Anselmi Archaic to Contact Period Copper-based Metal Artifacts 81

A Brief Historical Retrospective of Investigations of Archaic to Contact Period Copper-based Metal Artifacts in Northeastern North America

L.M. Anselmi

The use of native or pure copper and European-introduced copper-based metals in the production of orna- mental and utilitarian forms by First Nations groups has long been recognized in Ontario and the broad- er northeastern North America region. This paper presents a brief review of some of the projects that have examined these artifacts and the use of metal materials beginning with Sir Daniel Wilson’s investigations in the late 1800s of native copper used by Archaic groups and ending with recent research into the use of European-introduced copper-based metals by First Nations groups during the early and middle contact periods undertaken at the University of Toronto. In particular, this paper highlights Martha A. Latta’s role in these latter studies, many of which have been completed by graduate students under her supervision.

Introduction of native copper artifacts recovered in context occurred through Ephraim Squier and Edwin The use of copper-based metals by First Nations Davis’s investigations of the Moundbuilder sites groups has long been recognized in Ontario and located throughout the central Ohio region the broader northeastern North America region. (Squier and Davis 1848). Their field work coin- This paper is a review of some of the projects that cided with the earliest systematic descriptions by have examined these artifacts and the use of met- a variety of antiquarians and early scholars of pre- als in this region and, while extensive, is not contact copper mining and working from areas meant to be exhaustive. The primary focus is to near Lake Superior, a rich source of native copper highlight the role of scholars, especially Martha in this part of the continent (Martin 1999:49). A. Latta, based at the University of Toronto, in Sir Daniel Wilson and his colleagues at the these investigations. Though investigation of the University of Toronto were the first “Canadian” meaning of these materials is important and has researchers to scientifically investigate copper been addressed by several researchers, this paper artifacts of this type. Their work focused on focuses primarily on the projects that examined forms recovered from Ontario sites beginning in the forms created from copper-based metals, the the early 1850s (Wilson 1876). At this time technological aspects of the copper-based arti- Wilson and his colleagues were primarily con- facts including the techniques used to manipu- cerned with the origin of the material, whether late the metal, and the use of advanced analytical all of the material was native copper procured techniques to determine the chemistry of the from the rich copper-mining area near Lake metal artifacts. Superior, or whether this material was smelted metal introduced from elsewhere (Wilson Examinations of Native Copper 1876:215). They submitted samples of the arti- facts for chemical testing to determine the spe- Early to Modern Investigations cific gravity of the samples and dissolution of the During the mid-nineteenth century, increasing samples by immersion into nitric acid and subse- numbers of metallic artifacts, especially those quent identification of the residual liquid for crafted from native copper, were recovered other metals and trace elements. This work, throughout the Northeast. The earliest discoveries undertaken at the University of Toronto under 82 Ontario Archaeology No. 77/78, 2004 the direction of Professor Henry Croft, led them to Early Experimental Work on Native Copper conclude that the sampled artifacts were fashioned The earliest experimental work on the manufac- from native or pure copper. Wilson also investigat- turing techniques used to construct native cop- ed the manufacturing techniques used for both per artifacts was by Frank Hamilton Cushing of mining the copper and for fashioning artifacts the Bureau of American Ethnology in the 1890s from the metal (Martin 1999:54; Wilson (Cushing 1894; Martin 1999:113-114). His 1876:228, 237). Importantly, Wilson’s use of the work focused on copper objects recovered from comparative method led him to evaluate the evi- groups in the contemporary Southwest (in par- dence recovered in the Lake Superior region ticular the Zuñi) and from earlier Adena and against other areas of mining activity, in particular Hopewell sites. He experimented with different the mining districts of Wales. This led to his obser- manufacturing techniques in an effort to deter- vation that the basic technique used to work the mine the process of manufacture used for their material in North America – hammering – was creation and was the first to suggest that the tech- used by metalworkers in other parts of the world, niques employed on metallic raw materials were suggesting that people confronting similar materi- based on those used in the creation of other als solved manufacturing problems in similar ways objects crafted from different raw materials such (Martin 1999:54; Wilson 1876:228, 237). as stone or shell (Cushing 1894:97). Cushing Through their investigations, Wilson and his col- argued that almost all native communities used leagues formally introduced the Lake Superior heating