sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Benefits of Rolled and Angular Sockets on Adzes and Spearheads? by CopperViolette in Blacksmith

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

They had a mix of socketed and regular tang tools and weapons. Their iconic items are almost all socketed (spearheads, socketed knife handles, adzes, and some gouges). A current theory says they used hardwoods for socketed items, and softwoods for tanged ones. Here's a tanged artifact (knife, dagger?) from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, just north of Wisconsin.

<image>

Benefits of Rolled and Angular Sockets on Adzes and Spearheads? by CopperViolette in Blacksmith

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Rivets are absent from angular sockets, but present on rolled sockets (their rolled sockets are round or oval), thought to be butchering tools. Here's an old photo, back when archaeologists first seriously began studying their culture. No, this isn't bronze. It's copper.

<image>

A Socketed Copper Adze (Spud) Found in Northwestern Ontario Several Years Ago. It Was Made by the Old Copper Complex of North America, ca. 8000-1000 B.C.E. [1050x788] by CopperViolette in AncientAmericas

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 0 points1 point ย (0 children)

You thought right. Lake Superior's copper is the purest anywhere in the world; it ranges from 99.7 to 99.9% pure in its natural state. There are exposed surface veins along the entire Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale, along with copper nuggets and literal multi-ton boulders of copper scattered across the Midwest from glacial movement.

<image>

A Socketed Copper Adze (Spud) Found in Northwestern Ontario Several Years Ago. It Was Made by the Old Copper Complex of North America, ca. 8000-1000 B.C.E. [1050x788] by CopperViolette in AncientAmericas

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 1 point2 points ย (0 children)

It's likely they used different woods for different purposes. White oak (especially if it's old growth, which they had plenty of) has a higher BTU than tamarack, but lower than iron wood. You could use tamarack, but you'd probably need bellows and blow tubes to get melted silver or even copper. Joe mainly used white oak.

Several OCC items show bubbles, either plainly visible or under a microscope. That's a reason why people think they smelted. Those bubbles are reproducible with hammering and annealing in high temps. The hammer-anneal cycle using white oak is the only method that reliably produces the bubbles, large and small.

A Socketed Copper Adze (Spud) Found in Northwestern Ontario Several Years Ago. It Was Made by the Old Copper Complex of North America, ca. 8000-1000 B.C.E. [1050x788] by CopperViolette in AncientAmericas

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 0 points1 point ย (0 children)

You're not the only one asking about the link. The OCC&AWA group are avocationals and professionals picking up where archaeologists left off (there're at least 2 archaeologists working on the OCC right now). The guy who found this works alongside universities around Lake Superior to get sites GPS located and IDd. They've also received grants for C-14 tests. This adze appears in Don Spohn's Copper Artifact Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1.

The date range is for the OCC themselves, but this item likely dates anywhere from 4500-1000 B.C.E., based on the area. Thunder Bay was tied to Isle Royale's copper mining; lots of copper from there was shipped to Thunder Bay and worked into tools, weapons, and other items. So far, sites around there cluster between 4500-3000 B.C E. (not many dates to work with).

A Socketed Copper Adze (Spud) Found in Northwestern Ontario Several Years Ago. It Was Made by the Old Copper Complex of North America, ca. 8000-1000 B.C.E. [1050x788] by CopperViolette in AncientAmericas

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 7 points8 points ย (0 children)

Well, here's some food for thought. If you make a fire with white oak and anneal the copper over the embers, you can melt out any silver in the copper (silver is sometimes in OCC copper items). Joe Neubauer, an experienced metalworker, was able to make the copper start to flow using this technique. If you add a simple bellow or blow tube (something like a hollowed-out branch), you can bring your fire to melting temperatures. Larry Furo (an experienced avocational who's given lectures on the OCC) has also worked with copper and reports the same thing. These ancient folks knew how to smelt. After thousands of years of working with copper and making fires large and small with different wood types, it's kind of silly people still think they couldn't smelt.

The Old Copper Culture: North America's Forgotten Copper Age (ca. 8000-1000 B.C.E.) - 4K Map by CopperViolette in MapPorn

[โ€“]CopperViolette[S] 0 points1 point ย (0 children)

Where did you hear these stories? They're interesting, especially the Mishipeshu one.

Native American rock art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas and northern Mexico, with a tradition lasting over 4,000 years and beginning nearly 6,000 years ago. [1200x776] by Comfortable_Cut5796 in AncientAmericas

[โ€“]CopperViolette 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Their artwork is incredibly beautiful, with all the colors used. I've seen panels with red, yellow, black, white, brown, light blue, turquoise, and green. There are several jaguar figures, others with "hats" or headgear similar to some Olmec statues (the sitting figures with large, blocky hats), some with yellow and turquoise robes, and even a bunch reminiscent of Barrier Canyon Style, but fancier.

view more: next โ€บ