The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America
by Richard J Dewhurst
7
A COPPER KINGDOM AND MICA MINES
ISLE ROYALE THE ROYAL
COPPER MOUND CONNECTION
Located in Lake Superior off the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in northern Michigan, Isle
Royale, also known as Royal Island, is one of the most interesting ancient sites in America. Not only is
the island literally made out of the highest-grade copper in the entire world, but its name also suggests its
royal status in the minds of the ancient giants of the North American copper kingdom. Significantly, a
quick look at a modern map of the United States quite clearly shows that the northern border of America
was drawn to include this island, showing, again quite clearly, that someone knew of the extreme
importance of this innocuous little island.
Because of a freak volcanic event that twisted the copper-bearing bedrock above the water line, thus
allowing all the sulfur impurities to burn away in the open air, the copper at Isle Royale is the purest
found anywhere in the world. The entire region is scarred by ancient mine pits and trenches up to twenty
feet deep. Carbon-dating testing of wood remains found in sockets of copper artifacts indicates that some
are at least 5,700 years old, while other open digs around the area have been dated from eight to ten
thousand years old.
The most conservative estimates calculate that during a ten-thousand-year period, over five hundred
thousand tons of copper were taken from the mines. At the other end of the spectrum, in Prehistoric
Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region, published in 1961, Roy Ward Drier and Octave Joseph
DuTemple estimated that over 1.5 billion pounds of copper had been mined from the region. Since
traditional researchers refuse to analyze European copper for its probable Michigan signature, no one has
been able to account for where all this copper went. That it was traded and used extensively across the
United States by the mound builders there is no question, but this in no way can account for the magnitude
of copper taken out of these unique mines.
Fig. 7.1. Ontonagon boulder of native copper as depicted in Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s 1821 book Narrative Journal of
Travels through the Northwestern Regions of the United States. Note the relative size of the boulder on the right riverbank
versus the men in the canoes. The Ontonagon boulder is actually just three feet, eight inches in its largest dimension and
weighs 3,708 pounds. It was initially exhibited in Detroit in 1843 and was eventually acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.
What researchers have determined is a continuous history of mining activity that began in 8000 BCE
and then abruptly ended around 1500 BCE, contemporaneous with the volcanic explosion on the Cretan
island of Thera (now known as Santorini). Since rock-cut pictures of Cretan trading vessels have been
found in the Isle Royale area, this lends credence to the Cretan connection in North America at a very
early date. In addition, researchers have also determined that copper mining activity resumed again
around 900 CE. This date corresponds perfectly with related evidence of a Viking presence in the area
around that same date.
SURFACE EXPLORING COPPER MINERS
In 1863, the Smithsonian published this field report based on Col. Charles Whittlesey’s explorations of
the copper mines discovered along the Eagle River in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Although the report is
mostly observational, it does hint at the magnitude of these mining operations.
ANCIENT COPPER MINING IN THE GREAT LAKES
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, APRIL 1863
Another authority, Colonel Charles Whittlesey, a Civil War veteran and American professional geologist
for the government, wrote in 1856 a treatise entitled, “Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior,”
based on what he had seen at Eagle River in the Keweenaw copper area. In 1862, Col. Charles
Whittlesey drew a map of the position of the ancient copper mine pits for the Smithsonian, and it forms a
valuable part of his document on the prehistoric copper miners.
After completing his inspection of the ancient copper mines in the Upper Peninsula on the shores of
Lake Superior, Col. Whittlesey reasoned somewhat as follows: an ancient people, of whom history gives
no account, extracted copper from the rocks on the Keweenaw Peninsula. They did it in a crude way by
means of fire and the use of copper wedges or gads and stone mauls. They had only the simplest
mechanical contrivances and penetrated the earth but a short distance. They do not appear to have had any
skill with metallurgy or of breaking up large masses of copper. For cutting tools they had chisels and
probably axes of pure copper hardened only by beating when cold. They sought chiefly for small masses
and lumps of metal and not for large pieces. No sepulture mounds, defenses, domiciles, roads, or canals
are known to have been made by them.
No evidence remains for their cultivation of the soil. They made weapons of defense or of the chase
such as darts, spears, and daggers of copper. These Old Copper Indians must have been numerous,
industrious, and persevering. The amount of work done indicates that they mined the country a long time
or the equivalent of 10,000 men over a period of 1,000 years. Col. Charles Whittlesey discovered that the
principal prehistoric copper mines in the Keweenaw-Ontonagon area of the Upper Peninsula
corresponded to the mining locations of the 1850s. In both the prehistoric and the modern mines three
groups of operations appear, one a little below the forks of the Ontonagon River, another at Portage Lake,
and the third on the banks of the Eagle River.
