This hearth from one of the Mesoamerican smelting furnaces, seen as it was being excavated by Dorothy Hosler and her team in Mexico, was among the sites that revealed that indigenous people were producing copper for the Spanish colonists. Images courtesy of Dorothy Hosler
This hearth from one of the Mesoamerican smelting furnaces, seen as it was being excavated by Dorothy Hosler and her team in Mexico, was among the sites that revealed that indigenous people were producing copper for the Spanish colonists. Images courtesy of Dorothy Hosler - Spanish conquerors depended on indigenous expertise to keep up their munitions supplies, archaeologists have found. When Spanish invaders arrived in the Americas, they were generally able to subjugate the local peoples thanks, in part, to their superior weaponry and technology. But archeological evidence indicates that, in at least one crucial respect, the Spaniards were quite dependent on an older indigenous technology in parts of Mesoamerica (today's Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras). The invaders needed copper for their artillery, as well as for coins, kettles, and pans, but they lacked the knowledge and skills to produce the metal. Even Spain at that time had not produced the metal domestically for centuries, relying on imports from central Europe. In Mesoamerica they had to depend on local smelters, furnace builders, and miners to produce the essential material.
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