Hot Spot Analysis: Copper Production in the Northern Lake Superior Basin

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

North America’s Native Copper Industry is one of the oldest metalworking traditions in the world, with metal use in this region dating to over 9,500 years ago. While several studies have focused on copper mining and use, few have focused on copper production. As a result, little attention has been given to the waste materials generated during the production process. The study of waste materials is vital to understanding what metallurgical production systems look like and how they are structured. This paper will examine the geospatial organization of copper production throughout the Archaic period in the northern Lake Superior Basin. The organization of copper production will be examined through morphological analysis of copper waste materials from copper production sites across this region. This information will then be examined geospatially using the Optimized Hot Spot Analysis tool on ArcGIS to identify where stages of production took place as people and copper moved across the landscape. The structure of this production system will then be interpreted through a relational approach to production that seeks to understand the relationships that form between people, material culture, and the environment through assembling in the production process.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38696.0