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from the this-ice-has-a-metallic-taste dept.
South America's mining industry supplies half the world with copper. The world's largest mines are located in the Andes. Yet just when copper production began there has remained unclear, until now. Very few artefacts from the early high cultures in Peru, Chile, and Bolivia have been preserved. Now, however, researchers of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Villigen, Switzerland, are on the trail of this mystery. Through analysis of ice from the Illimani glacier in the Bolivian Andes, they found out that by around 700 BC, copper was already being mined and smelted in South America. Their findings are published in Scientific Reports, an online journal of the Nature Publishing Group.
In South America, copper has been mined and smelted for around 2700 years. This has now been determined by researchers of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Villigen, Switzerland, through analyses of glacier ice from Bolivia. Copper mining in South America has enormous importance: Chile and Peru are the two largest copper producers in the world; Chile alone accounts for more than 30 percent of global copper production. Yet the beginnings of this essential industrial sector have remained obscure. The only certain evidence came from the time of the Moche culture, which flourished on the northern coast of Peru between 200 and 800 AD. Numerous copper objects from this culture, such as jewelry and ritual tools, have been found. From earlier times, however, there are few finds and no written records.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 11 2017, @03:05AM
I found this story interesting, because my prior reading suggests that the Inca had only discovered metal working a few hundred years before the arrival of the Spanish and the Portuguese. Maybe even only 200 to 250 years prior. Now we have evidence that copper was being worked long before that time.
I do note that the article doesn't specifically credit the Inca with smelting at any particular time. I suppose that other people may have been working copper for a couple thousand years before the Inca either discovered it, or conquered the people who were already smelting copper.
Wonder how different history might have been if South Americans had advanced metal working up to iron and/or steel before the arrival of Europeans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11 2017, @04:35AM
I intend to find out as soon as I get my time machine working. We're gonna fuck those Romans up real good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11 2017, @04:50AM
because my prior reading
?
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday February 13 2017, @07:19AM
[blockquote]Wonder how different history might have been if South Americans had advanced metal working up to iron and/or steel before the arrival of Europeans.[/blockquote]
They still would have got sick and died from all the new (to them) diseases that were brought over from Europe.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 13 2017, @12:25PM
Yes, but. The flu, polio, and chicken pox and measles killed a lot of Native Americans. Even so, the conquistadors and settlers still killed a lot of them, who were merely trying to defend their homes. With better weapons, they would have made a better showing against the invaders. How much better is open to controversy, but better weapons would definitely have given the natives a better chance.
Just try to imagine the Inca with rifles. Even slow loading single shot rifles - just imagine that they had iron or steel barrels with rifling in them. The Euros didn't have rifles at that point in time. So, an Incan warrior or soldier could have picked off targets from a hundred yards or more, and the Euros would have had to march into that onslaught just to get into range of their smoothbores.
Win, lose, or draw, the history books would be quite different if any of the Native Americans had advanced metal working.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 14 2017, @03:36AM
They would have had to have explosives as well and explosives by themselves may have helped.
The real problem was attitude. The natives that Columbus first met were pretty friendly. If they'd been more war like and had just killed Columbus and his crew, it would have set things back aways. Most people believed that it was hopelessly too far to sail to China and the non-return of Columbus would have confirmed it.
The more warlike Inca's got suckered in by their religion, believing that the conquistadors were gods and were taken by surprise. Maybe even more surprised at how ruthless the conquistadors were, being driven by religion.
Same with N. America, most of the colonists would have died without help from the natives, which may have slowed settlement. There's evidence the vikings acted like arseholes and had their colonies wiped out.
Another alternative history would have been if the Chinese had been a bit more adventurous and colonised the west coast.