Metallographic and Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Copper-based Metals from Fort Ouiatenon

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Fort Ouiatenon was established by the French in 1717 in what is today northwest Indiana to protect their interests in the region and engage in trade with Indigenous People in the Wabash River valley. Excavations at Ouiatenon in the 1960s and 70s recovered thousands of artifacts including many metal trade goods and numerous fragments of sheet copper and copper alloys. Copper sheet fragments display a variety of colors, sizes, and evidence of folding and other signs of manipulation. A Bruker Tracer III-SD portable X-Ray Fluorescence instrument was used to identify major alloying elements of a sample of copper and copper alloy fragments believed to be pieces of kettles. This project demonstrates that archaeological and museum collections can be analyzed to understand the use of copper and copper alloys in Europe for kettles and other trade goods, which then influenced and embodied cultural entanglements of the 18th century Great Lakes region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• 2023 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow