Ancient Metal Routs in the Tarascan Señorío: Mining, Smelting, Smiting

Summary

At the Tarascan Señorío, all the metal work aspects were controlled by the uacúsecha (most important clan) leaders, from their central cities of Pátzcuaro, Ihuatzio and specially Tzintzuntzan by the Pátzcuaro Lake in central Michoacán. In this paper we present the different aspects of the metal work, and the control that the uacúsecha nobles imposed, expressed in the architecture and their most relevant adornments like metal earplugs and lip-plugs, from the mining sites in the Tierra Caliente, where are their most important mines, sites for smelting near by the mines, to another ones far away in key parts of the most relevant routs, sites far away from the mines for primary smelting and other ones where specialized artisans create unique metal items, consumed by uacúsecha nobility and all the caciques of the Tarascan territory.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Ancient Metallurgy in Mesoamerica: Local Expression and Interregional Connections

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14591