Animitas para gaia

codelco mining camps of the 21st century

Animitas para Gaia is an archaeology project based in the year 3030 AD. The excavation site takes place in the Aticama Desert where our research team was looking for traces of the CODELCO mining camps on earth. The state run mining company had mines along the length of the country and primarily mined for copper during the electrical age. The mining camps were presumed to be especially important in the legacy of off-world colonies because the mines were located in remote areas, like the Atacama Desert, and needed to be efficient in resources management and utilization. This material efficiency was the main objective of the research, not the material extraction techniques, and is assumed to be the basis of what we know today as sustainability. The main objective of the research was to investigate the links between mining, building and living as a reflection of cultural priorities and material efficiency.

The research team was able to identify the source of the mines easily due to the copper veins flowing beneath the surface of the desert. The mines were always closely organized according to this geological phenomenon. The colony near the pit was mostly buried from the tailings of the open pit mine. The research team concluded this from mineral testing which confirmed similar compositions from the near by mine. [The team would later come acknowledge the open pit mining was only one part of the extraction process, and another more technical drilling was done underneath the open pit mine. ] Although they were centuries old, the desert biosphere has very little effect on the landscape topography due to lack of water in the region.

Underneath the layers of tailings were earthen structures made of a type of gypsum-based cement and soil. Interestingly, toxins from the waste water of the mine were also found inside the mineral composition of the structures, suggesting the miners had used waste water from the mine to construct the structures in which they inhabited. There were many earth forms found in the excavation process. They ranged in size and material composition; making it difficult to find patterns. However, connective infrastructure like pipes, cables and ducts were found linked to all structures regardless of size, suggesting a larger organization intelligence of the camp.

During excavation, we discovered these seemingly ‘bone’ fragments in remarkable consistency. These thermally formed composite materials were commonly embedded inside the earthen structures. Unlike the earth forms in which these components were embedded, the composite components were easily classified into the three typologies: panel, spine and groove. From the positions and continuity of the components, the research team believes  the spine and groove components were mostly used as a framework for which the panel components could temporarily attach. It is assumed this material/resource deployment technique produced a formwork system in which the gypsum-based cement and soil were built. After the panel components were removed, the spine and groove components remained as a structural system as well as distribution system of water, energy and air into the build forms as a network system. While the spine and groove components were mostly found intact inside the larger earthen structures, the panels were disperse and difficult to find. Because we do not have a complete set, we speculate the scarcity of panels is due to the fact that they were reused often, suggesting the population of the camp could fluctuate, as well as the position of the camp itself.

While the system of construction seemed to be understandable, the range of forms seemed to be an aesthetic choice from COLDELCO. This was proved wrong when the temperature began dropping below -10c during the nights. In a desperate attempt, the research team took shelter in one of the larger structures that had been recently uncovered. It was only then that the team felt the heat from the day returning to them via the lumped heat capacity of the material.

The temperature cycle of the structures were working the same as the daily temperature cycle, but less drastic and delayed. The research team noticed during the cool night, heat from the day that was stored in the thickness of the materials was then released back to the interior. As the structure cooled, the temperature of the day had already begun to climb and become hotter than the interior. Inversely, the cooled structure reduced the temperature of the air coming into the structure and began to heat up.

Through further investigation, the material techniques of comfort via interior climate influenced social patterns inside the colony and established an active relationship between the miners and the geography/environment they were working in. Compared to the older mining camps of the Anthropocene, this colony integrated temperature cycles with social patterns into a node typology- sharing heat as well as social atmosphere. The configuration of smaller private structures surrounded large more public ones and created a courtyard effect.

At the same time we were investigating the placement and forms of materials, we were tracking the water system embedded in the composite components. We assumed inhabitants were drinking and cooking with the water supply. We also assumed the water inside the structural pieces was acting as part of the thermal mass. There is even some evidence that plant-life was deliberately grown to facilitate oxygen inside the sleeping compartments.  

When tracing the water lines outside of the camp, the water supply seemed to be only linked to the mine. We know there was waste water from the mines, but if this was the only water source, it would have had to been treated before use. We did not find a typical treatment plant of the time near the excavation site, but further research provided another option of treatment: a passive water-treatment system at the Wheal Jane Tin Mine in 1992. The process included several cells: oxidation, limestone, and biochemical. While the system was successful, the amount of water treated was not etiquette due to the lack of land available.

When compared back to the excavation site and the larger scale, the research team realized the position of the colony in relation to the mine and the oasis was precise. We realized existing limestone fields were not for agriculture, the plant-life [biochemicals] were not only for oxygen, the mining colony was not only for miners; the colony itself was  water treatment system. From the case study, we approximated the amount of water treatable from the area of the limestone fields. This was enough to supply inhabitants with enough drinking water. The water treatment defined a new relationship between the colony and the mine, as the colony depended on water from the mine. The treatment system also defined a new relationship between the land and the colony. The scale of developed land needed to treat the water forced the colony to function at a geographical scale. 

This process of depending on waste water from the mine gives some clues to the duration of the colony. We know after the mine was closed, the colony stayed and continued to treat the water of the mine because there was no flooding in both the underground and open-pit mines. We presume the colony changed focus from mining to remediation after the mine closed. The life of the colony was not long lived after the mine. Because the mine was the ‘life-source’ for the colony, once the mine closed, the colony soon moved as well. With a geographic/existential relation to the land, we think the burial of the colony is more significant than economic reasons. We hypothesize the colonies became animitas in traditional Chilean culture; aimed at becoming a place of worship. Reminiscent of tragic events, animitas attempt to house the left souls from wandering the land.

If the colonies have turned into geographic animitas, then we know who died and we know who killed her.

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