techniques to produce hide or horn region as a probable source area of the native cop- objects and to straighten arrow-shafts and that per used by First Nations people throughout the this surely led to the application of heat on cop- Northeast, a model which has long been used with- per, which led to annealing of the material out challenge (see Martin 1999; also Levine 1996, (Cushing 1894:98). Annealing of the copper 1999 for arguments against this model). enables the reversal of work-hardening effects of Many others have followed these early investiga- initial hammering of the object. After the appli- tions with their own examination and descriptions cation of heat, the copper returns to a more mal- of the native copper artifacts characteristic of the leable state. Cushing argued especially that the Old Copper Complex (and contemporary Late technological activities of hide-working and Archaic/Early Woodland period cultures), the hammering copper into sheet have marked simi- Adena (and concurrent Early/Middle Woodland larities, including the placement of material on period cultures), the Hopewell (and related Middle stone anvils and the use of stone mauls to ‘spread’ to Late Woodland cultures) and later Mississippian the hide and copper through a particular ham- cultures (such as those artifacts recovered at the mering pattern (Cushing 1894:100). Cushing Etowah, Spiro and Moundville sites among other experimented with these techniques himself and locations) (see for example Blitz 1986; Brown found it relatively easy to groove plates with bone 1989; Cree 1992; Esarey 1986; Fogel 1963; or antler embossing tools and to remove the Fundaburk and Foreman 1957; Goad and Noakes resulting figural designs by grinding the raised 1980; Goodman 1984; Greber and Ruhl 1989; lines present on the reverse surface of the piece Halsey 1996; Heckenberger et al. 1990; Jury 1965; (Cushing 1894:101-104). This process would Kenyon 1986; Larson 1959, 1989; Martin 1999; leave raised edges on the removed pieces that Popham and Emerson 1954; Ritzenthaler and could then be flattened after removal. Quimby 1962; Steinbring 1970, 1990, among Charles C. Willoughby’s early work echoed others). The approaches of these researchers vary Cushing’s work on metal objects from extensively from simple description and counts of Moundbuilder sites (see Martin 1999:116-119 for recovered artifacts (see for example Jury 1965) to a general discussion; Greber and Ruhl 1989 for use of advanced analytical techniques to address specifics). Willoughby (1903:55) experimented questions of source material and /or trade (see with native copper from Lake Superior mining sites Goad and Noakes 1980). and used traditional techniques of cold-working Anselmi Archaic to Contact Period Copper-based Metal Artifacts 83 and annealing in a successful attempt to dupli- used by different cultural groups in the Northeast cate recovered Hopewell ear spool forms. He fol- from the Late Archaic (Old Copper Culture), to lowed a simple manufacturing sequence, ham- Middle Woodland (Adena/Hopewell) and mering a nugget of native copper into sheet with Mississippian (Etowah and Southeastern water-worn stones and performing a low-temper- Ceremonial complex) periods (Leader 1988). ature anneal of the pieces using a camp-fire. He finished the sheet he created by grinding it to a Approaches to Analysis: Native Copper uniform thickness between two flat stones, using Sophisticated analytical techniques, such as metal- fine sand between them as an abrasive. He cut lography, were also employed in the examination of the sheet into circular forms by using sharp flints recovered metal material during the very earliest to outline the shape, breaking off the excess phases of investigation of native copper artifacts. material, and grinding the rough edges. He then Curtis Wilson and Melville Sayre used this tech- cladded the experimental piece (i.e., worked the nique in 1935 to compare native copper from the copper sheet over a wooden form) he was trying to Lake Superior region with copper recovered from recreate and burnished the copper around the form Ohio mound sites and sites in Wisconsin (Wilson using an expedient pressing tool manufactured and Sayre 1935). Metallographic study necessitates from discarded bone. To finish the piece, he perfo- removal of a section of the study piece, then polish- rated it using a flint ‘drill’ and polished the piece ing and etching it to reveal its granular structure using a final grinding of fine sand followed by shin- (Martin 1999:115; Vernon 1990:500; Wilson and ing with wood ashes (Willoughby 1903:55). Sayre 1935:109). Those structures form specific pat- Additionally, a number of experimental studies terns that reflect the treatment of the metal, whether undertaken in the early 1980s, on native copper, it was annealed or cold worked, for example. showed that it would have been quite possible, if Metallography, as well as advanced analytical time-consuming, for native craftsmen to manu- techniques such as neutron activation analysis facture objects like tubular beads themselves (see (NAA) and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy Franklin et al. 1981; Franklin 1982). Ursula (XRF), has also been applied to artifacts original- Franklin, a metallurgist formerly at the ly described by Squier and Davis from University