Huayra furnace

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A huayra furnace or huayrachinas (meaning "place through which wind blows" in Imperial Quechua) is an Andean artisan furnace of Prehispanic design. Huayras were wind-driven and used to smelt copper. [1] The furnance has the shape of a small turret with opening for wind to enter and drive the combustion. [2] Molten metal collects at the bottom together with slag and for most purposes once separated from the slag it needs further processing to remove impurities. [2]

In Bolivia they were in use at least until the late 19th century and were known form colonial-era description of 1640. Museo Nacional de La Paz in Bolivia host a reconstruction of a huayra. [1] The Atacama Desert's Tarapacá valley alone had 26 archaeological huayra sites identified by 2013. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Zori, Colleeen; Tropper, Peter; Scott, David (2013). "Copper production in late prehispanic northern Chile". Journal of Archaeological Science. 40 (2): 1165. Bibcode:2013JArSc..40.1165Z. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.09.012.
  2. 1 2 "Nota Área de Antropología: Metaleros prehispánicos". mnhn.gob.cl (in Spanish). Chilean National Museum of Natural History . Retrieved 2025-06-02.


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