What is known about prehistoric Mesoamerican metallurgy is seemingly straightforward. Workshops where items of copper and copper alloys were made date to as early as the 7th century and are limited to western Mexico. These objects are found in small numbers throughout Mesoamerica in contexts that suggest their use in conveying the high ranks of those who could acquire them. Consequently, the creation and expression of hierarchical distinctions in numerous prehispanic societies partly depended on elite access to goods flowing through trade networks originating in west Mexico. Excavations conducted during 2002 and 2004 at the Terminal Classic (AD 800-1000) political center of El Coyote in northwestern Honduras challenge these assumptions. Investigations here revealed unexpected but clear evidence of copper processing including areas where: copper-bearing rocks were broken up before smelting; the smelting occurred; the melted material was further processed to yield small beads of pure copper; and, debris generated by these steps was jettisoned. If the workshop's prehispanic date is confirmed, this discovery questions archaeological assumptions about copper's role in ancient Mesoamerican systems of production, trade, and power. Ascertaining El Coyote's significance to the understanding of metallurgy's place in Mesoamerican political and economic processes requires determining: when copper working occurred at the center; what techniques were employed in this process; and how the manufacture of copper artifacts figured in the social relations through which power was exercised locally and over wider territorial extents. Of these objectives, the first is the most fundamental. Initial attempts to date El Coyote's copper workshop yielded contradictory results; the material culture found in the production area points to its use in the Terminal Classic period while C-14 assays suggest an 18th century date. Complicating the matter is evidence that copper was worked at El Coyote over at least three distinct chronological phases and may span the prehistoric and historic eras. Metallurgy may, thus, have figured in local and regional political economies that pre- and/or post-dated the Spanish conquest. Work supported by the National Science Foundation will address these crucial issues through a combined program of excavation and data analysis. Systematic excavation will determine the production area's full extent, identify features related to copper working, especially where artifacts were cast, and collect material samples from different strata and locations throughout the workshop. These items will be subject to varied analyses, including: 1.) studies of artifact styles and functions to infer periods of occupation, behaviors pursued in the workshop, the cultural affiliations of the artisans, and changes in these variables over time; 2.) chemical and mineralogical assessments of soils, artifacts, and debris to reconstruct changing technologies of manufacture and trade connections; 3.) C-14 assays to date the different intervals of copper processing. The broader impacts of the research include the opportunities it will provide: for Honduran and U.S. students to learn the practice of archaeology; for local teachers and their charges to incorporate emerging understandings of the area's prehistory in their studies; and, to enhance understanding of metallurgy's place in past political economies.
Archaeologists long thought that metal working in Mesoamerica (Mexico, through El Salvador and Honduras) was limited to western Mexico, where the first evidence dates to the 7th century CE/AD. Consequently, we were very surprised when, in 2002, we found slag and copper at the site of El Coyote in NW Honduras. El Coyote dates primarily to the Terminal Classic (800-1000 CE/AD) and is 2335km (1450 miles) from sites with the earliest metallurgy. It is a highly unlikely place to find evidence of ancient copper working. In 2004, we mapped the workshop, and, following up on test pits dug during 2002, excavated slag heaps and structures. Although strongly suggestive of metal processing, the 2002-04 results called for more work, which we conducted at El Coyote from May 25-July 26, 2013. In addition to excavating, together with Aaron Shugar we analyzed artifacts, slag, the ovens in which copper was smelted, and soil (looking for chemical signatures of copper working). Our aims were: dating metallurgical practices at the center; specifying how copper was processed; and relating production to the broader cultural, political, and economic settings in which they occurred. We are still studying the 2013 material, but feel confident in advancing these interpretations. El Coyote’s copper processing extended over a long span, with three distinct periods. Based on the artifacts and features associated with this activity, the techniques of copper working changed very little over time. We are now sure that the workshop dates to pre-Columbian times. Carbon-14 tests show that residents smelted copper at least by the early 1500s, just before the Spanish Conquest. Even earlier evidence of copper working is sealed below this material but could not be dated using C-14 techniques. Based on close similarities between the artifacts associated with all three phases of copper processing and well-dated materials from elsewhere at the site, we now push the dates for all three phases back to the 9th-11th centuries. Most of the metal-related artifacts and debris come from an area covering 3200m2 (0.79 acre) on El Coyote’s south edge, with a much smaller outlier 90m (300ft) to the northeast. In the southern production area we uncovered evidence of: initial crushing of rocks so that pieces with the highest concentrations of copper ore could be selected for further processing; smelting ore with crushed quartz (known as a flux) at 1150C (2100F) or more, resulting in a copper-rich slag with some evidence of actual copper flow; crushing cooled slag on a rock pavement to separate out very small copper bits known as prills that would later be cast into ingots or artifacts. The workshop was likely controlled by high-ranking individuals who lived in a substantial residential complex, dating to the 9th-11th centuries, overlooking the production zone. Two sets of stairs are built into the 4m-high (13ft) terrace, linking living spaces to work areas. Clearly visible to the north and east of the workshop is a flat area (12,000m2; 3 acres) supporting at least 15 low but extensive stone buildings, and massive unshaped rocks that stood alone or in sets of up to four. Six of the seven excavated standing stones had rock pavements on one or more sides, and all were stabilized by smaller cobbles wedged around their bases. People clearly invested considerable effort in placing these boulders. No comparable rock features are known from elsewhere at El Coyote or from neighboring valleys. Few artifacts are associated with the buildings and standing stones, suggesting that both were used for a relatively short period and did not serve in domestic tasks. They may have been foci of communal activities. El Coyote apparently supported a long-lived copper workshop dating to the pre-Columbian era. Since no signs of casting and finished artifacts have been found so far, the site’s indigenous artisans possibly exchanged raw copper for such foreign valuables as green obsidian (volcanic glass) blades and ornaments from central Mexico, glossy gray Plumbate ceramic vessels, usually decorated with raised animal faces and geometric designs, from Guatemala’s Pacific coast, and Las Vegas polychromes (black-and-red-painted designs on a white background) from further south in Central America. El Coyote has, within southern Mesoamerica, unusually high concentrations of these imports. For example, just northeast in the neighboring Naco Valley, we found two Plumbate sherds in 800,000 analyzed fragments, and two pieces of green obsidian from 54,000 fragments—at El Coyote green obsidian comprises up to 35% of all obsidian blades. El Coyote’s regional monopoly over the knowledge and materials needed to work copper, a valuable Mesoamerican exchange item, likely made it possible for the capital’s residents to be successful long-distance traders in ways their neighbors could not. These unexpected finds challenge us to develop new ways of viewing southern Mesoamerica’s place in the very dynamic political and economic landscape of late prehistoric Mexico and Central America.