These last two sites were located on the Keweenaw Peninsula. It was evident to Whittlesey that
centuries ago the old copper miners were only surface explorers, and while the principal mines of the
new era followed in the same pattern of location as the ancient, the latter-day miners were able with much
better equipment to penetrate the earth to far greater depths.
KNOWLEDGE OF ANNEALING AND EMBOSSING
The ancient North American coppersmiths were the best in the ancient world, as evidenced by the
antiquity, quality, and scientific uniqueness of their work. Not only did they know how to anneal, emboss,
and engrave copper, but they also produced hardened axes and other instruments whose strength and
temper cannot be adequately reproduced to this day. In addition, these ancient coppersmiths produced a
unique, ultrapure, high-quality sheet metal superior to that produced in the Mediterranean.
GERMAN BOOK FROM 1857
TALKS OF THE ANCIENT MINERS
In the following newspaper article, reporter Victor F. Lemmor talks about a German book called Reisen
im Nordwesten der Vereinigten Staaten (Travels in Northwestern Parts of the United States), with
chapters relating to the ancient miners, or “Old People,” who legend says were the original miners of the
copper in this area. It is interesting to note that the term Old People is a cognate of Anasazi (Ancient
Ones), which refers to the original builders of the cliff dwellings in the southwestern United States.
LARGE SKELETONS FOUND IN MINNESOTA
BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER, OCTOBER 3, 1916
Some large mounds have been found in this territory. In some places a number of pieces of pottery have
been unearthed. It will be remembered that when the dam at International Falls was under construction
several hundred pieces of tempered copper were unearthed from a depth of 15 feet. The articles consisted
of fish hooks, knives, spears, and arrows. The art of tempering copper, which was known by these early
mound builders, is now a lost art. An unusually large skeleton was also unearthed and thought to have
been a woman. Physicians who have examined the skeleton declare that it represented a type of early
prehistoric persons who were seven feet tall or more and who possessed an especially large lower jaw.
They drew this conclusion because the skeleton found was that of a person of very large stature. The jaw
bone was wide and its construction is said to be a special gift of nature to the early man in order that he
could masticate the coarser foods which then made up his subsistence. The skull is very large. The well
rounded forehead gives evidence of considerable development of intelligence of the Rainy Lake territory.
. . . The skeleton will be sent to the Minnesota Historical Society.
TRACING THE ANCIENT COPPER CULTURE
BY VICTOR E. LEMMOR
DAILY GLOBE, NOVEMBER 20, 1969
According to Dr. George I. Quimby, the known world of the Old Copper Indians was the Upper Great
Lakes region. Some of these prehistoric people lived as early as 7,000 years ago, and others were still
around 3,000 years ago. In addition to being miners, these ancient workmen were the first known
fabricators of metal in America. It is believed that the Old Copper Indians must have been rather tall,
rugged, and muscular. Dr. Quimby states that by using as a basis the available archaeological evidence,
some of the techniques of the prehistoric copper miners have been reconstructed.
ANCIENT COPPER MINING METHODS REVEALED
Among the discoveries made, which determined these conclusions, are remnants of wooden levers, parts
of birch bark buckets, hammer stones, and charcoal from fires found in old mining pits. These prehistoric
men dug pits in order to follow the veins of pure copper from surface outcrop-pings. They broke the
copper from the rock formations with the help of water and fire and heavy beach boulders. According to
Dr. Quimby, the mining method practiced was to heat the rock surrounding the pure copper with fire and
then crack it by sudden dousing with cold water. After that the copper was pounded loose with boulder
hammers and then pried away with wooden levers.
The pure copper was fashioned into weapons and tools by cold hammering. To prevent the copper from becoming too brittle, it was alternately heated and chilled. Smelting and casting of copper were unknown.
DATING THE MINES
In addition to these three groups of mines on the Upper Peninsula, the copper on Isle Royale was also
known to the aborigines for thousands of years. Professor Roy W. Drier, who is in the department of
metallurgical engineering at the Michigan College of Mining and Technology at Houghton, Michigan,
informed this writer in November of 1959 that he had found mining that had been done at least 3,000
years ago on Isle Royale.
His evidence points to the possibility of the “Island Miners” being of an earlier race or culture than the
“Prehistorics” who mined in the Keweenaw Peninsula. In 1953 Prof. Drier accompanied by Dr. James B.
Griffin, director of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, dug in the old copper pits of
Isle Royale to a depth of 70 inches. They unearthed a charred log section, which was dated by carbon
methods at the University of Michigan Memorial Phoenix Laboratory as being 3,000 years old plus or
minus 350 years. In 1954 Prof. Drier again dug in the same ancient pit and took out another charred log
section, which was dated at 3,800 years plus or minus 500 years.
