Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T23:10:56.924Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Composition, colour and context in Muisca votive metalwork (Colombia, AD 600–1800)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

María Alicia Uribe Villegas  and
Marcos Martinón-Torres
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Chemical analysis of the stunning Muisca metalwork shows that the alloys of copper and gold were especially composed for each offering. Traditionally, the Muisca objects have been collected and studied as works of art. Our authors show that when it comes to drawing understanding of people from the objects they have left us, context is all. The results have much to reveal to metallurgists and students of symbolic metalwork everywhere.

Keywords

Colombiapre-Columbianarchaeometallurgygoldtunjochemical analysis
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 333 , September 2012 , pp. 772 - 791
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012 

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

Davis-Kimball, J. & Twilley, J.. 1981. Tunjos: Muisca votive art from Colombia, Part I: historical background. Ornament: A Quarterly of Jewelry and Personal Adornment 5/2: 6–9.Google Scholar
Davis-Kimball, J. & Twilley, J. 1982a. Tunjos: Muisca votive art from Colombia, Part II: description. Ornament: A Quarterly of Jewelry and Personal Adornment 5/3: 17-18, 55–57.Google Scholar
Davis-Kimball, J. & Twilley, J. 1982b. Tunjos: Muisca votive art from Colombia, Part III: technical examination and chemical analysis. Ornament: A Quarterly of Jewelry and Personal Adornment 5/4: 12–17.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A.M. 1989. Orfebrer´ıa prehispánica en el altiplano central colombiano. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 25: 3–42.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A.M. 1993. La tierra del oro y el cobre. Parentesco e intercambio entre comunidades orfebres del norte de Colombia y áreas relacionadas. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 34-5: 3–76.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A.M. 1997. La ofrenda y la semilla: simbolismo del oro entre los Uwa. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 43: 3–37.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A.M. 2003. The seed of life: the symbolic power of gold-copper alloys and metallurgical transformations, in Quilter, J. & Hoopes, J.W. (ed.) Gold and power in ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia: 345–81. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A.M. & Nates-Parra, G.. 2002. Las hijas del sol: las abejas sin aguij´on en el mundo de los U’wa, Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia, in Ulloa, A. (ed.) Rostros culturales de la fauna: las relaciones entre los humanos y los animales en el contexto colombiano: 175–214. Bogotá: Instituto Colombiano de Antropolog´ıa e Historia.Google Scholar
Falchetti, A.M. & Plazas, C.. 1973. El territorio de los muiscas a la llegada de los espa˜noles. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, Departamento de Antropolog´ıa.Google Scholar
Freestone, I., Price, J. & Cartwright, C.. 2009a. The batch: its recognition and significance. Annales du 17me Congrés de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre: 130–35.Google Scholar
Freestone, I., Yegingil, Z. & Arik, R.. 2009b. Scientific analysis of glazed tile from the Seljuq palace of Kubad-Abad, Lake Beysehir, Turkey, in McCarthy, B., Chase, E.S. & Allis, L. (ed.) Scientific research on historic Asian artefacts: proceedings of the fourth Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art: 3–8. London & Washington, D.|C.: Archetype in association with the Freer Gallery of Art.Google Scholar
Freestone, I., Kunicki-Goldfinger, J., Gilderdale-Scott, H. & Ayers, T.. 2010. Multi-disciplinary investigation of the windows of John Thornton, focusing on the Great East Window of York Minster, in Shepard, M.B., Pilosi, L. & Strobl, S. (ed.) The art of collaboration: stained glass conservation in the twenty-first century: 151–58. Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar
González, L.R. 2004. Historias de poder, brillos y colores: el arte del cobre en los Andes prehispánicos, in El arte del cobre en el mundo andino: 8–59. Santiago de Chile: Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino.Google Scholar
Hosler, D. 1994. The sounds and colors of power: sacred metallurgical technology of ancient West Mexico. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hosler, D. 1995. Sound, color and meaning in the metallurgy of ancient West Mexico. World Archaeology 27/1: 100–115.Google Scholar
Hough, R.M., Butt, C.R.M., Fischner-Bühner, J.. 2009. The crystallography, metallography and composition of gold. Elements 5: 297–302.Google Scholar
Langebaek, C.H. 1986. Las ofrendas en los Andes Septentrionales de influencia Chibcha. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 16: 40–47.Google Scholar
Langebaek, C.H. 1987. Mercados, poblamiento e integraci´on étnica entre los Muiscas, Siglo XVI. Bogotá: Colecci´on Bibliográfica Banco de la Rep´ublica.Google Scholar
Langebaek, C.H. 1995. Regional archaeology in the Muisca territory. A study of the F´uquene and Susa valleys. Pittsburgh (PA): University of Pittsburgh; Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes.Google Scholar
