Archaeometric studies of nails of funeral context from San Francisco ruins (Mendoza, Argentina)

Abstract

The metallic elements found in the colonial funeral contexts generates data that allows us to establish the chronology of manufacture and the possible origin of the raw materials used. In this case, we will apply archaeometric studies to the nail-like items uncovered as part of the funeral contexts registered at the Ruinas de San Francisco site (a 17th to 18th Century Jesuit temple) in the city of Mendoza. The aim of this article, is to answer questions related to their production process, including technology, manufacture and the raw material involved in their elaboration. For this reason, it was important to determine the spatial distribution and stratigraphy of the nail-like items and their contextual relationship to the human burials we registered. Likewise, the production techniques and the chronology of the analyzed elements were established using metallographic analysis, this allowed us to check whether there was any degree of re-use of these items during the period under consideration here.