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Archaeology of Guano: Preliminary Results of the Survey Conducted in Caleta Robles (Mejillones, Chile), 1862–83

2016; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 38; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03090728.2016.1156460

1745-8196

Pedro Pujante Izquierdo, Christophe Pollet,

Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

AbstractThe exploitation of guano was one of the first important economic activities in Chile and Bolivia during the 19th century. Although its development was brief and less successful than the guano industry in neighbouring Peru, it laid the foundation of a state business system based on the granting of franchises to private companies, regulation of the maritime trade and modernisation of the extractive process to improve the exploitation of mineral resources.Caleta Robles, a guano production centre between 1862 and 1883, succeeded the exploitation of other guano deposits on the Mejillones peninsula coast from the 1840s. It represents a highly relevant coastal archaeological site illustrating the early development of the mining industry in the north of Chile.The preliminary results of the investigations conducted on this site have created an understanding of the spatial distribution of the different functional areas relating to the different phases of the production process and their adaptation to suit the peculiar topographical conditions of the site.Keywords: MejillonesCaleta Roblesguano industryspatial distributionmaritime archaeology19th century AcknowledgementsThe results presented in this paper would not have been possible without the collaboration of institutions and individuals who have provided resources, information and selfless support, such as the National Council for Culture and Arts of the Republic of Chile, the Municipality of Mejillones, the Chilean Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service, the United Kingdom Hydrographic and Oceanographic Archives Service, Subsea Engineering Ltd; Professors Hubert Bonin and Alejandro Salinas; France Benoist-Gironièsre, Andrea Rojas, Sian Padgett, Serge Noirsain, Nelson León and José Fernández. To all of them, we give our sincere thanks. We would like to offer our special thanks as well to Ian West, who kindly proposed important editorial corrections.Notes on Contributors Pedro Pujante developed his early work as an archaeologist in the field of preventive archaeology at the Tarragona Centre for Urban Archaeology (Spain). Moving to Chile, he was responsible for designing and managing the Archaeology Degree of the International University SEK in Santiago, creating and directing the Underwater Archaeology Programme, where he taught Maritime and Underwater Archaeology. He is a founding member of the Institute of Nautical and Underwater Archaeology in Santiago (IANS), a non-profit scientific corporation which aims to study, protect and promote underwater and maritime heritage. In addition, Pedro Pujante is working on several historical and archaeological issues, such as naval shipbuilding in the Hispanic world, the archaeology of the guano era in Latin America, methodologies of preventive underwater archaeology and the use of remote technology for underwater investigation.Christophe Pollet, obtained a Masters degree in history and archaeology at the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille-1, France), before working as a field archaeologist at the French National Institute for Archaeological Research (INRAP). In 2008, he moved to Chile where he led the archaeology degree at the International University SEK in Santiago. In 2009, he was a founding member of the Institute of Nautical and Underwater Archaeology in Santiago. Besides his IANS corporation activities, Christophe Pollet focuses his investigation activities on several historical and archaeological issues, such as naval shipbuilding in the South Pacific, nautical cartography in the South Seas during the colonial times and methodologies of preventive underwater archaeology.Notes1 Misetic, V. (coord), Geografía II Región de Antofagasta (Santiago: Instituto Geográfico Militar, 1990), 55–6.2 Dedenbach-Salazar, S., Un aporte a la reconstrucción del vocabulario agrícola de la época incaica (Bonn: Estudios Americanistas de Bonn 14, 1984), 116–99.3 Brüggen, J., Geología de las guaneras de Chile (Santiago: Imprenta Universitaria, 1939), 5–8.4 Domeyko, I., ‘Apuntes sobre el depósito de guano de Mejillones, sacados de las cartas escritas por el doctor Guillermo Krull a los señores Villanueva y Domeyko’, Anales de la Universidad de Chile, Memorias Científicas i Literarias, 53 (1878), 447–61; Brüggen, ref. 3, 45–58.5 Herrera, E., El imperio del guano: América latina ante la guerra de España en el Pacífico (Córdoba: Alción Editora, 1998); Cushman, G., Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World (Cambridge University Press, 2013).6 Matthews, W.M., ‘Peru and the British Guano Market’, The Economic History Review, 23.1 (1970), 112–28; The House of Gibbs and the Peruvian Guano Monopoly (London: Royal Historical Society, 1981); Méndez, C., Los trabajadores guaneros en Perú. 1840–1879 (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 1987); Salinas, A., La huaneyda: historia del guano, 1840–1879 (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor San Marcos, 2009).7 Bermúdez, O., Orígenes históricos de Antofagasta (Antofagasta: Prensas de la Editorial Universitaria, 1960); López, J., Historia de la guerra del guano y el salitre (Lima: Editorial Universo, 1980); Carrasco, S., Historia de las relaciones chileno-bolivianas (Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 1991); Querejazu, R., Guano, salitre, sangre: historia de la Guerra del Pacífico (La Paz: Juventud, 1992); Panadés, J., O. Ovalle & P. Rojas, Mejillones, un pueblo con historia (Mejillones: Ilustre Municipalidad de Mejillones, 1995); Arce, I., Narraciones históricas de Antofagasta (Antofagasta: s.n., 2nd edn, 1997).8 Ruschemberger, W.S.W., Three Years in the Pacific; Containing Notices of Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, &c. in 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, by an officer in the United States’ navy,. i (London: Richard Buntley, 1835), 293–4.9 Philippi, R., Viaje al desierto de Atacama. Hecho de orden del gobierno de Chile en los años 1853–54 (Santiago: Librería de Eduardo Anton, 1860), 33; Arce, ref. 7, 35; Bermúdez, ref. 7, 23–4.10 Carrasco, ref. 7, 45–70.11 Domeyko, I., ‘Química industrial. Ensayo comparativo de dos muestras de huano de Mejillones y una de Chincha, por don Ignacio Domeyko. Comunicación del mismo a la Facultad de de Ciencias Físicas en su sesión del 10 de julio 1863’, Anales de la Universidad de Chile, 23 (1863), 104–9; Vohl, H., ‘Composition et applications du guano de Mejillones (Bolivie)’, Bulletin de la Société Chimique de Paris, xvii (1872), 568–70.12 Bermúdez, ref. 7, 29–40.13 Archivo Nacional de Chile (ANCH), Cónsul de Chile en Cobija, No. 1. J. Williams Rebolledo al Ministro de Estado en el Departamento de Relaciones Exteriores, Cobija, noviembre 25 de 1862, Relaciones Exteriores, 115; Cónsul de Chile en Cobija, No. 7. J. Williams Rebolledo al Ministro de Estado en el Departamento de Relaciones Exteriores, en Cobija, enero 8 de 1862; Melitino Villar García al ministro de Hacienda, a bordo de la corbeta Esmeralda, Tenencia de Mejillones, abril 4 de 1863, Hacienda, 495. See also Torres, M., J. López & J. Garday, Las huaneras de Mejillones (Santiago: Imprenta Chilena, 1863), 25.14 Bolivia. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Memoria que el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Bolivia presenta a la Asamblea extraordinaria, reunida en Oruro en mayo 1863. Sobre la cuestión Mejillones (Cochabamba: Imprenta del Siglo, 1863); López Gama, P., Copia de los documentos de Pedro López Gama súbdito del imperio de Brasil, La Paz, febrero 16 de 1871, o sea su espediente sobre reclamación al gobierno de Bolivia por el cumplimiento de las obligaciones contraídas a favor de aquel como contratista para la esplotación y esportación de huanos del litoral de Bolivia (Valparaíso: Imprenta del Mercurio de Tornero y Letellier, 1871).15 Larroque, L., Informe sobre los depósitos de guano de Mejillones presentado al Señor Ministro de Hacienda por Don Luis Larroque (Ingeniero de minas), comisionado al efecto por el gobierno (Santiago: Imprenta Nacional, 1863); ANCH, Manuel Segundo. Escala al ministro de Hacienda, Mejillones, abril 4 de 1863, Hacienda, 495.16 ANCH, Negociado L. Arman. 1987-68-69, Hacienda, 621; Société Anonyme des Guanos de Mejillones, Société Anonyme des Guanos de Mejillones (Bolivie). Concession des gouvernements de Bolivie et du Chili. Statuts (Paris: Imprimerie de Dubuisson et Cie., 1868); ANCH, Los gobiernos de Chile y Bolivia contra L. Arman o su síndico, Comisión del Estado 1868–70, 107.17 Bresson, A., Bolivia. Sept années d'explorations, de voyages et de séjours dans l'Amérique Australe […]. (Paris: Challamel, 1886), 289. The French mine engineer André Bresson went to the Atacama Desert in 1870 to examine the natural resources of the area. Settling at San Luciano, he visited the guaneras and wrote one of the only descriptions available of the guano establishment, corresponding thus to the Meiggs phase, yet prior to the construction of the northern wharf complex. His works and writings stand for an essential historical source for the Bolivian Mejillones history, and contain the only graphical documentation available of the port city in the 19th century.18 ANCH, No. 1. Juan Miguel Astorga al ministro de Estado en el Departamento de Hacienda, Santiago, abril 29 de 1867, Hacienda, 495; ANCH, Censo de la población del puerto de Mejillones, [Signed] C. Porter, La Mar, enero 1o. de 1868, Marina, 171.19 Arce, ref. 7, 564. Archives of the Fiscal Inspection of Chile at Mejillones and shipping news contained in the newspapers, evidence of a minimum of 367 charters over the whole period (1867–83), aboard 325 different