ABSTRACT
Prior to the Spanish Conquest, knowledge of metallurgy and metalworking had evolved and spread over much of the area occupied by high Indian civilizations in the New World. Copper, gold, and silver and their alloys were the main metals involved. These were fashioned mainly as ornaments used in religious ceremony and for the enhancement of elite cultural status; the manufacture of metal tools and weapons was secondary and evolved relatively late. Archaeological investigation has indicated that mining practices appear to have been rudimentary, whereas metallurgical techniques were relatively advanced and complex. Sophisticated metalworking first developed in Andean South America, from which metallurgical knowledge spread northward as far as Mexico.
