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How did Ecuadorian craftspeople combine gold and platinum without melting the platinum?

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Plaque showing a warrior and attendants — metalwork Warrior and attendants plaque, brass relief sculpture by Edo artists in the court of the kingdom of Benin (now Nigeria), 16th–17th century; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Pre-Hispanic craftspeople in Ecuador achieved the remarkable feat of combining gold and platinum without melting the platinum by using a technique called sintering.1

Because platinum has an extremely high melting point—a property that prevented its widespread use in Europe until centuries later—these artisans could not rely on traditional smelting methods. Instead, they combined gold dust with small grains of alluvial platinum through a process of repeatedly heating and hammering the materials together. This method allowed the metals to bond without reaching the liquid state required for conventional casting. This sophisticated approach enabled the creation of complex, microscopic beads, representing a significant technological and artistic triumph in the history of metalwork.21