This writer’s personal interest in the prehistoric copper miners began just a few years ago at the time
he was president of the Historical Society of Michigan. There was called to his attention a German book
published in 1857 and written by Johann Georg Kohl, and it is titled Reisen im Nordwesten der
Vereinigten Staaten, (Travels in Northwestern Parts of the United States). Kohl was a German
geographer and researcher who devoted most of his life to scientific investigations.
The chapters relating to the ancient miners or “Old People” as designated by Kohl, were translated
from the German into English by Mrs. Helen Longyear Paul, curator of the Marquette County Historical
Museum, at Marquette, Michigan. After Mrs. Paul made a detailed study of Johann Kohl’s descriptive
chapter on the prehistoric copper mines of the Ontonagon country, she and two men from Marquette
visited the area referred to in Kohl’s book. By following the directions given in Kohl’s travels, they, too,
discovered the pits and hammer stones that had captivated Kohl over a hundred years before.
FIRST MODERN COPPER MINE IN 1730
The first actual modern mining operations were commenced near the forks of the Ontonagon about 1730
by Sieur de la Ronde, and later in 1761 continued by Alexander Henry, an English traveler and fur trader
who became interested in exploiting copper discoveries near Lake Superior.
THE MOST COPPER ARTIFACTS FOUND IN WISCONSIN
While Minnesota and Michigan were nearer these copper sources, it is in Wisconsin that the greatest
number of Indian-made articles, that is artifacts of copper, has been found. Indeed, more copper Indian
artifacts have been found in Wisconsin than in any other state in the Union. There are on record, at
present, over 20,000 specimens of Indian copper manufacture found in Wisconsin and produced from the
mines of the Lake Superior region. Copper was found in nuggets of all sizes and in the seams of copper bearing rock.
It is assumed that the Indians doing the mining took these sheets, a typical size being about three sixteenths of an inch, and ten inches long by eight inches wide, and the nuggets home to their village
artisans who in turn worked them into ornaments and tools.
At Indian sites all along Green Bay there have been found many copper chippings: definite evidence of
copper workshops there. At Two Rivers, Sheboygan, Waupaca, and Green Lake especially large amounts
of copper chips and other copper pieces have been found as proof of extensive copper manufacture in
those parts. The distribution was also extensive.
THE COPPER TRADE WAS SOUTH, EAST, AND WEST
Findings indicate that native copper, as well as the finished artifacts, went in trade east, south, and west.
Perhaps in this way Wisconsin Indians secured the ivory-colored flint of Ohio, the obsidian of the
Yellowstone, and the beautiful conch shells from the seashores, all of which have been found among the
Wisconsin Indian relics. Unmistakably, Wisconsin was the seat of the Indian copper industry, the products
of which passed through the avenues of trade to many and distant lands.
With the stone tools that the Indian coppersmith made, he formed the copper artifacts. He found early in
his work that hammering on a piece of freshly-mined copper made it crumble, so he experimented until he
developed a practical method.
The first step in this method is called annealing and consists of the alternate heating and dipping in
water of the copper, which made it tough and manageable. Then by hammering, grinding, cutting, and
polishing, he produced the finished object, and by embossing and perforating, he decorated it.
THE MYSTERY OF THE SHEET COPPER AND THE
UNIQUE COPPER
CONTENT CONTAINED THEREIN
Finding many objects made of sheet copper in Wisconsin brought up controversy as to whether the Indians
produced these sheets or got them from Europe in trade. Chemical analysis showed that the Indian
coppersmith did not melt or temper copper. The free silver found in the artifacts studied would not be
seen if the copper had not been tempered. Analysis shows that the Indian-made sheets, to cite one
instance, contained 99.73 percent copper; .34 percent iron and .023 percent silver, while the European
trade sheets showed the presence of bismuth, zinc, antimony, nickel, and arsenic and that they were
obviously tempered. By annealing and hammering only, the Indian coppersmiths made sheet copper out of
chunks and welded pieces upon one another and together.
Copper was used a great deal for decoration, the commonest ornaments being beads. These were made
by winding a thin strip of copper around a sort of spindle, the number of times around regulating the size,
and by drilling through solid pieces and hammering them into shape. Hammering and polishing made a
handsome bead. A chain of copper beads, now famous among finds, was discovered to be over 11 feet
long, and to contain over 500 beads, each one-fourth inch in diameter.
Innumerable bangles, rings, pendants, breastplates, bracelets, ear rings, and hair ornaments were made.
From the copper breastplate forged as a medal of honor, to the lovely bracelets and hair ornaments goes
the story of Indian life and romance, if one cares to read it.
THE SCHUMACHER COPPER COLLECTION, GREEN BAY
Too numerous to mention is the detailed list of other copper artifacts ranging from spears and arrow
points, through knives, adzes and gouges, to fish hooks and harpoons. The Schumacher collection of
copper artifacts in the Neville Museum in Green Bay offers an exceptional opportunity for study, as do
other museum collections in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
For those wishing to read more on the subject, an article “Myths and Legends about Copper,” by
Charles E. Brown of the Wisconsin Historical Museum, published in the recent September issue of the
Wisconsin Archaeologist, will be of much interest.
ALGONQUIAN COPPER WORKINGS
THE LARGEST IN THE NATION
“The lands claimed by the Algonquian Menomonies and recognized as theirs by the United States has
yielded the greatest number of copper workshops and copper implements of any region in the United
States, showing the Indians to have been accomplished artisans, as for centuries they manufactured their
copper tools and ornaments,” notes W. C. McKern, associate curator of Anthropology at the Milwaukee
Public Museum.
EVIDENCE FOR WISCONSIN COPPER
MINING 10,000 YEARS AGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS, APRIL 25, 1958
Waukesha, Wisconsin: A power shovel has unearthed a chunk of pure copper, which two Carroll County
scientists regard as probable evidence of the primitive “copper culture” 10,000 years ago. John Cooper
was operating a power shovel Tuesday when the machine turned up the mass of copper at a subdivision
south of here.
Anthropologist Harold Eastman and geologist Benjamin Richason conjectured that the copper chunk,
larger than a man’s fist, probably was placed in an ancient grave about 100 centuries (10,000) years ago.
SEVEN-THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD
FIND AT LEONARD’S POINT
OSHKOSH WISCONSIN DAILY, JUNE 3, 1955
Important new evidence expected to provide scientists with further information concerning the history and
culture of ancient Indians in Wisconsin has been uncovered near Leonard’s Point on Lake Butte des Morts,
it has been revealed by officials of the Oshkosh Museum. The discoveries were made on the Matt Reigh
farm, northwest of the city, the same site, which produced an interesting series of prehistoric burials,
during excavations carried on by Oshkosh and Madison anthropologists during the summer of 1953. James
E. Lundsted, curator of anthropology at the local museum, said Tuesday that three more burials, much
older than the 1953 discoveries were found at the Reigh farm site last month.
The remains of the three prehistoric Indians, Lundsted stated, are estimated to date back to a period of
between 3,000 to 5,000 BC. The dates of the burials from two years ago have been established at about
500 BC. The new excavations were carried out, beginning May 25 by Lundsted; Stuart H. Mong, director
of the Oshkosh Public Museum; and Heinz Meyer, Oshkosh High School history teacher and student of
anthropology.
YOUNG BOY TIPS THEM OFF
Lundsted said the new work came about as the result of a “tip” from Terry Raettig, a boy who lives at
Highland Shore, located near the site. The boy called the museum after finding some bones and pottery at
the Reigh farm site. The pottery, described as thick and bearing what anthropologists refer to as “cord”
markings, dated back to later Indian burials at the Reigh site. “However,” Lundsted stated, “the bones of
the three prehistoric Indians were in poor condition, it was reported, although the leg bones were well
enough preserved to show a heavy and thick conformation, similar to those found during the 1953
excavation. Five copper points were found between the feet of one of the skeletons.”
LITERAL RED BONES DISCOVERED
One of the burials was in a narrow ledge of red material, two to three inches thick. “The red material has
not been positively identified,” museum officials commented, “but appeared to be sand with a high
percentage of iron oxide. The bones had taken on the bright red color and were also heavily impregnated
with copper salts.”
GRAVE GOODS INCLUDE ANTLER BEADS
Grave goods—artifacts buried with the prehistoric Indians—included a celt or ax, two crescent-shaped
knives, a snail shell bracelet and a number of antler beads. A rolled copper bead was discovered at the
site by Penny Foust, a neighborhood girl.
Scientists said the newly-discovered burials near Leonard’s Point, were highly important and that they
are tentatively believed to be related to what anthropologists know to be the “Old Copper Culture.” Other
evidence of the “Old Copper Culture” has been found in Wisconsin at Potosi, at Osceola, and, in 1952, at
Oconto. Wood charcoal found at the Oconto site was sent to the University of Chicago, where a
complicated analysis known as the “carbon 14” test was made. The test indicated the charcoal was about
5,000 years old. The snail beads and crescent-shaped knives found at the Reigh site, a museum official
said, are similar to those uncovered at Oconto.
MIDWAY BETWEEN OCONTO AND OSCEOLA
Mr. Lunsted pointed out that the Reigh site is a logical location for remains of the “old copper culture”
being situated about mid-way between Osceola and the Oconto sites. Further excavations of the
archaeologically rich Reigh site will be carried out by Osceola researchers.
Fig. 7.3. Miniature diorama of an archaic copper mine, formerly at the Milwaukee Public Museum
FORTY-THREE SKELETONS FOUND
Remains of a total of 43 human beings were uncovered at Osceola by a team of Oshkosh and Madison
anthropologists in the summer of 1953. Among the important artifacts discovered at that time were two
highly-polished and notched swan bones, a conical copper point, a copper headdress, two axes made of
elk antler and a gorget (or neck ornament), made of a conch shell.
The Indians of the “old copper culture” used pure copper in fashioning some of their artifacts but did
not have methods for tempering the metal. Instead they worked it by cold pounding and annealing
techniques.
THE COPPER HEADDRESS
OSHKOSH DAILY, JANUARY 9, 1954
Another fascinating find was a copper headdress that extended half way around the upper portion of the
skull. The headdress consisted of flattened strips of pure copper, which, at one time, were fastened
together by a piece of buckskin or fabric. Still another artifact found by the archaeologists was a “gorget,”
or neck ornament, made of a conch shell. The gorget, which measured about five inches in length, and two
inches in width, had three holes on its long axis for suspension purposes. The ornament was shaped like
the sole of a sandal.
Among the other unusual artifacts were two swan bones about 7 and 8 inches long, both highly polished
and both with a series of notches cut into the sides. The bones may have been used for ceremonial
purposes, but their function is not exactly known.
The excavations of last summer also yielded a conical copper point of a somewhat different type than
the usual run of such objects.
THE ELK ANTLER AXES
The most interesting specimens found at the site, however, were two axes made of elk antler. The
archaeologists’ report indicated that the axes found on the Reigh farm were different, so far as is known
now, from any previously discovered in the United States.
The 1953 finds at the Reigh farm serve to increase our knowledge of one of the least known periods in
Wisconsin archaeology, covering the time period ranging from about 1,000 years before the Christian era,
to about 350 AD.
ACCOUNT OF ARROW FOUND IN MASTODON
A newspaper article of 30 years ago noted that such an arrow had been found imbedded in the bones of a
mastodon found near the Mississippi River farther north in the state.
A turning point in Wisconsin prehistory came in 1945, when Dr. Robert Ritzenthaler, of the Milwaukee
Museum, excavated a site near Potosi. There, the first real evidence of the “Old Copper Culture” was
found in situ. The “Old Copper Culture” refers to a cultural group of Indians, antecedent to that of the
Early Woodland period, which used copper rather than stone in the manufacture of artifacts.
Dr. R. E. Ritzenthaler, assistant curator of anthropology of the Milwaukee Museum, was sent by his
museum to survey the find. The trench in which the bodies were buried, he told the Wisconsin State
Journal, is about 80 feet long and 15 feet wide. The bodies were laid out on the sand of the reef, in the
beginning, and covered with black dirt at a distance of about 5 feet below the present ground level.
“The copper artifacts have been found in the lower level. The copper awls, 5 and 6 inches long, have
been sharpened at both ends and were probably used in making clothing. The ‘spuds,’ tools with sharp
edges hafted on handles, were used in scooping out dugout canoes, cleaning skins, and the like,” Dr.
Ritzenthaler said.
“The instruments were placed in regular patterns,” according to Rollo Jamison Beetown, “indicating
that the placing of the artifacts was part of a religious ritual. Burials at the upper level were of a bundle
burial type, in which the bones, collected during the winter, were buried in a mass ceremony and without
placing of copper artifacts.”
DAM CONSTRUCTION DESTROYS MORE EVIDENCE
The Potosi burial ground had once been on the banks of the Grant River, but the building of the dam on the
Mississippi at Dubuque, raised the waters to include this in the Mississippi and eat away a part of the
burial ground.
TWO TYPES OF “COMMON” BURIALS AT OSCEOLA
The dead at the Osceola site were disposed of in two ways: either through bundle burial or partial
cremation. (Bundle burials were thought to be of Indians who had died in the winter and whose bodies
had been left on platforms in trees until only the bones remained. These were then gathered in a bundle for
burial in the spring when the ground thawed.)
ANCIENTS HAD MORE EFFICIENT MINING METHODS
It appears that the ancient miners went on a different principle from what they do at the present time. The
greatest depth yet found in these holes is thirty feet—after getting down to a certain depth, they drifted
along the vein, making an open cut. These cuts have been filled nearly to a level by the accumulation of
soil, and we find trees of the largest growth standing in this gutter, and also timber trees of a very large
growth have grown up and died, and decayed many years since; in the same place there are now standing
trees of over three hundred years growth. This discovery will lead to a new method of finding veins in
this country, and may be of great benefit to some.
Fig. 7.4. This is a modern photo of a ten-ton block of copper being removed from Isle Royale. It is similar in size, but not
workmanship, to the smooth-pounded ten-ton block of copper described below.
TEN-TON CHUNK OF COPPER IS FOUND
Last week they dug down to a new place, and about 12 feet below the surface found a mass of copper that
will weigh from eight to ten tons.
This mass of copper was buried in ashes, and it appears they could not handle it, and had no means of
cutting it, and probably built fire to melt or separate the rock from it, which might be done by heating, and
then dashing on cold water.
CLEAN AS A NEW CENT
This piece of copper is pure, and clean as a new cent, the upper surface has been pounded clear and
smooth. It appears that this mass of copper was taken from the bottom of a shaft, the depth of about thirty
feet. In sinking this shaft from where the mass now lies, they followed the course of the vein, which
pitches considerably; this enabled them to raise it as far as the hole came up with a slant. At the bottom of
the shaft they found skids of black oak, from eight to twelve inches in diameter: these sticks were charred
through, as if burnt; they found wooden wedges in the same situation. In this shaft they found a miner’s gad
and a narrow chisel made of copper. I do not know whether these copper tools are tempered or not, but
their make displays good workmanship. They have taken out more than a ton of cobblestones, which have
been used as mallets. These stones are nearly round, with a score cut around the center, and look as if this
score was hatched cut for the purpose of putting a handle around it.
EVIDENCE FOR WIDESPREAD TRADE
OAKLAND TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 1925
There was a well-developed system of trade among those ancient aborigines, and marine shells are often
found in the mounds of the Middle West, while articles of native Wisconsin copper occur in those of West
Virginia. In Alabama was dug up a skull filled with snail shells, for what purpose can hardly be imagined.
A gourd-shaped vessel full of lead ore so pure it was turned into bullets was found in Bellinger County,
Missouri. In 1879, the people in the neighborhood of a Mississippi town, where there are mounds
exceptionally rich in pottery, discovered that such relics had commercial value. A regular mining fever set
in, and men, women and children deserted other tasks to dig for aboriginal bric-a-brac, which was sold to
traders and passed on to museums and collectors.
Fig 7.5. A postcard of the Indian Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio
GROUP BURIED WITH COPPER MASKS
In a group of mounds near Chillicothe, Ohio, were found dozens of skeletons wearing copper masks.
Presumably the copper came from Wisconsin, where the Indians, long before Columbus landed, obtained
the metal by building a fire about a rock containing it and then pouring water on the hot stone, thereby
splitting the latter into fragments. The copper thus procured was heated and beaten out into sheets.
“ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS EVER MADE IN
WISCONSIN”
A number of articles describe the findings of archaeologist Robert J. Hruska at an old copper culture site
along the Menominee River.
A WOODEN BURIAL CRYPT
OSHKOSH DAILY, AUGUST 23, 1961
Within 20 inches of the surface, Hruska and his colleagues uncovered a wooden burial crypt, fashioned of
oak logs with a roof of sewed birch bark. Because of its proximity to the surface, skeletal material had
disappeared, leaving only the enamel of the teeth.
This burial, like others found this summer, gave evidence of red ochre: a substance which appears to
have had a religious or ceremonial significance.
THIRTEEN CEREMONIAL BLADES OF UNIQUE DESIGN
Digging down another foot into the pit, the archaeologist found another burial. In association with the
skull, all that was left of the skeleton were 13 7-inch ceremonial blades of stone, representing a type
never before found with an Old Copper Culture red-ochre burial. So far this summer, Hruska has
uncovered four burials with blades, each apparently a set, but differing with each set.
FLEXED BURIALS FOUND
Proceeding another foot down into the pit brought to light the remains of two individuals in “bundle” or
flexed burials. One produced a well-preserved skull, which indicates that its owner died right at the site
from a severe blow in the face. At each side of the skull, where the ears had been, was a large animal
tooth, which Hruska believes may have come from an elk.
EVIDENCE OF CREMATION CEREMONY OR SACRIFICE?
The burial, which was surrounded by upright charred oak logs, consisted of an adult and a child who had
been interred in the flesh and beneath them the cremated remains of about five other individuals. “The
entire burial,” Hruska said, “was impregnated with red ochre, a substance widely used by American
Indians for religious or ceremonial purposes.”
GIANT FOUND
The other person in this burial was a larger-than-average man. Much of the skeletal material was
preserved, due to the chemical properties of a large number of copper beads with which he was buried.
At about the 7-foot level, Hruska uncovered another “bundle” burial, this one a cremation.
WRAPPING MATERIAL RECOVERED WITH 44 BLADES
Fortunately, much of the wrapping materials, including strings of beads, some of them braided, were
recovered. Around the bones and beads was woven matting which, in turn, was wrapped in the skin of an
animal, possibly a beaver. Outer wrapping was a birch bark. Arranged around this burial at the bottom of
a pit was found a set of 44 blades, with all the points carefully positioned so as to face north.
200 COPPER BEADS AND 9 BLADES
Around each wrist of the adult were seven strands of copper beads, while a string of some 200 beads was
found directly over the skeletal material. Between the two bodies were nine flint blades—spear heads or
knives—ranging up to 10 inches in length.
Revealing exceptionally fine workmanship, the blades were manufactured of a type of flint commonly
found in Indiana or Illinois, but never before discovered in association with the Old Copper Culture. “The
implication that they were imported is clear,” commented Hruska.
DISINTEGRATING SKELETONS ARE OF AVERAGE SIZE
Unfortunately human skeletal material had almost entirely disintegrated after 3,000 years in the ground,
but enough was left to indicate that physically the Old Copper Culture people were of about average
height for their times, and, judging by the thickness of the bones, stocky and robust.
UNUSUAL COPPER AWL FOUND
Among the copper artifacts found with the burials were two large and fine awls, both still showing
remnants of wooden handles. One of the awls is fitted at one end with a beaver tooth, probably indicating
that the implement performed double duty as a chisel. Other copper grave goods included two toggle-head
harpoons: the first of their kind ever.
ONE HUNDRED HUMAN BURIALS UNCOVERED
BY CHARLES HOUSE
APPLETON POST-CRESCENT, SEPTEMBER 18, 1961
One of the most successful archaeological excavations ever made in Wisconsin has come to an end.
Archaeologist Robert J. Hruska, the 31-year-old curator of anthropology at the Oshkosh Public Museum,
has pronounced the digging as “rewarding beyond my wildest dreams.”
The excavations, commenced in July and recently completed, were made at a burial and village site of
a copper age culture settlement of Indians known to have lived along the Menominee River near here.
Hruska and a crew of volunteer diggers from Menominee succeeded in excavating more than 7,000 cubic
feet of ground, from which more than 30 multiple human burials consisting of skeletal remains of about
100 Old Copper Culture age people known to have lived here in prehistoric times were found.
Previous excavations of the Old Copper Culture have shown the Indians to have lived here 3,000 to
5,000 years ago. Of the many human skeletons discovered in the dig only three were of individual burials.
Hruska believes that the prehistoric copper people refrained from winter-time burials because of the
frozen ground. They retained the bodies of their dead until spring-time thaws and buried all persons who
died the previous winter.
RICH MICHIGAN BURIAL FINDS
ATTRACT NATIONAL ATTENTION
OSHKOSH DAILY, DECEMBER 16, 1961
Curator Robert J. Hruska: “The dig has attracted national attention in archaeological circles because of
the wealth of identifiable new material it produced and the new insights it is yielding into the lives of
these rather mysterious early Americans.”
The Old Copper Culture—so named because its members fashioned a variety of tools and ornaments of
copper—is the most ancient of prehistoric Wisconsin-Michigan Indian cultures. This summer’s
expedition produced, to say nothing of a vast number of beads, 79 large stone blades, ranging in length up
to 10 inches; about 15 copper artifacts, biggest of which is a 12-inch awl, and also including points,
knives, axes, and fish hooks; a variety of stone arrow and spear points, scrapers, etc.; and three skulls
good enough for exhibit purposes.
TWENTY COPPER CULTURE SKELETONS
UNEARTHED IN MICHIGAN
OSHKOSH DAILY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1962
A total of 20 burials, some of which produced significant artifacts and other grave goods, have been
uncovered this summer during the second season of a continuing archaeological dig at Menominee,
Michigan. Robert J. Hruska, curator of anthropology at the Oshkosh Public Museum, said that this
summer’s field work, completed last week, had shed new light on the lives of the rather mysterious
prehistoric Indians who comprised what is known as the Old Copper Culture.
SITE IS AT LEAST 3,000 YEARS OLD
This season’s excavations, which began in mid-June, have also raised many new questions and pointed
the way for further investigations next summer at the ancient burial and village site, located in an unused
portion of Menominee’s Riverside Cemetery. One of the most interesting aspects of this year’s work from the scientific viewpoint was the recovery of a considerable number of pottery shards of a type associated
with Early Woodland—a culture marked by cord-wrapped and paddle-impressed pottery, and, probably,
a lack of agriculture. It has not yet been definitely established that the Old Copper Culture people had
pottery, and this summer’s yield of pottery fragments might possibly indicate a temporal overlapping of
the final stages of the Old Copper Culture and Early Woodland. The Menominee site is known to be at
least 3,000 years old.
MICA AND THE MOUND BUILDERS
Along with the fabled ancient copper mines found in the northern peninsula of Michigan, the mica mines
of North Carolina are some of the most significant natural resource sites in North America. The
importance of mica to the mound-builder culture cannot be overemphasized. Throughout the United States
and Mexico, numerous mound builder burials have revealed a plethora of mica jewelry, ornaments, and
decorations, the majority of which can be linked to these mica mines, which archaeologists estimate have
been worked since ancient prehistoric times.
EXTREMELY ANCIENT MICA MOUNDS
ACKLEY ENTERPRISE, MAY 23, 1884
At present North Carolina produces two-thirds of all the mica mined in the United States. The center of
this industry is at Barkerville, Mitchell County, North Carolina. Senator Clingman, a gentleman of
scientific knowledge, had noticed in two geological investigations of the formation of Mitchell County
ancient mounds upon which there were large dumps from some ancient mines. He opened several, but
found no precious metals, only mica, which he believed worthless. Therefore, the exploration of these
mounds was abandoned. A few months later a “cute Yankee” from Connecticut, while prospecting the
country for minerals, and coming upon a mound, which Clingman had opened, upon examining the mica,
and determining its value, soon afterward obtained a lease upon the property in question and by his energy
and practical knowledge of the business soon made a handsome fortune. At the present time there are in
this section but two mines that are large producers, the Cloudlook, now 100 feet deep, and the Kay mine,
the most valuable property of its kind in the country, which is being worked at a depth of 300 feet and
producing two tons monthly. The Clarrisa mine near Barkerville, at one time produced about one-half of
the total product of the United States, but after being worked to a depth of 565 feet has been abandoned, as
the vein has pinched and the mine is now very wet. A large portion of the product of North Carolina is
mined by farmers who eke out a scanty subsistence by prospecting for this valuable mineral.
In this mica belt, which is thirty miles wide and one hundred miles long, the mica is found near the
surface and of as good a quality as that found at a considerable depth, which is unquestionably a common
experience everywhere, since mica is not as quickly oxidized as other minerals. After the vein is opened
a few feet in depth, say 10 or 20 feet, if no pay mica is found the prospect is usually abandoned. These
quasi-miners are often satisfied with the finding of a few pockets yielding $100 to $200 return for a
season’s labor.
THE MOST ANCIENT MICA MINES ARE THE BEST
It is a notable fact that all the best mines of North Carolina are of prehistoric origin. The ancient people
working these mines were doubtless contemporaneous with the mound builders of the Ohio Valley, since
in Chillicothe, Circleville, and other places have been found in the mounds adjacent sheets of mica
covering human remains; also, mica sheets lying upon ancient altars, evidently used for sacrificial
purposes, while perforated disks of mica found in graves suggest they were worn as ornaments.
Mica was well known in prehistoric America, traces of its use being widespread. A great shaft near
Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, was discovered in 1869, and this not only solved the question as to the
origin of the early supply, but gave mica mining in the United States its first impetus. In this region, for
many years, mica was largely used as a medium of exchange between farmers and storekeepers.
A DETAILED INVENTORY OF GRAVE GOODS
Mica jewelry and grave goods are common in many mound-builder burials across the country. This not
only argues for the high regard the ancients had for mica, but also shows the widespread trade in this
material from an extremely ancient date. The sheet mica found in North Carolina is unique, and it should
be noted that between the courses of the pyramids at Teotihuacan there are to be found massive sheets of
mica. Mica chips are also found in many of the pyramids’ walls. Traditional archaeologists say this
material came from mines in the Amazon, while the much more likely explanation is that it came from North Carolina.
History of Delaware County, 1879
We were shown some interesting relics consisting of a queen conch shell, some isinglass (mica), and
several peculiarly shaped pieces of slate which were found on the farm of Solomon Hill, Concord
Township. The mound is situated on the banks of a rocky stream. Two human skeletons were also
found in the mound, one about seven feet long, the other an infant. The shell was found at the left
cheek of the large skeleton. A piece of slate about one-by-six inches was under the chin. The slate
was provided with two smooth holes, apparently for the purpose of tying it to its position. Another
peculiarly shaped piece with one hole was on the chest, and another with some isinglass (mica) was
on the left hand.
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TREASURES OF GIANT BURIAL GROUNDS
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