|
Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes |
 |
The American Indians essentially were hunters and gatherers in a kind of stone-age
culture without any metals, right? Wrong. Some of the American "Indians" had used native copper since 4 000 BC
or even earlier until "recently", i.e. before they were killed off completely in one the more successful genocides
of recent history. Remember "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore
Cooper? As the saying goes: It was a bad day when the Americans discovered Columbus". |
|
 |
The copper came from natural ore deposits, running for about 120 miles along the southern
shores of Lake Superior on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The native copper is rather pure, typically over 95%.
These deposits
have bene mined for millennia, the most heavily utilized mines were discovered at Isle Royale, Keweenaw and Ontonagon. From
the magnitude of mining it can be concluded that rather large amounts of native copper has been used for tools weapons and
ornaments by the native Americans. Large numbers (> 10 000) of copper artifacts have indeed been found - axes, adzes,
various forms of projectile points, knives, perforators, fishhooks and harpoons. Some of these thing were rather large,
indicating that large copper nuggets were found. Copper pieces weighing more than a ton were still found in the 19th century.
By about 1500 BC a shift from more utilitarian objects to personal ornaments took place, possibly indicating an increase in social stratification.
|
| |
It is pretty much "of course" - unfortunately - that for a long time
nobody believed that primitive Indians could have worked with copper. All kinds of bullshit "theories" were invented
to explain the origin of these artifact, always involving racially superior "white" people. This only changed
(slowly) when radiocarbon dating became available after 1950. |
|
|
Here are some examples of the artifacts found: |
| | |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Below the bead is some unfinished part. The big object is a preform, possibly for trading.
Her are two of the many stone hammers left behind: |
| | |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
So let's compare technologies. Old "Turks"
and old native Americans. Surprise! They are pretty much identical. |
|
|
The Americans formed sheets by cold working, interrupted by annealing, then folded and polished
the surface. No difference to "Turkish" technology. Look at the bead above. It's larger than the Cayönü Tepesi beads but made the same way.
The Americans did build up layered structures but, as it appears, did not achieve hammer
welding - neither did the "Turks".
Since it is all but sure that the two cultures have never met each other
and exchanged copper-working recipes, the diffusion hypothesis fails at this point. That does not prove, however, that the old Chinese, maybe, did
learn a few things from the early Turks and their successors even so they the present-day Chinese would hate to have to
admit that 1). |
|
This is actually not really surprising. Copper is just copper. You want to work
with it - you ,must use the same technology as everybody else. |
|
|
The native Americans, however, did not progress to smelting, melting and casting copper or
any other metal. Maybe it's just as well, otherwise they might now be Europeans and we would be dead. |
| |
|
© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)
With frame
10.1.3 Smelting, Melting, Casting and Alloying Copper - The First