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Goldwork of Pre-Columbian Costa Rica and Panama: A Technical Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

David A. Scott
David A. Scott*
Affiliation:
GCI Museum Laboratory, Ranch House, J. Paul Getty Museum, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California 90265
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Abstract

Technical and analytical study of gold and tumbaga objects from Panama and Costa Rica, revealed the compositional range of gold-copper alloys used by the indigenous inhabitants. Using recent archaeological evidence for some of the chronology of goldworking in the area, the study examined metalwork from the Initial Period to the Veraguas-Gran Chiriqui style. From this study it is apparent that the variety of goldcopper alloys used for lost-wax casting did not undergo compositional change with time from the initial introduction of metallurgy to the area in the first century AD until the Spanish Conquest. Regional preferences may have existed in relation to the alloys chosen for particular images: for example Parita warrior figures were cast in gold rich alloys compared with frog pendants. Copper contents of the tumbaga alloys used extended from 5% to 50%, with gold contents usually above 45%, and with no addition of extraneous silver to the alloy. The silver content of many of the alloys studied from the area of Costa Rica was low in comparison with gold-copper alloys from the Colombian region.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 499
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

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