Resumen Este trabajo presenta diversos indicadores de minería prehispánica en la cuenca de Ratones, Puna de Salta, Noroeste argentino, principalmente de época tardía preincaica e inca. Se estudia el registro relacionado con la explotación de turquesa en una fuente de este mineral ubicada en el cerro Inca Viejo, donde se encuentra una cueva con numerosa evidencia minero-ritual. En este marco, se analizan conjuntos artefactuales vinculados con la minería lapidaria, procedentes de esta fuente y de un enclave incaico denominado Abra de Minas, localizado en sus cercanías. Específicamente, en ambos sitios, se relevaron martillos y yunques de distintos tamaños usados como herramientas líticas para los trabajos extractivos y de procesamiento. Estos instrumentos representan una evidencia de importancia para el estudio de contextos mineros prehispánicos del Noroeste argentino. Asimismo, se ha recuperado una alta frecuencia de fragmentos de turquesa y otros minerales de cobre y, en menor medida, cuentas y preformas. Los resultados obtenidos permiten señalar el valor que tuvo la turquesa para las sociedades andinas prehispánicas y, en particular, para los incas, dada la alta intensidad e inversión de trabajo minero en el área.

Abstract This work presents various indicators of pre-Hispanic mining in the Ratones basin, Puna of Salta, Northwestern Argentina, mainly from the late pre-Inca and Inca times. The record related to the exploitation of turquoise in a source of this mineral located in cerro Inca Viejo is studied, where there is a cave with numerous mining-ritual evidence. In this framework, artifactual sets linked to lapidary mining are analyzed, which come from this source and from an Inca enclave called Abra de Minas, located nearby. Specifically, in both sites, hammers and anvils of different sizes used as stone tools for extractive and processing work were found. These instruments represent important evidencefor the study ofpre-Hispanic mining contexts in Northwestern Argentina. Likewise, a high frequency of fragments of turquoise and other copper mineralsand, to a lesser extent, beadsandpreformshave been recovered. The results allow us to point out the value that turquoise hadfor pre-Hispanic Andean societies and, in particular, for the Incas, given the high intensity and investment of mining work in the area.

The two-stage 6-8 multi-anvil (MA8) apparatus is an important large-volume, high-pressure technique that has been widely used in the high pressure mineralogy and material synthesis, mainly at room temperature or above. Recently, we have successfully developed a two-stage MA8 apparatus for low-temperature physical property measurements. The first-stage anvils at top and bottom sides are fabricated as a single piece in order to reduce the total size of the cylindrical module, which is put in a top-loading high pressure cryostat and compressed by a 1000 ton hydraulic press. A castable, split octahedral gasket with integrated fin was specifically designed in order to introduce the electrical leads from the inside sample container filled with a liquid pressure transmitting medium. By using tungsten carbide (WC) second-stage cubes with a truncated edge length of 3 mm and an octahedral gasket with an edge length of 6 mm, we have successfully generated pressure over 20 GPa at room temperature. Since the high pressure limit can be pushed to nearly 100 GPa by using the sintered diamond second-stage cubes, our MA8 apparatus has a great potential to expand the current pressure capacity for precise low-temperature measurements with a large sample volume.