HuayrachinasandTocochimbos: Traditional Smelting Technology of the Southern Andes

Abstract

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Late Pre-Hispanic and Early Colonial Silver Production in the Quebrada De Tarapacá, Northern Chile

“…7; Tropper 2009 Ms). It is unclear whether the high levels of lead in these furnaces is due to the addition of lead metal, lead ore, or litharge to silver-bearing ore to produce lead-silver bullion or if the furnaces were used for smelting pure lead, similar to what has been observed ethnographically (Van Buren & Mills 2005;Cohen et al 2008). This lead would have then been used to collect silver in smelts of polymetallic ores or in later purification stages.…”

“…They were approximately 84 cm, or one vara, in height. Many variants of this type of furnace likely existed both historically and prehistorically (see e. g., Petersen 1970;Niemeyer et al 1984;Graffam et al 1996;Raffino et al 1996;González 2002;Van Buren & Mills 2005), but the two most commonly described are a stationary or fixed furnace constructed of stones in a mud-mortar matrix, and a portable version with thinner walls made of clay. Historically, huayras were used to produce lead-silver bullion, although modern ethnographic examples demonstrate that huayras can also be used to produce pure lead metal that is subsequently used in the scorification and/or cupellation stages (Van Buren & Mills 2005;Cohen et al 2008).…”

“…High-grade silver minerals were first ground and then smelted with a mixture of soroche and/or asendrada. Soroche has been identified as galena, a lead sulfide ore that frequently contains small quantities of silver (see also Garcilaso de la Vega 1941Vega -1943Vega [1609Petersen 1970;Lechtman 1976;Howe & Petersen 1994;Acosta 2002Acosta [1590; Van Buren & Mills 2005). Asendrada is litharge, or lead oxide, which is produced in the final cupellation stage of silver refining.…”

“…1 Ethnohistoric sources suggest that huayras were relatively similar in form and physical attributes, but perhaps differed in their construction materials and whether they were fixed or portable (Barba 1923(Barba [1640; Garcilaso de la Vega 1941Vega -1943Vega [1609 1973;Oehm 1984;Van Buren & Mills 2005). These sources generally describe furnaces that were columnar in shape, flaring at the top and somewhat narrower at the bottom, and perforated by numerous holes through which the wind would have blown to heat the charge ( fig.…”

Using the present to interpret the past: the role of ethnographic studies in Andean archaeology

“…Van Buren and Mills (2005) identified a metalworker in Porco (Bolivia) using a huayrachina (wind-furnace) to smelt lead and undertake silver cupellation.…”