Prof. Dorothy Hosler

Professor Dorothy Hosler’s research examines the extraction, processing, and production and functionality of copper and copper-based alloys objects from the Andean region and Western Mesoamerica and the relation of these two ancient technologies to each other. Initial work compared alloy-properties and design of metal objects from Andean South America with those from West Mexico (Michoacán, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima). Results demonstrated that Andean fabrication techniques, alloy systems and some design types were introduced to Western Mesoamerica sometime after 700 CE. Indigenous artisans worked in this mineral-rich region, where they demonstrated intense interest in the colors of metal sheet (Cu- Ag and other alloys) and in the acoustical properties of copper, copper-silver, copper-tin and copper-arsenic alloy bells and other sounding instruments.

The cultural concern for the acoustical properties of metal was uniquely Mesoamerican and did not replicate Andean cosmologies. Metallic color, especially golden and silvery colors associated with the supernatural is Pan American in scope and probably originated in Colombia. The techniques smiths used to produce these colors varied by region (Hosler 1994).

This work is the first research that investigates these ancient metallurgical technologies; that identifies smelting regimes, materials, fabrication methods, design, and functionality (the requisite physical and mechanical properties to perform the action suggested by the design) and the first that distinguishes technical choices from decisions imposed by the laws of physics.