of Toronto, experimented with native Moundbuilder sites in the Ohio River Valley and copper in order to replicate copper objects recov- from Copper Inuit sites under the direction of ered from Thule, Copper Eskimo, Athabascan Michael Wayman and his colleagues at the and Chipewyan contexts in the Canadian Arctic. Slowpoke Reactor Facility at the University of She succeeded in duplicating the microstructures Alberta (Wayman et al. 1992; Wayman et al. observed in the original pieces by following a 1985, respectively). working-annealing-working-folding sequence and also by hot working small fragments of Examination of European-introduced native copper (Franklin 1982:50). Copper-based Metals Another experimental study, undertaken by Jonathan Leader (then at the University of Descriptions and the Construction of Typologies Florida), showed that metal artifacts were often Early analytical work on artifacts made from based on artifact forms crafted from other materi- European-introduced copper-based metals1 fre- als such as shell or wood and that the manufactur- quently took the form of description and visual ing techniques employed were those initially used analysis. This is particularly true of William on these other materials, an idea first put forward Beauchamp’s (1903a, 1903b) work for the New by Cushing following his observations of Zuñi York State Museum, which is a record of his per- metalworkers (Cushing 1894; Leader 1988, 1991). sonal observations of metal implements and This research focused on the retention of basic ornaments recovered from precontact and post- techniques over time and the adoption of new contact sites in New York within the framework techniques by examining metalworking techniques of broadly functional typologies that separated 84 Ontario Archaeology No. 77/78, 2004 ornamental forms (such as beads, pendants and (Boisvert et al. 1994; Cox 1996). Site artifact cat- bracelets) from utilitarian forms (such as projec- alogues have also been produced for six of the tile points and knives). Beauchamp discussed the early contact Seneca sites (Sempowski and general importance of metal in native culture and Saunders 2001; Wray et al. 1987; Wray et al. included detailed drawings of the studied 1991). objects. Interesting is his description of several William Fowler, working in the early 1970s, examples of copper and copper-alloy beaded suggested from a visual examination of “certain “belts” on which roughly standard-size tubular excavated evidence” that the Dutch imported beads were apparently sewn in uniform rows, tubular copper-based metal beads of uniform reminiscent of later wampum belt configurations length specifically for the fur trade (Fowler (Beauchamp 1903b:Plate 25). 1973:30). Unfortunately, he revealed no details In Ontario, David Boyle’s Annual Archaeological of this evidence nor do Dutch historical records Reports were the primary venue for reporting early of this period appear to support his claim. finds of European-introduced copper-based metal artifacts (Boyle 1889, 1891, 1892, 1896). This pri- Reworking of European-introduced Copper-based marily took the form of detailed descriptions of Metals as an Industry copper-based metal artifacts as they were recovered In the mid-1970s researchers shifted towards an through intentional excavation or through farming acknowledgment of native choice and active adop- and construction activities throughout the region tion of certain European trade goods during the during the late 1880s and 1890s. early and middle contact periods in the Northeast. The independent work of Beauchamp and Martha A. Latta, working with Wendat collections Boyle foreshadowed W. J. Wintemberg’s analysis in Ontario, was the first researcher to recognize of objects recovered on Iroquoian sites in that European trade kettles might have been Ontario in the 1920s (1926) and Charles C. important as a raw material source rather than for Willoughby’s examinations of objects recovered use in their European forms while James Bradley, from New England sites (Willoughby 1973), working with Onondaga collections in New York, research which was undertaken in the 1930s. was the first to focus upon the use of copper and Like Beauchamp, Willoughby also described copper-alloy materials as an industry equivalent to lengths of copper and copper-alloy tubular beads lithic or ceramic production (Bradley 1979, 1987a, recovered from sites of the early (ca. AD b; Latta 1976: 229). 1480/1500-1614) and middle (ca. AD 1614- 1690) contact periods (Willoughby 1973:237). Approaches to Analysis: European-introduced The first researcher to tie the use of native cop- Copper-based Metals per and other metals to historical records was Similar to its use in examining native copper arti- T.A. Rickard (1934). His analysis highlighted the facts, metallography has been applied in investi- differences between native copper and European- gations of European-introduced copper-based introduced copper-based metals. Similarly, many metals. Metallographic analysis makes it possible scholars have published descriptive essays of to determine if the metal has been smelted, archaeological sites that include detailed descrip- allowing the sorting of native and smelted cop- tions of the artifacts recovered. Examples include pers and alloys. This technique has been used by reports on grave sites in Rhode Island, Helene Dunbar and Katherine Ruhl (1974) for Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Long Island, this purpose in their examination of seven copper Ontario (Brenner 1988; Chapin 1926, 1927; artifacts recovered from the Susquehannock Dincauze 1974; Dunbar and Ruhl 1974; Fowler Engelbert site in New York. They determined 1973; Hadlock 1948; Harper 1957; Jeppson that two of the artifacts had been formed from 1964; Latham 1957; Noble 1971; Robbins native copper, while the rest had been fashioned 1959, 1968; Sherman 1960) and from other sites through the re-use of European-introduced associated with contact-period trading activities smelted copper-based metal. Anselmi Archaic to Contact Period Copper-based Metal Artifacts 85

