Naipes, Standardized Middle Sicán (ca. C.E. 1000) Sheetmetal Objects: New Insights from Archaeometric Studies

Summary

This poster highlights emerging results of the ongoing study that aims to further characterize the technological strategies, standardization practices, and social relations associated with the production of naipes during the Middle Sicán (900 – 1100 CE) period on the north coast of Peru. Initially conducted as part of MSc. research under the supervision of J. Merkel, archaeometric (pXRF, SEM-EDXS) and metallographic (chemical etching, optical microscopy, microhardness) analyses were carried out on thirty-one naipes – excavated by the Proyecto Arqueológico Sicán under the direction of I. Shimada – from the sumptuous East Tomb of the Middle Sicán site of Huaca Loro, Peru. As analytical investigations of naipes have thus far been limited and either based on the Sicán examples or wider surveys of different contexts, the current study represents the most intensive archaeometric and metallographic study of naipes to date. Results suggest that naipes within a given bundle were produced from variable ore sources and compiled from multiple production events based on their arsenic content and morphology, demonstrating that standardization practices were employed by observationally skilled artisans and that the material properties of naipes conveyed important social meanings embedded in much larger Sicán value systems surrounding metal alloys.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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