Range and Variation of Copper Tools from Two Archaic Localities in Wisconsin

Summary

Great Lakes Archaic copper artifacts have been well documented and typed for many decades. However, there is a lingering tendency to think of copper as primarily a social signifier and to shy away from development of economically oriented copper theory. One component of the problem is rooted in copper’s innately malleable nature. Copper was made into a wide range of tools and non-utilitarian items during prehistory. While most of these types have been enumerated, there are no published resources suggesting the morphological range or variation of copper artifacts one might expect in any given region. This paper will report the morphological range and degree of variation measured on a collection of over 1000 copper artifacts from two localities in central Wisconsin. This data is then used to characterize copper usage in these two localities and provides comparative context for artifacts recovered in small numbers or through unconventional means. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to illuminate the economic significance of copper artifacts, and to encourage the development of useful archaeological theory for this component of the Archaic Hunter-Gatherer tool kit.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21859