Procobre Perú - History of Copper

HISTORY OF COOPER IN PERU

Four to five thousand years B.C. great transformations took place due to climatic changes. Agriculture presupposed a sedentary life since, between one harvest and the next, man had time to invent new utensils, perfect them technologically and give them some artistic form.

At that time copper was already known. One of the most ancient copper devices ever known dates back to this era. It was a piece of laminated copper that probably hung from a necklace or other piece of jewelry. This piece is from about 50 A.D. and was found in Moquegua. Man knew not only agriculture, but also worked in ceramics, in gold and in silver, and he also built homes and temples. All this progress led to the advent of wars because man had to confront challenges for his land and water holdings.

Therefore it became necessary to perfect weapons. All this finally resulted in the formation of a class of leaders that, among other things, used clothes and ornaments to distinguish them as such. This phase is known as the "formative period". Little by little, man learned to work with metals, and went from poorly elaborated metallurgical processes to learning skills that would be perfected in later stages.

However, man was not yet a miner. There is evidence of metal work in Chongoyape -Lambayeque, showing the clear influence of Chavin culture as well as those of the Vicus-Chulucanas, Piura civilizations, that worked especially in copper, gold and gilded copper using the technique known as "Mise en Couleur", that consisted of corrding the surface of a copper and gold alloy with acids extracted from the juice of plants, that ate away the copper leaving the gold intact.

Characteristics of this culture's metallurgy are gilded breastplates and pectorals, provided with abundant pendant pieces; even more sophisticated was the Frias-Ayabaca, Piura metallurgy. As the formative period ended, the cultural apogee began. Civilizations during this era were the Mochica, Nasca, Tiahuanaco and Huari.

The Mochicas, notable potters, inherited a magnificent metal tradition from their ancestors, the Vicus. The Nasca, famous for their chromium plating and the extraordinary brilliance of their ceramics, as well as the great deployment of colors in their tapestries which showed some artistic metal indication although poor compared to the northern tradition. The Tiahuanaco and Tiahuanaco-Huari cultures covered the lower "Altiplano" zone to the Ayacucho area and from there expanded their zone of influence to the North of Peru, during successive historic periods. From 500 to 700 A.D., metallurgists flourished in Tiahuanaco. Copper and tin were alloyed to make hard, resistant bronze, and pieces were also cast in fine detail. Special copper bars were cast and used to fix gigantic foundation stones for especially imposing buildings. This era was followed by the hegemony of the Huari, which left us, among other things, a copper bludgeon, the first metal weapon utilized in the defence of Cerro Baul-Moquegua.

After all these came the later civilizations, outstanding among which were the Chimu. These were skillful in copper as well as gold and silver metallurgy. Chimu works in metals formed the main ransom of the Incas. Chronicler Pedro Cieza de Le¢n recounts that Chimu craftsmen were taken to Cuzco because they were the most skillful in working metals. This was also true of the men of Lambayeque (the Lord of Sipan comes from this culture), who perfected the technique of elaborating laminated sheets.

They were master craftsmen in an alloy of copper and gold known by the Caribbean name of "tumbaga".The next important civilization was that of the Incas whose dominion extended to Colombia to the North and Chile to the South. The Incas made no changes in metallurgy. However, they did develop more mineral. There were large Incaic smelting centers and there the metals were brought from all over. Work in the mines was regulated by the "Mitas", that meant for four months of the year. For this reason the use of copper became more generalised. There was intensive exploitation utilizing abundant labor. This was in open cut mining. There was also underground mining but on a much lesser scale because work could only be carried out during daylight. The work on seams was effected by blows with stone mallets, helped by wooden wedges; fire was also used. Crushing was done using mortar and tubs and the concentration by means of running water that ended in special recipients. Casting was carried out in ovens or "huayras" ("winds" in Quechua) to benefit from the natural force of the wind. There remain no vestiges of these huayras, but we know of them from Conquest chroniclers. Copper in its natural state seldom appeared on the surface; it was more commonly found in copper salicylated, carbonated and oxychloride ores. Moreover, the Incas worked well in bronze, which they reached through two alloys: copper with tin and copper with arsenic. Copper was utilized to make axes, chisels, knives, balls for bars, mirrors, needles, etc. When the Spaniards arrived, the attitude towards metals changed, each unreconcilable with the others, because for some the metal had a financial value and for others it was sacred and utilitarian. In Spain gold and silver were given great importance, but copper was forgotten. However, it was this latter metal and its alloys which was of the greatest importance in the Andean world, not only from the utilitarian point of view but also from the social and cultural ones. In Andean culture, the color of gold, and not the gold itself, was important, as can be seen in cultures from Chavin to the twilight of the Inca Empire.

The coming of the Republic brought an era of struggles for power that lasted nearly the whole of the second half of the 19th Century. Then, in this century, there was a resurge in mining again, especially copper mining. But this is now history. Large companies were installed to exploit copper; they were committed to national development and, by applying peak technology, have made copper the country's most important product. Today, copper has multiple uses due to its indisputable advantages compared to other materials and new technologies. Copper continues to have a utilitarian application but weapons of war are no longer manufactured and neither is gold or silver works made for a great Lord. The copper industry has developed and will continue to do so, because between copper and Peruvian man there is, as we have seen, an ancestral commitment.