ships, reaching even the port, in its two best years, to compete with the guano establishments of Tarapacá, southern Peru. See Figure 4, as well as ANCH, Relación de los archivos tomados en Pabellón de Pica […], F.A. Kelly [British consular agent at Pabellón de Pica], December 15, 1880, Hacienda, 1148.20 On Meiggs: Stewart, W., Henry Meiggs: Yankee Pizarro (New York: AMS Press, 1968); Salinas, A., Estudio socio-histórico del epistolario Meiggs (1866–1885) (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2007). On his contracts with Bolivia and Chile: Chile. Ministerio de Hacienda, Memoria que presenta el Ministro de Hacienda al Congreso. Documentos. Pieza número 10. Negociación relativa a la esplotación del guano de Mejillones (Santiago: Imprenta Nacional, 1870); Chile. Ministerio de Hacienda, Memoria que presenta el Ministro de Hacienda al Congreso. ‘Guaneras’ (Santiago: Imprenta Nacional, 1871), 37–9; Bolivia. Ministerio de Hacienda, Crédito Graña: documentos relativos a la transacción del Gobierno de Bolivia con el representante de la ‘Negociación Guano de Mejillones’ (Sucre: Tipografía del Cruzado, 1888).21 In accordance with the Treaty of Boundary of 1866, Mejillones being in Bolivian territory, Chile maintains in the village its own administration responsible for monitoring its interests in the exploitation of natural resources, in particular the guano, and collecting the fees that correspond, working as a custom house with important prerogatives in foreign territory. Responsibility for this peculiar entity was undertaken by the Fiscal Inspector of Chile at Mejillones, a position taken for the whole period by Juan Miguel Astorga.22 ‘Caracoles (correspondencia del Mercurio). Mejillones de Bolivia, El Mercurio de Valparaíso, mayo 31’, 9 June 1871, 2.23 ANCH, Dionisio Derteano al ministro de Hacienda, Lima, agosto 23 de 1879, Hacienda, 1006; Bolivia. Ministerio de Hacienda, ref. 20, and Meiggs's correspondance, in Salinas, ref. 20, 53.24 ANCH, Dionisio Derteano al ministro de Hacienda, Lima, agosto 14 de 1878; Juan M. Astorga al ministro de Hacienda, Lima, septiembre 2 de 1878, Hacienda, 1006.25 From February 1879, the date that marked the beginning of the conflict that put Chile against its Andean neighbours, Bolivia and Peru, Mejillones became part of the Chilean jurisdiction. As a result, from 1879, the guano exploitation only involved two counterparts. See Fernández, S., et al. (eds), Boletín de la Guerra del Pacífico. 1879–1881 (Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1979).26 Chile, Boletín de las leyes i decretos del gobierno (Santiago: Imprenta Nacional, 1883), 607.27 ANCH, Vicente Holguín al ministro de Hacienda, Santiago, junio 11 de 1883; Informan los ministros de la Tesorería General, al señor ministro, Santiago, junio 19 de 1883, Hacienda, 1373.28 Méndez, C., Los trabajadores guaneros del Perú. 1840–1879 (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 1987), 11.29 ANCH, Juan Miguel Astorga al ministro de Hacienda, ref. 18; Censo de la población del puerto de Mejillones, ref. 18; Bresson, ref. 17.30 Bresson, ref. 17.31 Torres, López & Garday, ref. 13, 20.32 In particular, bricks with mark E&W, CO[- and -]WEN, of British production and mass distribution at the end of the 19th century: Perry, F., ‘Bricks Tell of 16,000-Mile Voyage’, Lime Kiln Chronicles (Autumn 2008), 2–3.33 The sources mention the existence at Caleta Robles of a water condenser machine, and a wire ropeway facility that, from 1871, was using the steam as motive energy: El Mercurio de Valparaíso, ref. 22. The existence of a forge in a guano establishment is attested for the same period at Pabellón de Pica: ANCH, Informe de F. S. Leighton a Miguel Carreño, Inspector de Oficinas Fiscales del Norte, Tenencia de Aduana de Pabellón de Pica, marzo 15 de 1880, Hacienda, 1045.34 Although the document published by the company Torres & Co. refers to the existence of a loading place, it does not mention or describe any wharf; neither do the Chilean Consul at Cobija archives, nor Larroque's correspondence with the authorities in 1863, therefore, we are inclined to think that the term is used here with a connotation more related to the action of shipping than to a certain facility used for it.35 Torres, López & Garday, ref. 13, 20, 65. Although the archive documents located in clear terms the camp of the company in Caleta Robles, they lack a detailed description that allows for positioning spatially their infrastructures and offices.36 ‘Great Earthquake and Tidal Wave’, The Chillian Times, 26 May 1877, 2; ‘Abtao’, El Deber de Valparaíso, 11 June 1877, 2.37 In this way, the guano establishment of Paquica (Bolivia), in the decade of 1860, had an area specially dedicated to health care: ‘Parte no oficial. Exterior. Una visita oficial a las guaneras de Bolivia’, El Araucano, 13 April 1868, 2. In addition, the contract linking the contractor of the Government of Peru in the Chincha Islands with their workers included medical care, which used medicines: Méndez, ref. 28, 86–7.