Arqueologia
Prehistoric mine from 12,000 years ago in Chile [Current Anthropology/UC Press]
Archaeologists have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in Chile that marks the oldest evidence of organized mining ever found in the Americas, according to a report in the June issue of Current Anthropology.
A team of researchers led by Diego Salazar of the Universidad de Chile found the 40-meter trench near the coastal town of Taltal in northern Chile. It was dug by the Huentelauquen people—the first settlers in the region—who used iron oxide as pigment for painted stone and bone instruments, and probably also for clothing and body paint, the researchers say.
The remarkable duration and extent of the operation illustrate the surprising cultural complexity of these ancient people. "It shows that [mining] was a labor-intensive activity demanding specific technical skills and some level of social cooperation transmitted through generations," Salazar and his team write.
An estimated 700 cubic meters and 2,000 tons of rock were extracted from the mine. Carbon dates for charcoal and shells found in the mine suggest it was used continuously from around 12,000 years ago to 10,500 years ago, and then used again around 4,300 years ago. The researchers also found more than 500 hammerstones dating back to the earliest use of the mine.
"The regular exploitation of [the site] for more than a millennium … indicates that knowledge about the location of the mine, the properties of its iron oxides, and the techniques required to exploit and process these minerals were transmitted over generations within the Huentelauquen Cultural Complex, thereby consolidating the first mining tradition yet known in America," the researchers write. The find extends "by several millennia the mining sites yet recorded in the Americas."
Before this find, a North American copper mine dated to between 4,500 and 2,600 years ago was the oldest known in the Americas.
Fonte: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/05/archaeologists-uncover-oldest-mine-in.html (19/05/2011)
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Arqueologia
Archaeologists uncover oldest mine in the Americas
Prehistoric mine from 12,000 years ago in Chile [Current Anthropology/UC Press]Archaeologists have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in Chile that marks the oldest evidence of organized mining ever found in the Americas, according to a report in the June issue of Current Anthropology.
A team of researchers led by Diego Salazar of the Universidad de Chile found the 40-meter trench near the coastal town of Taltal in northern Chile. It was dug by the Huentelauquen people—the first settlers in the region—who used iron oxide as pigment for painted stone and bone instruments, and probably also for clothing and body paint, the researchers say.
The remarkable duration and extent of the operation illustrate the surprising cultural complexity of these ancient people. "It shows that [mining] was a labor-intensive activity demanding specific technical skills and some level of social cooperation transmitted through generations," Salazar and his team write.
An estimated 700 cubic meters and 2,000 tons of rock were extracted from the mine. Carbon dates for charcoal and shells found in the mine suggest it was used continuously from around 12,000 years ago to 10,500 years ago, and then used again around 4,300 years ago. The researchers also found more than 500 hammerstones dating back to the earliest use of the mine.
"The regular exploitation of [the site] for more than a millennium … indicates that knowledge about the location of the mine, the properties of its iron oxides, and the techniques required to exploit and process these minerals were transmitted over generations within the Huentelauquen Cultural Complex, thereby consolidating the first mining tradition yet known in America," the researchers write. The find extends "by several millennia the mining sites yet recorded in the Americas."
Before this find, a North American copper mine dated to between 4,500 and 2,600 years ago was the oldest known in the Americas.
Fonte: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/05/archaeologists-uncover-oldest-mine-in.html (19/05/2011)
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- Archaeologist Investigates Legend Of Mythical Ruler Of Ancient Peru
Posted by TANNAmericas,ArchaeoHeritage,Archaeology,Breakingnews,Peru,South America. Long before the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1530 and brought with them a written language with which to record history, legends about ancient Peru were passed down through...
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A University of Missouri archeologist has found a 4,000-year-old statue in Peru that gives new insight into an ancient agricultural society. Foto: A 4,000-year-old mud figure flanked by foxes was found in Peru [Credit: MU News Bureau] Exposed sculpture...
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The 100th anniversay of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu will highlight the current ransacking of the area's archaeological treasures. [Credit: Alamy] Por Rory Carroll Etched into the surviving art of the Moche, one of South America's most ancient...
- Discovery Of Oldest Northern North American Human Remains Provides New Insights Into Ice-age Culture
In ScienceDaily — Scientists have discovered the cremated skeleton of a Paleoindian child in the remains of an 11,500-year-old house in central Alaska. The findings reveal a slice of domestic life that has been missing from the record of the region's...
- California Islands Give Up Evidence Of Early Seafaring: Numerous Artifacts Found At Late Pleistocene Sites On The Channel Islands
In ScienceDaily — Evidence for a diversified sea-based economy among North American inhabitants dating from 12,200 to 11,400 years ago is emerging from three sites on California's Channel Islands. Reporting in the March 4 issue of Science, a 15-member...