Metal del viento: aproximación experimental para la comprensión del funcionamiento de las wayras andinas
Abstract
The Andean pre-Hispanic furnaces dedicated to the melting of nonferrous minerals have been the subject of many studies since the 1970s. References to the furnaces are relatively common in docufmentary sources from the 16th century, and have been widely cited by the majority of researchers investigating ancient silver metallurgy in the Andes. However, few examples of these structures have been found in archaeological excavations, and experimental approaches are still incipient. These tests seek to understand the function of the Andean furnaces known as wayras, and the ways in which the processes of melting non-ferrous minerals occurred within them. The experimental wayras were developed based on archaeological data obtained from mining-metallurgical sites in the Department of Potosi (Bolivia), dating to the early Colonial Period and to a lesser extent pre-Hispanic times.