James Bradley and S. Terry Childs noted that Optical emission spectrography (OES) metallographic analysis provides a means for involves the recording of emitted wavelengths of reconstructing the processes of manufacture after light following the excitation of electrons, usual- casting but recognized that, for postcontact arti- ly from an electrical source (flame, spark or arc; facts recovered in the Northeast, metallographic Leute 1987:141). Emitted wavelengths are spe- analysis may also identify the last stages in cific to elemental composition of the sample test- European processing of the original kettles or ed and the more intense an emitted wavelength, sheets rather than solely the Native metalworker’s the greater the amount of that element in the use of annealing and cold working (Bradley and sample. Researchers at Revere Copper and Brass Childs 1987:55). They employed metallographic (New Bedford, Massachusetts) first used this analysis to ascertain the manufacturing tech- technique to determine the chemistry of a copper niques used to create specific types of copper- bead discovered in a grave in Holyoke, based metal artifacts commonly known as spirals Massachusetts, in the 1940s (General Research and hoops found on several early Seneca, Department 1942). Bradley and Childs (1987) Onondaga and Susquehannock sites (Bradley used this method as well, though in combination and Childs 1991). Their research highlighted the with metallographic analysis to examine an arti- likelihood that these spiral and hoop types were fact from the Palmer Site in Massachusetts in the manufactured by native artisans, based on three late 1980s. Their examination showed that the reasons (Bradley and Childs 1991:15). First, dif- artifact was fashioned from smelted brass. ferent metals were used for the same forms on the Valerie Monahan (1990) tested 22 samples in same site, which would probably not be the case the early 1990s from a range of archaeological if they were European-manufactured pieces. sites in the Maritimes using electron microprobe Second, the techniques used to manufacture these (EMP) in order to distinguish between native pieces were well within the documented abilities of and smelted copper-based metal artifacts. In precontact Native metalworkers and there is no EMP, samples are subjected to a small electron evidence for advanced techniques, such as solder- beam, causing the excitation of electrons at the ing or joining, that were practiced in Europe dur- intersecting surface location. As the electrons ing this time period. Third, the manufacture of return to their original level they emit x-rays that these pieces varied but the pieces themselves can be measured and matched to elements pres- showed similarity in shape and style, suggesting ent in the sample (Leute 1987:148). that there was no one set of steps followed to make Bradley and Childs (1991) used a combination these artifacts—i.e., no rigid chaîne opératoire—but of metallographic techniques and atomic absorp- rather individual or localized preferences (see tion spectroscopy (AAS) to investigate the spiral Anselmi 2004 for further discussion). and hoop ornaments recovered from Seneca, Onondaga and Susquehannock sites in the Advanced Techniques: Identifying Chemical Northeast. AAS involves the measurement of vis- Composition ible light (Leute 1987:139). A sample tested in Advanced analytical techniques such as optical this manner is aspirated into a hot flame. The emission spectrography (OES), electron micro- sample is exposed to light of a wavelength associ- probe (EMP), atomic absorption spectroscopy ated with the element of interest. If the element (AAS), proton-induced emission spectroscopy is present, the light is absorbed, causing the (PIXE), and especially neutron activation analy- upward movement of an electron for that ele- sis (NAA), have been principally used to sort ment. The amount of light absorbed may be materials according to base metal, whether native recorded and plotted to obtain the percentage of copper, smelted copper or copper-alloy. This is of that element in the sample. The application of particular importance as the presence of smelted, AAS by Bradley and Childs revealed that all of European-introduced metal is a diagnostic fea- the tested spirals and hoops were manufactured ture of early contact period sites. from smelted copper and brass and further that 86 Ontario Archaeology No. 77/78, 2004 the five tested samples recovered from the Seneca dimensions of the technological style of Illinois sites were brass while the samples from the