La Niece, S. 1998. Metallurgical case studies from the British Museum's collections of pre-Hispanic gold. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 44-5: 139–59.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1977. Style in technology. Some early thoughts, in Lechtman, H. & Merrill, R.S. (ed.) Material culture: style, organization and dynamics of technology. Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society: 3–20. New York: West Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1979. Issues in Andean metallurgy, in Benson, E.P. (ed.) Pre-Columbian metallurgy of South America: 1–40. Washington, D.|C.: Trustees for Harvard University.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1988. Traditions and styles in Central Andean metalworking, in Maddin, R. (ed.) The beginning of the use of metals and alloys: 344–78. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1994. The material science of material culture: examples from the Andean past, in Scott, D. & Meyers, P. (ed.) Archaeometry of pre-Columbian sites and artifacts. Proceedings of a symposium organized by the UCLA Institute of Archaeology and the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, California, March 13-27, 1992: 3–11. Los Angeles (CA): The Getty Conservation Institute.Google Scholar
Lleras-Pérez, R. 1995. Diferentes oleadas de poblamiento en la prehistoria tard´ıa de los Andes Orientales. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 38-39: 3–11.Google Scholar
Lleras-Pérez, R. 1999. Prehispanic metallurgy and votive offerings in the eastern Cordillera Colombia (British Archaeological Reports international series 778). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Londo˜no, E. 1986. Un mensaje del tiempo de los Muiscas: el caso de un ofrendatario Muisca encontrado en Fontib´on. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 16: 48–57.Google Scholar
Londo˜no, E. 1996. El lugar de la religi´on en la organizaci´on social muisca. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 40: 63–87.Google Scholar
Martin´on-Torres, M., Valcárcel rojas, R., Cooper, J. & Rehren, TH.. 2007. Metals, microanalysis and meaning: a study of metal objects excavated from the indigenous cemetery of El Chorro de Ma´ıta, Cuba. Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 194–204.Google Scholar
Newman, R., Hill, C. & Wang, D.. 1991. Pre-Columbian Muisca tunjos: a technical re-examination. Archeomaterials 5: 209–229.Google Scholar
Oliver, J.R. 2000. Gold symbolism amongst Caribbean chiefdoms: of feathers, Cibas and Guan´ın power amongst Ta´ıno elites, in McEwan, C. (ed.) Pre-Columbian gold. Technology, style and iconography: 196–219. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Pérez De Barradas, J. 1958. Orfebrer´ıa prehispánica de Colombia: estilos tolima y muisca. Madrid: Talleres Gráficos Jura.Google Scholar
Plazas, C. 1998. Cronolog´ıa de la metalurgia colombiana. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 44-45: 3–77.Google Scholar
Plazas, C. & Falchetti, A.M.. 1986. Cultural patterns in the pre-Hispanic goldwork of Colombia, in Plazas, C. (ed.) Metalurgia de América precolombina/Pre-Columbian American metallurgy. Bogotá: Banco de la Rep´ublica.Google Scholar
Restrepo, V. 1952 [1888]. Estudio sobre las minas de oro y plata de Colombia. Bogotá: Banco de la Rep´ublica.Google Scholar
Rovira, S. 1994. Pre-Hispanic goldwork from the Museo de América, Madrid: a new set of analices, in Scott, D.A. & Meyers, P. (ed.) Archaeometry of pre-Columbian sites and artifacts. Proceedings of the symposium UCLA Institute of Archaeology: 323–50. Los Angeles (CA): The Getty Conservation Institute.Google Scholar
Saunders, N.J. 2002. The colours of light: materiality and chromatic cultures of the Americas, in Jones, A. & MacGregor, G. (ed.) Colouring the past: the significance of archaeological research: 209–26. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Saunders, N.J. 2003. ‘Catching the light’: technologies of power and enchantment in pre-Columbian goldworking, in Quilter, J. & Hoopes, J.W. (ed.) Gold and power in ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia: 15–47. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks.Google Scholar
Scott, D.A. 1982. Pre-Hispanic Colombian metallurgy: studies of some gold and platinum alloys. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Shimada, I. 1996. Sican metallurgy and its cross-craft relationships. Bolet´ın Museo del Oro 41: 27–61.Google Scholar
Shimada, I., Griffin, J.A. & Gordus, A.. 2000. The technology, iconography and social significance of metals: a multi-dimensional analysis of Middle Sican objects, in Mcewan, C. (ed.) Pre-Columbian gold: technology, style and iconography: 28–61. London: The British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Simmons, S., Pendergast, D.M. & Graham, E.. 2009. The context and significance of copper artifacts in Postclassic and Early Historic Lamanai, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 34: 57–75.Google Scholar
Sim´on, F. P. 1625[1981]. Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias occidentales. Bogotá: Biblioteca Banco Popular.Google Scholar
Uribe, M.A. In press. Contexto, significado y color en la selecci´on de materiales en la orfebrer´ıa muisca. Un estudio anal´ıtico e interpretativo de la composici´on qu´ımica de artefactos muiscas de metal. Bogotá: Bolet´ın de Arqueolog´ıa, Fundaci´on de Investigaciones Arqueol´ogicas Nacionales, Banco de la Rep´ublica.Google Scholar
Uribe, M.A. & Martin´on-Torres, M.. 2012. Typology, technology, composition and context of Muisca metalwork (Colombia, AD 600-1800): a database. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 1(1). doi:10.5334/data.1331810205.Google Scholar