Abstract :
Excavations of the Mazapan phase at the Atetelco complex at Teotihuacan by Ruben Cabrera and colleagues produced a small human
copper figurine. Studies of Mesoamerican metallurgy have indicated that metallurgy was introduced to western Mexico around a.d. 700
from Colombia, and Ecuador. This particular figurine is a remarkable find. The dates (a.d. 800–900) precede those of copper artifacts in
the central Highlands. The manufacturing method (an open-backed casting) is rare in Mesoamerica but common in Colombia and Panama.
Open-backed cast figurines that do appear in Mesoamerica come from the Cenote of Sacrifice, are made from copper-gold alloys, and were
imported from lower Central America or Colombia. The Atetelco figurine is made from a copper-arsenic alloy. Copper-arsenic alloy
objects are common in western Mexico (after a.d. 1150) and Ecuador and northern Peru (after about a.d. 300). The major question
concerning the Atetelco figurine is whether it was fashioned in Ecuador or Colombia and imported, or whether it was produced in western
Mexico. Our study of artifact chemistry, fabrication methods, and provenience indicate that the weight of the evidence points to western
Mexico. We suggest that this fabrication technique (lost-wax castings of open-backed human figurines), while introduced from Colombia
and lower Central America, never became a major component of the Mesoamerican metallurgical tradition.
