge of the desert. Archaeological reconstruction of the settlement history in the valleys of Palpa, Peru. In M. Reindel & G. A. Wagner (Eds.), New technologies for archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru (pp. 439–462). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reindel, M. (2010). Archäologische Forschungen der Jahre 2007 und 2008 im Anden-Transekt, Süd-Peru. Zeitschrift für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen, 3, 207–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reindel, M., & Isla, J. (2006). Culturas tempranas de la costa sur del Perú: sus evidencias en los valles de Palpa. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP, 10, 237–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reindel, M., & Isla Cuadrado, J. (2001). Los Molinos und La Muña. Zwei Siedlungszentren der Nasca-Kultur in Palpa, Südperu. Los Molinos y La Muña. Dos centros administrativos de la cultura Nasca en Palpa, costa sur del Peru.Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, 21, 241–319.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reindel, M., & Wagner, G. A. (2009). Introduction: New Methods and Technologies of Natural Sciences for Archaeological Investigations in Nasca and Palpa, Peru. In M. Reindel & G. A. Wagner (Eds.), New technologies for archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru(pp. 1–13). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Root, W. (1949). The metallurgy of the Southern Coast of Peru. American Antiquity, 15(1), 10–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruppert, H. (1982). Zur Verbreitung und Herkunft von Türkis und Sodalith in präkolumbischen Kulturen der Kordilleren. Baessler Archiv (NF), 30, 69–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruppert, H. (1983). Geochemische Untersuchungen an Türkis und Sodalith aus Lagerstätten und präkolumbischen Kulturen der Kordilleren. Berliner Beiträge zur Archäometrie, 8, 101–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlosser, S., Kovacs, R., Pernicka, E., Günther, D., & Tellenbach, M. (2009). Fingerprints in gold. In M. Reindel & G. A. Wagner (Eds.), New technologies for archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru (pp. 409–436). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer. Schulz, G.G. (2007). Kleinstbergbau auf Gold im Gebiet von Palpa/Peru. World of Mining 1: 41-47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulz, G. G. (2007). Kleinstbergbau auf Gold im Gebiet von Palpa/Peru. World of Mining, 59(1), 42–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stöllner, T. (2009). Gold in Southern Peru? Perspectives of Research into Mining Archaeology. In M. Reindel & G. A. Wagner (Eds.), New technologies for archaeology. Multidisciplinary investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru (pp. 393–407). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stöllner, T. (2011). Präkolumbischer Bergbau in den Anden. In R. Slotta (Ed.), Schätze der Anden—Chiles Kupfer für die Welt. Exhibition catalogue, Bochum, 181–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stöllner, T., Gambaschidze, I., & Hauptmann, A. (2008). The earliest gold mining of the ancient world? Research on an Early Bronze Age Gold Mine in Georgia. In Ü. Yalcin, H. Özbal, A. G. Paamehmetolu (Eds.), Ancient Mining in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean. International conference AMITEM 2008, Ankara, pp. 271–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stöllner, T., Körlin, G., Steffens, G., Cierny, J. (2003). (Eds.), Man and mining. Studies in honour of Gerd Weisgerber. Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 16, Bochum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stöllner, T., & Reindel, M. (2007). Vorspanische Goldgewinnung im Bereich von Palpa-Nasca? Bericht über eine einwöchige Prospektionskampagne an der Südküste Perus, Der Anschnitt 1, 59. Jahrgang, 2–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tello J.C. (1959). Paracas—primera parte. Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tello J. C., Mejía Xesspe T. (1979). Paracas, segunda parte: Cavernas y Necrópolis. Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N. (2009). Exotic goods, chivay obsidian, and sociopolitical change in the South-Central Andes. In C. D. Dillian & C. L. White (Eds.), Trade and exchange. Archaeological studies from history and prehistory (pp. 59–74). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripcevich, N., & Contreras, D. A. (2011). Quarrying evidence at the Quispisisa Obsidian source, Ayacucho, Peru. Latin American Antiquity, 22, 121–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uhle, M. (1913). Zur Chronologie der alten Kulturen von Ica. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris N.S., 10, 341–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding for this research has been provided by the Federal German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). The mining surveys took place in March and April 2009 and were accompanied by the authors and Dr. Ch. Dekant (Munich), P. Segura (Palpa) and Prof. Dr. G.A. Wagner (Heidelberg). Thanks to Johny Isla Cuadrado the ceramic finds were dated according to the detailed chronology of the Palpa-project; additional thanks to Annette Hornschuch and Stefanie Menic for their assistance in preparing the maps. Thanks to the laboratory of the DBM, especially Dr. Michael Bode, Dipl. Min. Dirk Kirchner, and Dr. Michael Prange as well as PD Dr. Sabine Klein at the University of Frankfurt and the Laboratories of the CEZ Mannheim (Prof. Dr. E. Pernicka, Dr. J. Lutz).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Archaeological Institute, Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures, Dürenstr. 35-37, 53173, Bonn, Germany

    Markus Reindel

  2. Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, Forschungsstelle Archäologie und Materialwissenschaften, Fachbereich Montanarchäologie, Herner Straße 45, 44787, Bochum, Germany

    Thomas R. Stöllner

  3. Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Lehrstuhl Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Thomas R. Stöllner

  4. Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Fach Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Am Bergbaumuseum 31, 44791, Bochum, Germany

    Benedikt Gräfingholt

Authors
  1. Markus Reindel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas R. Stöllner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Benedikt Gräfingholt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Markus Reindel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, College Building 2251, Berkeley, 94720-1076, California, USA

    Nicholas Tripcevich

  2. , Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, West State St 700, West Lafayette, 47907, USA

    Kevin J. Vaughn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Reindel, M., Stöllner, T.R., Gräfingholt, B. (2013). Mining Archaeology in the Nasca and Palpa Region, South Coast of Peru. In: Tripcevich, N., Vaughn, K. (eds) Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5200-3_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation