Supergene Copper and the Ancient Mining Landscapes of the Atacama Desert: Refining the Protocol for the Study of Archaeological Copper Minerals through the Case Study of Pukara de Turi

Minerals

Andrew Menzies¹  Andrés Troncoso²  Diego Salazar²  Frances Hayashida³  Beau Murphy³  Juan González⁴  Pía Sapiains⁵  César Parcero-Oubiña⁶  Valentina Figueroa⁷  Rodrigo Loyola⁸  Cristián González⁹ 

[1] Bruker Nano GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany;Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800284, Chile;Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA;Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción 4090541, Chile;Doctorado en Ciencias mención Geología, Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta 1240000, Chile;Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio (Incipit), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain;Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo (IIAM), Universidad Católica del Norte, San Pedro de Atacama 1410000, Chile;Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo (IIAM), Universidad Católica del Norte–UMR 7055 Prehistoire et Technologie (PreTéch), Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 92000 Nanterre, France;MPhil/Ph.D. Programme, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK;

关键词: copper minerals;    micro-XRF;    archaeometry;   

DOI  :  10.3390/min11121402

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Northern Chile is home to the world’s largest copper ore deposits, which have been exploited for thousands of years by different groups, at varying scales and for different purposes. In this context, it is important to develop new protocols to characterise the mineralogical variability of archaeological copper ores. A comprehensive and representative methodology in the analysis of minerals, the application of non-destructive analytical techniques, and the combination of insights from geological, archaeological and local knowledge are key to developing a copper mineral repository of the Atacama Desert area. Geochemical analyses were applied to the study of 568 samples from the archaeological site Pukara de Turi, with different techniques such as micro-XRF, XRD, QEMSCAN, Raman spectroscopy and technological studies. This exhaustive analysis allowed for the recognition of two mineralogical associations: atacamite/brochantite (99%) and azurite/chrysocolla (1%). The study of various minerals allows data to be interpreted more reliably and to trace the likely geological sources of these minerals. The azurite/chrysocolla samples appear to belong to the same mineral association found in the Cerro Verde district, which is probably the source of these samples. The atacamite/brochantite samples appear to come from more than one geological source, including, but not limited to, Chuquicamata-Radomiro Tomic and El Abra-Conchi.

【 授权许可】

Unknown