Mining Site Predates Incan Empire

Kevin J. Vaughn, a Purdue assistant professor of anthropology, holds a pottery fragment he discovered at an excavation site in Nasca, Peru. The piece of pottery is from about the 5th century A.D., the same time period as other artifacts he uncovered at an ancient mine. Vaughn conjectures the mine was the source of some of the iron ore pigments used to produce the vibrant colors as seen on this pottery. Credit: Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger.