Old Copper complex
North American archaeological culture (7500–1000 BCE)
The Old Copper complex or Old Copper culture is an archaeological culture from the Archaic period of North America's Great Lakes region. Artifacts from some of these sites have been dated from 6500 to 1580 BCE. It is characterized by widespread copper artifacts, including tools and weapons, as well as ornamental objects.
Western Great Lakes
The Old Copper complex of the Western Great Lakes is the best known, and can be dated to around 6,500 BCE. Great Lakes natives of the Archaic period located 99% pure copper near Lake Superior, in veins touching the surface and in nuggets from gravel beds. Major quarries were located on Isle Royale, the Keweenaw Peninsula, and the Brule River, and copper was deposited elsewhere by glaciation as well.
By heating, annealing and hammering, these cultures worked the copper into shape and produced a variety of spearpoints, tools and decorative objects. In addition to their own use, the Copper Complex peoples traded copper goods for other exotic materials. By about 1,000 BCE, copper was increasingly restricted to jewelry and other status-related items, rather than tools. This is thought to represent the development of more complex social hierarchies in the area.
The Copper Culture State Park, in Oconto, northeastern Wisconsin, contains an ancient burial ground used by the Old Copper complex culture between around 4,000 and 2,000 BCE.. It was rediscovered in June 1952 by a 13-year-old boy who unearthed human bones while playing in an old quarry.
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