Huayrachina wind-driven smelting furnace
Huayrachina: horno de viento para fundir plata
- Date
- c. 1450 · confidence low
- Place
- Porco, Antonio Quijarro, Potosí, Bolivia
- Credited to
- Andean metallurgists (pre-Inca and Inca)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Perforated clay furnaces placed on windy hills, using the wind as a natural bellows to smelt silver and lead ores. The Spaniards used them at Potosí before amalgamation.
Its pre-Inca origin is supported by archaeological finds at Porco and by chronicles; there are no precise dates.
What it led to
- the first silver production at Potosí (1545-1570)
- Inca silver metallurgy