Dorothy Hosler
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 8-138
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 253-6991
hosler@mit.edu
Professor of Archaeology and Ancient Technology
My research generally examines the extraction, processing and production of copper and copper based alloys in ancient Mesoamerica and South America and the relation of these technologies in the two areas to each other. My primary research currently is at the site of El Manchón, Guerrero, in West Mexico, where extensive copper smelting activities took place. We are currently working on dating the smelting area of that site. We are also examining the production of a variety of unusual prehispanic copper-based alloy objects recently excavated in the state of Mexico. My general interests in production extend to rubber production in ancient Mesoamerica and to construction technologies.
Selected Publications
(In press) M.J. Tarkanian and D. Hosler. America's First Polymer
Scientists: Rubber Processing, Use, and Transport in Ancient Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity.
(In press) D. Hosler and R. Cabrera Castro. Mesoamerica’s Earliest Copper Artifact: Implications of the Teotihuacan Figurine. Ancient Mesoamerica.
2009 The Metallurgy of West Mexico: revisited and revised. Journal of World Prehistory, 22: 185-212.
L. Dewan and D. Hosler. 2008 Ancient Maritime Trade on Balsa Rafts: An Engineering Analysis. Journal of Anthropological Research 64: 19-40.
2005 Los Sonidos y Colores del Poder: La Tecnología Metalúrgica Sagrada del Occidente de México. Zinacantepec, Mexico: Colegio Mexiquense.
2004 Nuevos datos sobre la produccion de metal en el Occidente en la Epoca Prehispanica. In Bienes Estrategicos del Antiguo Occidente de Mexico: Produccion e Intercambio 335-354 E Williams El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora.
D. Hosler, S. Burkett, M. Tarkanian. 1999 Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284:1988-1991.
