Sixth Grade Art METAL ART OF THE INCAS

WHO WERE THE INCAS?

The Inca people were a pastoral tribe in the Cusco area around the 12th century. Under the leadership of Manco Cápac, they formed the small city- state Kingdom of Cusco. WHO WERE THE INCAS?

In 1438, they began a far- reaching expansion under the command of Sapa Inca (paramount leader). The name of Pachacuti was given to him after conquering over the Tribe of Chancas (modern Apurímac). During his reign, he and his son brought much of the Andes mountains (roughly modern Peru and Ecuador) under Inca control. INCA EMPIRE

The Inca empire is located on the western coast of South America. This amazing empire covered many South American countries including Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and the tip of Columbia. Because of its location, the Incan empire had three main regions including mountains, coastal desert, and Amazon rainforest WHERE WERE THEY?

INCA METAL ART

Incas were highly skilled in working with metals such as bronze, copper, gold, and silver; however, the value in the gold and silver was not for their precious metal, but their symbolic representation. Incas believed gold to be "sweat of the sun" and silver to be "tears of the moon." METALLURGISTS

The labor required for this skill was intense, but extracting the metal called for simple methods. Metals and ore, owned by the emperor, were mined using labor tax under somewhat humane conditions. The shifts were shorter due to the difficulty of the job. Gold was obtained by panning river gravel as well as working surface outcrops and shallow mines. Copper, on the other hand, was mined in open pits or shallow shafts. Obtaining silver was most difficult; however, it was still widely used throughout the Inca Empire. FINDING METALS

To transform the ore into metal, they were smelted in clay furnaces. Several men are needed to blow on the fire in order to raise the temperature, and through this technique, precious metals were produced. SMELTING

Gold and silver were used for making ornaments, serving vessels, plates for the royalty, and ceremonial objects. These precious metals were used both pure and as gilding and, sometimes, even covered in paint. GOLD AND SILVER

Bronze, on the other hand, served to be a more purposeful metal, as it was physically harder than gold and silver. Items it produced included axes, chisels, and knives. Essentially, gold and silver were reserved for nobility while commoners were restricted to using copper and bronze. BRONZE

Other uses included producing cult images and decorations for shrines, temples, and ornaments for royalty and noblemen. Cult images usually took the shape of small human figurines, while other figurines were shaped in the form of animals (llamas, alpacas, birds, reptiles, and felines). These animal figurines served as offerings, typically buried at religious shrines.

METALWORKING METHODS

The most common method in metalworking in which the craftsman annealed hammered pieces in order to prevent brittleness and cracking. Cold hammering requires the metal to be heated, then rapidly cooled in water. In order to decorate hammered sheet metal, designs were pressed into it with a bone or wood tool. COLD HAMMERING

Metallurgists used this technique for molding fine objects. To carry out this technique, the object must have been originally modeled in wax, which was then covered in clay. After the clay hardened, the wax was melted and replaced with molten metal. The hardened, metal object would replicate the wax model with exactitude. CASTING