Mirko Brito Salvador

Papers accepted for the Symposium REPENSAR LA TECNOLOGIA EN LAS ARQUEOLOGIAS
SUDAMERICANAS at XI TAAS, Huaraz-Perú, 2024 - Coordination Edwin de La Roca Silva, Tatiane de Souza and Antonio Perez. Not all authors are included due to email problems

In the 1960s, Sr. Julio Benites Ramirez (name changed)  began crafting replicas of Recuay warrior sculptures to sell to a Swiss engineer looking to procure several original sculptures for his home. In the decades since, several stone workshops have opened in the region, producing replicas and original works destined for municipal buildings, local hotels, souvenir shops, and residences and businesses in Lima. In two workshops, masons attempt to replicate pre-Columbian carving techniques to add to the authenticity of their products, while in a third, production is driven by machine powered tools. This revived craft has found its place in the present-day Huaraz economy while honoring the local history and indigenous peoples, but does it also offer insights into pre-Columbian stone carving?
We present ethnoarchaeological data from interviews in September 2018 with five masons at these workshops. The organization, scale of production, and production processes differed substantially between the hand-powered and mechanized workshops. We explore this variability, focusing specifically on the factors that influence manufacturing decisions from material choice to form and iconography. By identifying and analyzing these critical decision making points, we can better identify patterns and factors that influenced similar manufacturing decisions in the past.

Esta contribución examina el uso de materias primas en la litoescultura Recuay, una de las tradiciones más resaltantes de tallado en piedra de los Andes norcentrales (100-800 dC). Para ello se propone la cooperación de dos metodologías no destructivas: el análisis petrográfico óptico centrado en cabezas clavas y la fluorescencia de rayos X portátil (pXRF) sobre esculturas con distintos formatos. El estudio petrográfico presentado indica que la diversidad de materias primas identificadas no se explicaría únicamente por la naturaleza litológica de los tipos de roca sino también por las características texturales de esos elementos. El análisis de pXRF condujo al mapeo de trazas químicas de oligoelementos que sugieren múltiples tipos de rocas y fuentes de abastecimiento. En base al contraste de resultados se discute las potencialidades de ambas metodologías para explicar las elecciones tecnológicas de los Recuay respecto a la selección de la materia prima. Adicionalmente, se inició la caracterización de varios contextos geológicos del Callejón de Huaylas vinculados a la extracción de materias primas, entre ellos Cerro Walun, un sitio que conserva claras evidencias de una cantera-taller explotada en la época Recuay.

This contribution examines the use of raw materials in Recuay lithosculpture, one of the most remarkable stone carving traditions from north-central Andes (100-800 CE). The cooperation of two non-destructive methodologies is proposed: optical petrographic analysis focused on tenon heads and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectroscopy on multiple sculptural forms. The petrographic study indicates that the
diversity of raw materials utilized is explained both by the lithological nature of the rock types and by the textural characteristics of the stone composition. The pXRF analysis mapped trace elements of different stone types and indicated several shared material sources. Based on the contrast of results, the potential of both methodologies and their cooperation are discussed to explain the technological choices of the Recuay groups regarding the selection of the raw material. At the same time, the results are compared with geological contexts of the Callejón de Huaylas linked to the extraction of raw materials, among them the Cerro Walun site, a pre-Hispanic quarry-workshop exploited in the Recuay period.