Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T19:38:21.149Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ecuadorian Cinnabar and the Prehispanic Trade in Vermilion Pigment: Viable Hypothesis or Red Herring?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard L. Burger ,
Kris E. Lane  and
Colin A. Cooke
Richard L. Burger*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street. New Haven, CT, United States, 06520-8277
Kris E. Lane
Affiliation:
History Department, Tulane University, 6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans LA, United [email protected]
Colin A. Cooke
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3 [email protected]
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cinnabar ore is the source of a bright red pigment (mercury [II] sulfide, HGS), a substance that was highly valued in the Central Andes during prehispanic times. It is traditionally believed to come from Huancavelica in south-central Peru, although some scholars have argued that a prehispanic cinnabar source existed at Azogues near Cuenca in southern Ecuador. It has also been suggested that the cinnabar recovered at archaeological sites in northern Peru such as Baton Grande may have come from this putative Ecuadorian source. In this article, the historical and archaeological evidence supporting this position is evaluated and found to be insufficient to sustain the Ecuadorian Cinnabar Hypothesis. Moreover, recent mercury isotope analysis of archaeological samples from northern Peru supports the earlier hypothesis that the source of the bright red pigment, sometimes referred to as vermilion, was cinnabar ore mined in Huancavelica. This source is located over 850 km to the south of archaeological sites such as Batdn Grande, Chongoyape, and Pacopampa.

