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Some different NA arrow points
aero86:
he said it was from great lakes copper. copper gets stronger when you hammer it some. kinda cool to think if it did come from copper here that we almost had our own copper age.
Pat B:
Cool points, halfeye. Thanks for posting.
I wonder if Billy Berger will have any of these points is one of his upcoming PA articles about the Smithsonian NA archery gear.
half eye:
Fellas,
Michigan is one of the few places on Earth where copper occures in it's pure form (in veins). The Native American from round here would find some of those pretty close to lake superior and build a great big wood fire next to the exposed vein....when everything got really hot they'd throw some of that near freezing water on the rock and presto, the rock blows and chunks of copper fall out....
The few heads and points that I actually got to look at WERE hammered out...as far as I know there was no smelting or casting involved!!
About that question about where copper came from....here's a tid-bit of useless info....Great Lakes copper dated to the Viking Age has been found in Turkey and I believe northern Iran as well. There are rock carvings in the U.P. of michigan that look just like Viking long ships...right down to the "crosses" on the sails. SO......either the vikings visited the great lakes or the Native Americans paddled their 20 man canoes clear to the Mediteranian....don't think so.
I'm about certain that these points were hammered out into "products" and traded....FYI most pure metals, including copper, can be traced back to their geographic origin, that's why they know Greatlakes copper is what was found in near east.
half eye
Diligence:
Very interesting! Maybe it was one of my ancestors that sailed that copper back and forth across the atlantic....lol
I just love this kind of stuff!
j
half eye:
Ya, dem darned Vikings was everywhere....pesky rascals!!!!! One more useless tid-bit....the vikings actually had a word for north american Natives....called them "Scralings" and their bows and willingness to fight were mentioned often in the "sagas".
half eye
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