7 December 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

The First Native Americans were Among the First Metal Miners in the World

An arrowhead made of pure copper 8,500 years ago dates the history of the copper age to an earlier period, emphasizing the copper culture. New studies on the artifact from hunter-gatherers living next to Eagle Lake in Wisconsin reveal interesting results.

The data shows that the early Native Americans were among the first people in the world to mine metal and make it into tools. They also suggest that regional climate change might help explain why thousands of years later, pioneering metallurgists suddenly stopped making most copper tools, and most returned to stone and bone tools.

The largest copper deposits on Earth are found around the Great Lakes of North America. This is why Native Americans left many copper tools behind.

According to the news in Sciencemag, Today, it’s not uncommon to meet residents of the region “who have buckets of copper artifacts [that they’ve found] tucked away in their basements,” says David Pompeani, a geologist at Kansas State University, Manhattan, who studies ancient mining.

When scientists began to date artifacts and mines, they noticed an amazing pattern: the dates suggested that the Old Copper Culture people started making metal tools around 6,000 years ago, and then, for unclear reasons, mostly abandoned copper tools around 3,000 years ago. Later, Native Americans used copper mainly to make smaller, less-usable ornament items such as beads and bracelets.

“The history is just so peculiar,” in part because many other ancient cultures didn’t abandon metal tools once they learned how to make them, Pompeani says.

Archaeologist Michelle Bebber of Kent State University, Kent, made these replicas of copper arrowheads and knives crafted by people of North America’s Old Copper Culture. MİCHELLE BEBBER/KENT STATE UNİVERSİTY EXPERİMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY LAB

David Pompeani started work on the Old Copper timeline 10 years ago. The analysis shows that copper mining started about 9,500 years ago, and in some areas, it was 3,500 years earlier than previously thought. The researchers used modern methods to reanalyze 53 radiocarbon dates—including eight newly collected dates—associated with the Old Copper Culture.

The research team reported in this month’s Radiocarbon that the most reliable date plus sediment data indicated that the ancient copper culture appeared at least 9,500 years ago and reached its peak between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago. This makes it at least as old or even older as the copper processing culture recorded in the Middle East, where archaeologists recorded copper pendants believed to be 8,700 years old.

So why did hunter-gatherers abandon the use of copper? Controlled laboratory tests have shown that stone and bone tools are often as effective as copper. Only copper awls proved superior to bone hole punchers.

Pompeani discovered that Old Copper was a factor in the abandonment of its use around 5,000 years ago. Sediment cores, tree ring data, and other evidence suggest that arid climate had affected the area at that time. This could trigger social and ecological upheavals that make it difficult to allocate time and resources to make copper tools. Over time, copper may have become a luxury item used to indicate social status.

Related Articles

Ancient Hebrew “Incantation Bowls” discovered in a home in Israel

8 March 2022

8 March 2022

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Monday that 1,500-year-old magical “incantation bowls” and other rare and ornate bone and ivory...

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...

In Turkey’s Zerzevan Castle, a badge bearing the US national symbol was discovered

4 October 2021

4 October 2021

Recent investigations have led to the discovery of a badge bearing the pattern of the Great Seal of the United...

Glazed Bricks with Bull and Dragon Motifs Discovered at Persepolis

17 December 2021

17 December 2021

A team of Iranian and Italian archaeologists recently unearthed some glazed bricks bearing bull and dragon motifs in the ancient...

New Study: Middle Paleolithic Human Diet was More Diverse than Previously Thought

30 November 2023

30 November 2023

In a newly published study, archaeologists from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen...

Citizen scientists discover more than 1,000 new burial mounds in a Dutch archaeological project

29 January 2023

29 January 2023

A Dutch archaeological project in which thousands of amateur sleuths combed specialized maps and high resolution photographs resulted in the...

3D printing technology was used for the restored relic restoration of an ancient palace in Liangzhu Archaeological Site

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Six rebuilt massive wooden pillars of an old palace have been exposed to the public for the first time at...

In Oman, a 4,000-year-old Early Bronze Age settlement was unearthed

25 January 2022

25 January 2022

A large settlement dating back more than 4,000 years has been discovered in Oman. Archaeological excavations in the Wilayat of Rustaq,...

1400-year-old artifacts discovered in the ancient city of Uzuncaburç (Diocaesarea)

26 January 2022

26 January 2022

During the excavations carried out in a tower in the ancient city of Uzuncaburç (Diocaesarea) in Mersin province in the...

A Roman sarcophagus containing two skeletons was found in Bath, England

29 June 2021

29 June 2021

Stone walls, a Roman sarcophagus, and a cremation burial have been unearthed in a renovation project at the Bathwick Roman...

“Exceptionally rare” gold sword pommel given to Scottish national museums

24 October 2022

24 October 2022

An “exceptionally rare” solid gold sword pommel found by a metal detectorist near Blair Drummond, Stirling, has been acquired by...

The mythical hero of Troy and Rome Aeneas’s peerless mosaic discovered in Türkiye

11 May 2023

11 May 2023

A large mosaic depicting the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil’s epic poem “The Aeneid” and the ancestor...

A 1900-year-old stele was discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Parion

5 August 2021

5 August 2021

A 1,900-year-old grave stele was found during excavations in Parion, an important ancient port city, near Kemer village in the...

The Jinn of Girnavaz Mound

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

Girnavaz mound is in the north of Nusaybin district of Mardin province and Nusaybin 4 km is away. It is...

A new finding in Persepolis reveals a Royal wall

23 October 2023

23 October 2023

A new find at Persepolis, whose magnificent ruins rest at the foot of Kuh-e Rahmat (Mount of Mercy) in southwestern...