metalworking (Ehrhardt 2002, 2005). As part of Onondaga sites were crafted from smelted copper. this research, Ehrhardt and her colleagues uti- Penelope Drooker’s (1996, 1997) examination lized proton-induced emission spectroscopy to of the Fort Ancient Madisonville artifacts determine the precise chemical composition of employed both visual examination and neutron 75 artifacts, which had also been examined met- activation analysis techniques. Her work has allographically (Ehrhardt et al. 2000). In PIXE, highlighted the trade of particular copper-based the sample is subjected to a proton beam, much metal artifacts throughout the Northeast during the same way that samples in EMP are exposed the early and middle contact periods. The most to an electron beam (Leute 1987:134). Energy common advanced analytical technique used in released from the sample area is measured and the Northeast on copper-based metals, neutron compared to known elemental energies, thus activation analysis, allows researchers to deter- allowing for the determination of sample chem- mine the chemical composition of the metal istry. This technique was used “to differentiate material through the removal, irradiation and native copper from European-derived smelted counting of a 10 to 40 mg sample of material copper and to distinguish smelted copper and from artifacts (Hancock 1976; Hancock et al. smelted brass” (Ehrhardt et al. 2000: 281). They 1991; Leute 1987). In NAA, samples are irradi- were able to demonstrate that smelted copper ated in a nuclear reactor. Neutrons are absorbed and brass were used in nearly equal proportions by the elements of the sample and decay to their for the manufacture of each of the finished arti- more stable form by emitting the absorbed ener- fact forms that they examined. gy in the form of gamma radiation. Emissions at specific energies are recorded over time. These Recent Work of Researchers Based in emissions are linked to chemical elements Ontario through the energies that are produced. Drooker’s analysis of the recovered artifacts sug- Recent work in Ontario has increasingly focused gested that the people of Madisonville were on the use of simple analytical techniques in receiving some smelted copper-based metals via addition to visual examination of artifacts crafted northeastern Iroquoian groups based on the from European-introduced copper-based metals. recovery of fragments attributed to Basque ket- One of the most important techniques is the tles that were introduced via the St. Lawrence scratch test, which, as it sounds, is the removal of Valley (Drooker 1996:174; for a definition of patina in one small area of a copper-based metal Basque kettles, see Fitzgerald et al. 1993). artifact. William Fitzgerald and Peter Ramsden Another comprehensive research design that first suggested this test in the late 1980s from combined the analytical techniques of visual their work using Neutral copper-based metal col- examination, metallography, PIXE and NAA with lections (Fitzgerald and Ramsden 1988; ethnohistorical research was implemented on a Fitzgerald 1988). If the uncovered area appears comparable copper-based metal artifact collection red, the piece is considered primarily copper, recovered from the Haas/Hagerman-Illiniwek whereas if it appears yellow, the piece is consid- Village site by Kathleen Ehrhardt (Ehrhardt et al. ered brass (copper alloyed with zinc). This 2000; Ehrhardt 2002). This research focused on method was used by Fitzgerald and Ramsden to the reworking of copper-based metals by Illinois suggest a dating scheme for sites that yield sig- craftsmen, recovered from contexts dating to A.D. nificant quantities of copper and copper-alloy 1640-1682. Ehrhardt treated these materials as materials in Ontario (Fitzgerald and Ramsden products of a technological system (after Kingery 1988). Under this scheme, sites that yield more 1993). She strove to explain their manufacture European copper than copper-alloy materials and use through a reconstruction of the technical, predate A.D. 1600; sites that yield more brass behavioural, social, ideological and historical than copper date between A.D. 1600 and 1630; Anselmi Archaic to Contact Period Copper-based Metal Artifacts 87 and sites that yield significantly more brass than cold worked (Zacharias 1983:3). The characteristic copper can be dated between A.D. 1630 and microstructure of polyhedral equiaxed grains and 1650. As a check for the efficacy of the scratch twins formed by annealing deformed grains was test, many researchers also employ an advanced clearly present (Zacharias 1983:3). However, this analytical technique. patterning is typical of seventeenth-century In addition to use of the scratch test, there has European brass and copper kettles. Kettle manufac- been much pioneering work using neutron activa- ture proceeded from sheets of brass or copper that tion analysis on samples from sites in southern were cast and cut into circles, then either spun on a Ontario, particularly from Wendat sites, undertak- lathe or hammered into shape on a form (Zacharias en at the former SLOWPOKE Reactor Facility at 1983:3-4). The metal was worked in a cold state, the University of Toronto by Ron Hancock, Larry but softened when necessary by heating above the Pavlish and their various colleagues (Anselmi 1995; recrystallization temperature (250-400 degrees Anselmi et al. 1997; Fox et al. 1995; Hancock Celsius; annealing) (Zacharias 1983:4). Once the 1976; Hancock et al. 1991; Hancock et al. 1993; kettle was shaped, it would likely be annealed once Hancock et al. 1994; Hancock et al. 1995a; more at a low temperature to relieve internal stress- Hancock et al. 1995b; Hancock et al. 1995c; es and to prevent “season cracking” without soften- Hancock et al. 1999; Moreau and Hancock 1993, ing the metal itself (Zacharias 1983:4). 