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Cerro Rico Silver Mines de Potosi, Bolivia -
May Predate Inca -



Bolivia Silver Mines May Predate Inca -
Experts Say -
Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News -
September 25, 2003

Silver mining in the Bolivian Andes was a well-established
industry 400 years earlier than commonly thought,
The sediments, which date from about A.D. 1000 to 1200, provide
evidence of a major pre-Inca silver industry.
The timing coincides with the waning years of the Tiwanaku
Empire, which dominated the Bolivian Andes from about
A.D. 400 to 1000.

Legend holds that the silver deposit wasn't discovered
until the mid-15th century and that the discovery
was made by Inca ruler Huayna Capac.

"It's not completely unexpected that there was some smelting
going on at that time," said Mark Abbott, a geologist at
the University of Pittsburgh, and a co-author of the study.

"What is unexpected, I think, is the magnitude;
there was a lot going on, and the metal is not accounted
for in the archaeological record."

Very little archaeological work has been done in the region,
and so it is unclear whether the artifacts of the Tiwanaku
have simply not been found yet, or whether they were looted
and recycled by first the Inca and then the Spanish
when they arrived in Potosi in 1545.

History in Lake Sediments

The oldest archaeological site in South America containing metal
artifacts is located in coastal Peru;
the artifacts are dated to between 1400 B.C. and 1100 B.C.
From 200 B.C. to A.D. 1000, sheet metal working was
pervasive throughout the Andes.

When the Spanish arrived in the area,
Inca silver mining was a huge industry, said Abbott.

But there is a curious gap in the archaeological record
from about 1100 to 1450, a period known as
the Altiplano Period, that separates the Tiwanaku
and Inca empires.

To fill this gap, Abbott and Alexander Wolfe extracted
a 74.5 centimeter (29.3-inch) sediment core from the deepest
part of the lake nearest to Cerro Rico, the largest silver
deposit in the Bolivian tin belt.

By analyzing the accumulation of metals associated with
smelting, a heating process used to separate metals,
like silver, from ore, they were able to detect spikes
in the metal concentrations that are indicative of
heavy mining.

The data suggest that several thousand tons of silver
were produced in pre-Inca times.

The study is published in the September 26 issue of
the journal Science.

"The findings are likely to generate controversy because
the lake sediments hold a record of what was going on
that's not supported by the archaeological record,"
said Abbott.

"But analyzing sediment and pollution trails is a way
to use geology and chemistry to look at human history
in a different way.

Even a thousand years ago that lake was pretty polluted."



The first silver mining in the Bolivian Andes was done 400
years earlier than previously believed, according to a
study published today.

The accumulation of the metal in nearby lake sediments indicates
a large pre-Inca silver industry.

Ancient Iberian silver coins—not known to be made from
the Bolivian silver—are pictured above.

Photograph copyright Bates Littlehales,
National Geographic Society -



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