Resumen

GLUZMAN, Geraldine. THE CALCHAQUI METAL RELICS OF THE ZAVALETA COLLECTION IN THE FIELD MUSEUM OF NATUAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO. AN INTEGRAL ANALYSIS. Comechingonia [online]. 2020, vol.24, n.2, pp.1-10. ISSN 1851-0027.

The Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago (Illinois, United States) owns a great amount of archaeological pieces of the provinces of the Argentine Northwest (Salta, Tucumán and Catamarca) that were acquired in 1904 during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a World's Fair universal held in Saint Louis (Missouri, United States) where Manuel Zavaleta, its collector, carried part of his assemblagesof objects for the purpose of obtaining an economic profit.This article aims to address a specific universe of these objects, the ones made in different types of metal from a comprehensive analysis that includes not only its features, but also a review of the exhibition of them in San Luis to its current shelter in the museum of Chicago. Today, the institution holds 185 metallic pieces from the collection. Morphological, functional and technological analyzes were carried out as well as a search of them in the archival and photographic record of the museum. The archaeological pieces were also subjected to compositional evaluation with an X-ray fluorescent analyzer provided by the institution. The results in semi-quantitative terms, togetherwith an evaluation of the scope and limitations of this type of analytical approach, are presented.

Palabras clave : metals, Zavaleta collection, Argentine Northwest, Field Museum of Natural History.