Excellent information Fearn! thank you for posting this interesting material. I agree also on the use of obsidian in cutting instruments and weapons, which in the absence of iron and steel would seem desirable in that capacity. I really had never realized how sharp obsidian really was until seeing examples of it.
The use of bronze in this culture would seem well applied to blunt force weapons and other material objects, which brings up the interesting object posted by Lemmy.
Lemmy, would this be an example of mace head? I had never heard of arsenic bronze until Fearn mentioned it, and your post here. In checking into some of the information on this metal, I understood that it is said to be stronger than other alloyed forms of bronze, and that as Fearn has noted, the Andeans were adept at producing it. Apparantly while copper typically has a degree of arsenic present naturally in its deposits, true arsenic bronze is defined by the deliberate addition of arsenic taking its presence to from 2% to 3%.
The presence of arsenic seems disturbing, when thinking of course of its connotation as a poison, but well placed when thinking of its use to strengthen metal for weapons. An interesting note I found suggests that in a number of cultures noted for the use of arsenic bronze, many of the gods ascribed to the art of blacksmithing were depicted lame, apparantly with possible reference to symptoms of arsenic poisoning such as muscular atrophy and loss of reflex. ("Ancient Metallurgy", David K,Jordan, Univ. of Calif. San Diego, March 20, 2006).
It seems unusual that depictions of gods would reflect such earthly and distinctly human detail, and I wonder if the adverse effects of this process were actually known.
Returning to the actual item Lemmy has posted, would this be a mace head, or other symbolic object? It seems I have seen mace heads with this rather cog wheel or gear shape, and I often wonder if the shape has specific purpose or symbolism.
Best regards,
Jim
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