Pre-Columbian Metalwork (gold, silver, bronze)

From its probable origins in the northern Central Andean Area about 700 BC, metalworking spread to the Intermediate Area and finally was transmitted to Mesoamerica about 1000 A.D. Because of European greed for gold and silver, most unburied or unhidden objects of these materials were melted down by the Spanish conquerors and exported to Spain as ingots.

Although iron and steel were unknown, copper was widely worked and the alloying of bronze was discovered about 1000 AD. Tumbaga, an alloy of copper and gold, was employed in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. Many techniques were used for working metal, including the lost-wax process (cire perdu), soldering, and repoussé or embossing. Metalwork was frequently engraved, gilded, or inlaid with various stones and shells.