Abstract

A sample of 403 Late Horizon (similar to 1400-1530 AD) metal artifacts from Copiap in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, consisting of at least 14 artifactual categories, were examined by a Niton pXRF analyzer for compositional information. The results revealed patterned use of different alloys in the Copiap region, including a very strong, region-wide reliance on bronze alloys, with tin being a primary or secondary alloying element. The wide use of a non-local metal (tin) in the Copiap region is interpreted as the result of the Inca Empire's political control over indigenous economic productive activities, despite the long distance to the empire's core area. However, arsenical bronzes featured local artifact typologies in a relatively large quantity during the same period, suggesting that the Incas' preference for bronzes alloyed with tin should have influenced but not fully changed the indigenous metallurgic traditions. This shows that the Inca state had powerful but not absolute control over metal resources in the Atacama Desert.