Resumen

Resumen

El cinabrio (sulfuro de mercurio) es lafuente de unpigmento rojo conocido como bermellόn. Este material fue altamente valorizado en los Andes Centrales durante el periodo prehispánico. Aunque tradicionalmente se ha asumido que el cinabrio vino de Huancavelica, ciudad ubicada en la region sur-central del Perú, algunos investigadores han propuesto que existiό una fuente en Azogues, cerca de Cuenca, al sur de Ecuador. También se ha sugerido que el cinabrio que fue utilizado en sitios arqueolόgicos como Batán Grande, en el norte del Perú, pudo haber sido tratdo de dicha fuente. En este articulo se evaliia la evidencia historica y arqueologica que sustenta esta propuesta, la cual parece ser insuficiente para sostener la hipόtesis del cinabrio ecuatoriano. Además, los andlisis recientes de isόtopos de mercurio sobre muestras arqueolόgicas del norte del Perú sustentan la hipotesis que lafuente del pigmento bermellon utilizado fue cinabrio obtenido en las cameras de Huancavelica, ubicadas 850 km hacia el sur.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 22 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Berry, Edward W., and Singewald, Joseph T. Jr. 1922 The Geology and Paleontology of the Huancavelica Mercury District. Johns Hopkins Studies in Geology No.2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Blum, Joel D. 2011 Applications of Stable Mercury Isotopes to Biogeochemistry. In Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, edited by Mark Baskaran, pp. 229–243. Springer, Berlin.Google Scholar
Brooks, William E. 2014 Colombia Mercury Inventory 2011. Geología Colombiana (2012)37(2):15–50.Google Scholar
Bruhns, Karen Olsen 2003 Social and Cultural Development in the Ecuadorian Highlands and Eastern Lowlands during the Formative. In Formative Ecuador, edited by Scott Raymond and Richard L. Burger, pp. 125–174. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bruhns, Karen, Burton, James H., and Miller, George R. 1990 Archaeological Investigations at Pirincay in Southern Ecuador. Antiquity 64(243):221–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burger, Richard L. 1984 The Prehistoric Occupation of Chavín de Huántar, Perú. University of California Publications in Anthropology Volume 14. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L. 1988 Unity and Heterogeneity within the Chavín Horizon. In Peruvian Prehistory, edited by Richard Keatinge, pp. 99–144. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L. 1992 Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L., and Mendieta, Ramiro Matos 2002 Atalla: A Center on the Periphery of the Chavín Horizon. Latin American Antiquity 13(2):153–177.Google Scholar
Carcedo, Paloma, and Shimada, Izumi 1985 Behind the Golden Mask: The Sicán Gold Artifacts from Batán Grande, Peru. In The Art of Precolumbian Gold: The Jan Mitchell Collection, edited by Julie Jones, pp. 60–75. Little, Brown and Company, New York.Google Scholar
Juan, Chacón Z. 1986 Historia de la minería en Cuenca. Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca.Google Scholar
Juan, Chacón Z. 1990 Historia del corregimiento de Cuenca (1557–1777). Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito.Google Scholar
Cooke, Colin A., Balcom, Prentiss H., Biester, Harold, and Wolfe, Alexander P. 2009 Over Three Millennia of Mercury Polution in the Peruvian Andes. Proceedings of the National Academcy of Science 106(22):8830–8834.Google Scholar
Cooke, Colin A., Hintelmann, Holger, Ague, Jay J., Burger, Richard, Biester, Harold, Sachs, Julian P., and Engstrom, Daniel R. 2013 Use and Legacy of Mercury in the Andes. Environmental Science and Technology 47:4181–4188.Google Scholar
Humboldt, Alexander von 1814 Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Translated by John Black. 3 vols. Vol. III. Longman, Hurst, Rees, London.Google Scholar
Hunt-Ortiz, Mark, Conseguera-Rodriguez, Susana, Rio-Espanol, Pedro Dias del, Huratdo-Perez, Victor, and Montero-Ruiz, Ignacio 2011 Neolithic and Chalcolithic-IV to III Millennia BC-Use of Cinnabar (HgS) in the Iberian Peninsula: Analytical Identification and Lead Isotope Data for an Early Mineral Exploitation of the Almadén (Ciudad Real, Spain) Mining District. In History of Research in Mineral Resources. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero 13, edited by José E. Ortiz, Octavio Puche, I. Rábano, and Luis F. Mazadiego, pp. 3–13. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid.Google Scholar
Lane, Kris E. 1996 Mining the Margins: Precious Metals Extraction and Forced Labor Regimes in the Audiencia of Quito, 1534–1821. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Lohmann Villena, Guillermo 1999 La Minas de Huancavelica en los Siglos XVI y XVII. Second edition. Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica, Lima.Google Scholar
Lothrop, Samuel 1941 Gold Ornaments of Chavin style from Chongoyape, Peru. American Antiquity 6(3):250–261.Google Scholar
Morris, Craig, and von Hagen, Adriana 1993 The Inka Empire and Its Andean Origins. Abbeville Press, New York.Google Scholar
Maximina, Navarro C. 1990 Investigación Histórica de la Minería en el Ecuador. DINE, Quito.Google Scholar
Ponce Leiva, Pilar 1992 Relaciones histórico-geográficas de Quito. Abya-Yala, Quito Google Scholar
Ramos Gomez, Luis J. (editor) 1985 Edición anotada del texto original de las “Noticias secretas de América,” de Jorge Juan y Antonio de Ulloa (1735-1745). 2 vols. CSIC, Madrid Google Scholar
Ramos Vargas, Mario Alejandro 2004 El Cinabrio en los Andes Centrales. Alcances para Entender su Contexto. Revista de Investigaciones del C.E.A.R. 6:157–182.Google Scholar
Seki, Yuji 2014 La Diversidad del Poder en la Sociedad del Periodo Formativo: Una Perspectiva desde la Sierra Norte. In El Centro Ceremonial Andino: Nuevas Perspectivas para los Períodos Arcaico y Formativo, edited by Yuji Seki, pp. 175–200. Senri Ethnological Series 89. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi 1998 Bienes exóticos y metodología arqueológica. ¿Qué tan viables son nuestros datos sobre interacción interregional? In Intercambio y Comercio entre Costa, Andes y Selva: Arqueología y Etnohistoria de Suramérica, edited by Felipe Cárdenas-Arroyo and Tamara Bray, pp. 223–254. Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi 2000 The Late Prehispanic States. In The Inca World: The Development of Pre-Columbian Peru, A.D. 1000–1534, edited by Laura Laurencich Minelli, pp.49–110. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi, Shinoda, Ken-ichi, Farnum, Julie, Corruccini, Robert, and Watanabe, Hirokatsu 2004 An Integrated Analysis of Pre-Hispanic Mortuary Practices: A Middle Sican Case Study. Current Anthropology 45(3):369–402.Google Scholar
Shimada, Izumi, Klaus, Haagen D., Segura, Rafael A., and Matsumoto, Go 2015 Living with the Dead: Conception and Treatment of the Dead on the Peruvian Coast. In Living with the Dead in the Andes, edited by Izumi Shimada and James L. Fitzsimmons, pp. 101–172. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Spangenberg, Jorge E, Lavric, Jost V., Meisser, Nicolar, and Serneels, Vincent 2010 Sulfur Isotope Analysis of Cinnabar from Roman Wall Paintings by Elemental Analysis/Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry-tracking the Origin of Archaeological Red Pigments and Their Authenticity. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 24:2812–2816.Google Scholar
Truhan, Deborah L., Burton, James H., and Bruhns, Karen Olsen 2005 El Cinabrio en el Mundo Andino. Revista de Antropología 18:193–206. Cuenca, Ecuador.Google Scholar
Wolf, Theodor 1879 Viajes Científicos por la Repóblica del Ecuador. Imprenta del Comercio, Guayaquil.Google Scholar