Archaeologists uncover oldest mine in the Americas

[Judi Lynn]

Archaeologists uncover oldest mine in the Americas
on May 19, 2011

Archaeologists have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in Chile that marks the oldest evidence of organized mining ever found in the Americas, according to a report in the June issue of Current Anthropology.

A team of researchers led by Diego Salazar of the Universidad de Chile found the 40-meter trench near the coastal town of Taltal in northern Chile. It was dug by the Huentelauquen people—the first settlers in the region—who used iron oxide as pigment for painted stone and bone instruments, and probably also for clothing and body paint, the researchers say.

The remarkable duration and extent of the operation illustrate the surprising cultural complexity of these ancient people. “It shows that was a labor-intensive activity demanding specific technical skills and some level of social cooperation transmitted through generations,” Salazar and his team write.

An estimated 700 cubic meters and 2,000 tons of rock were extracted from the mine. Carbon dates for charcoal and shells found in the mine suggest it was used continuously from around 12,000 years ago to 10,500 years ago, and then used again around 4,300 years ago. The researchers also found more than 500 hammerstones dating back to the earliest use of the mine.

More:
http://scienceblog.com/45417/archaeologists-uncover-oldest-mine-in-the-americas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogrssfeed+%28Science+Blog%29

http://mw2.google.com.nyud.net:8090/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/4139510.jpg

http://images.travelpod.com.nyud.net:8090/users/chileadventure/1.1229458020.just-outside-taltal.jpg
Taltal, Chile

[aquart]

1. They're always shocked to find organized societies way back when.

We had organized societies as apes.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. A culture that could devote that much energy to digging

for cosmetics (if that's really what they used all that iron ore for) was one that was advanced quite a way beyond subsistence level.

[semillama]

5. Well, yes and no

Many, if not most, known hunter-gatherer or "subsistence" societies display similar levels of labor expenditure in acquiring materials for rituals and ceremonies. Take a look at the elaborate costumes of tribes in Papau New Guinea, for example.

And of course, we have younger but still prehistoric mines here in the US - some copper pit mines dating to about 6,000 years ago can still be visited in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan (although most were destroyed through 19th century mining operations that place shafts and operations right over the older pits). One copper mine in particular was about 30 feet deep, with a giant piece of float copper supported by timber cribbing. Too bad this wasn't preserved!

[Jackpine Radical]

6. I know about the MI copper mines.

I also recall from reading in the dim past that the Kalahari bushmen, living in a very harsh and demanding environment, have to devote about 16 hours a week to eking out a living. The remainder of their time they devote to ceremony, leisure pursuits, etc. Where did the rest of us go wrong?

[semillama]

7. Probably when we started living in hierarchical societys

of course, I won't knock the nice lifespan I, as a white middle-class american, can enjoy. or literacy. But I could go for 16 hours of labor a week!

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Chalice & Blade, anyone?

[14thColony]

9. Fairly typical of many hunter-gatherer societies

In Guns, Germs and Steel, Jarrod Diamond demonstrates that in most cases when a society adopts sedentary agriculture and/or sedentary animal rearing, their workload skyrockets and their health and lifespan both drop, often for quite some time (generations if not centuries).

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Wow. 12 k years ago.

Thanks for the link.

[Poll_Blind]

4. That is beyond incredible. Thank you for posting this!

:thumbsup:

PB

[xchrom]

10. kick