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Ecuadorian Cinnabar and the Prehispanic Trade in Vermilion Pigment: Viable Hypothesis or Red Herring?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard L. Burger ,
Kris E. Lane  and
Colin A. Cooke
Richard L. Burger*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street. New Haven, CT, United States, 06520-8277
Kris E. Lane
Affiliation:
History Department, Tulane University, 6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans LA, United [email protected]
Colin A. Cooke
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3 [email protected]
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]
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Abstract

Cinnabar ore is the source of a bright red pigment (mercury [II] sulfide, HGS), a substance that was highly valued in the Central Andes during prehispanic times. It is traditionally believed to come from Huancavelica in south-central Peru, although some scholars have argued that a prehispanic cinnabar source existed at Azogues near Cuenca in southern Ecuador. It has also been suggested that the cinnabar recovered at archaeological sites in northern Peru such as Baton Grande may have come from this putative Ecuadorian source. In this article, the historical and archaeological evidence supporting this position is evaluated and found to be insufficient to sustain the Ecuadorian Cinnabar Hypothesis. Moreover, recent mercury isotope analysis of archaeological samples from northern Peru supports the earlier hypothesis that the source of the bright red pigment, sometimes referred to as vermilion, was cinnabar ore mined in Huancavelica. This source is located over 850 km to the south of archaeological sites such as Batdn Grande, Chongoyape, and Pacopampa.

Resumen

Resumen

El cinabrio (sulfuro de mercurio) es lafuente de unpigmento rojo conocido como bermellόn. Este material fue altamente valorizado en los Andes Centrales durante el periodo prehispánico. Aunque tradicionalmente se ha asumido que el cinabrio vino de Huancavelica, ciudad ubicada en la region sur-central del Perú, algunos investigadores han propuesto que existiό una fuente en Azogues, cerca de Cuenca, al sur de Ecuador. También se ha sugerido que el cinabrio que fue utilizado en sitios arqueolόgicos como Batán Grande, en el norte del Perú, pudo haber sido tratdo de dicha fuente. En este articulo se evaliia la evidencia historica y arqueologica que sustenta esta propuesta, la cual parece ser insuficiente para sostener la hipόtesis del cinabrio ecuatoriano. Además, los andlisis recientes de isόtopos de mercurio sobre muestras arqueolόgicas del norte del Perú sustentan la hipotesis que lafuente del pigmento bermellon utilizado fue cinabrio obtenido en las cameras de Huancavelica, ubicadas 850 km hacia el sur.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 22 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2016

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