1996; Whitehead et al. 1998). The use of this tech- During the mid-1990s, Martha A. Latta par- nique allows for the determination of trace element ticipated with Ron Hancock, Larry Pavlish and chemistries of the copper-based metal samples William Fox in a neutron activation analysis taken from the artifacts. Once chemistries of the study of the copper-based metal collection from samples are known, it is then possible to determine the Robitaille site (Hancock et al. 1995c). This the minimum number of kettles present in the analysis suggested that a small number of trading sample group, to determine preference of material interactions could have brought enough copper- for artifact type and to suggest trading patterns based metal into the site to account for all of the within and between interacting archaeological sites sampled copper-based metal artifacts. (Anselmi 1995; Anselmi et al. 1997). Martha A. Latta’s more recent work has focused The European-introduced, copper-based on the identification of copper-based metal frag- metal collections for numerous Wendat sites in ments that are irregularly shaped but show evidence Ontario have also been examined under the of working or use on one or more sections (Latta et direction of Martha A. Latta. Many of these col- al. 1998:179, Latta 2004). She has argued that the lections were recovered through her direction of notion of “scrap metal” is incorrectly applied to the University of Toronto field schools at the these copper-based metal artifacts. Her work has Wendat sites of Robitaille, Auger and Thomson suggested, instead, that these objects may have been Walker and through the joint Ontario used as expedient tools in such activities as hide Archaeological Society-University of Toronto production (Latta et al. 1998, Latta 2004). She investigations at the Beeton site. organized a session at the Canadian Archaeological Metallographic research on a small amount of Association meetings in Banff in 2001 focusing on material recovered from several Wendat sites was aboriginal use of copper-based metals and she has undertaken by Sandra Zacharias, in cooperation presented this work at archaeological conferences in with Martha A. Latta, while she was at the Ontario, as well as in more distant places, such as University of Toronto in the early 1980s Italy (Latta 1996), in an effort to call attention to (Zacharias 1983). Zacharias metallographically the implications of the use of copper-based metal examined a small selection of artifacts from four artifacts by aboriginal peoples. Wendat postcontact sites: Ball, Auger, Robitaille In addition to her own work with Wendat and Beeton (Zacharias 1983). Based on this copper-based metal collections, several of her for- work, she concluded that all the specimens had mer graduate students have completed master’s- been annealed after being hot or, more likely, and doctoral-level research projects which have 88 Ontario Archaeology No. 77/78, 2004 examined smelted copper-based metals using and the ways that trained European metalwork- both simple and advanced analytical techniques. ers were using similar materials. My post-doctor- The first of these, in the mid-1990s, was my own al research has included the examination of cop- master’s thesis, which used neutron activation per-based metal collections attributed to the analysis in combination with the scratch test and Susquehannock. Analysis of the collected data visual examination to explore the copper-based continues but preliminary results suggest that the metal collection recovered from the Auger site. Susquehannock used copper-based metals in very Using the neutron activation analysis results from different ways than other Iroquoians. 150 samples, I determined the minimum number Without Martha A. Latta’s guidance and of kettles present in the sample group and sug- enthusiasm, none of these graduate student proj- gested preference of material for artifact types. I ects would likely have been completed. Marti’s was also able to suggest possible trading patterns commitment to the investigation of copper-based within and between interacting populations as metals, from their excavation to her own research reflected by the archaeological assemblages (see into expedient tools as well as her support of above, Anselmi 1995; Anselmi et al. 1997). graduate students, is one of the lasting legacies of Caroline Walker also undertook an analysis of her long career in Ontario archaeology. copper-based metal artifacts for her master’s research in the mid-1990s (Walker et al. 1999). Conclusions Her work applied both visual examination and neutron activation analysis to a number of Petun Investigations of the ways that native copper and site copper-based metal collections. She used the European-introduced copper-based metals have results of the NAA to assist in the development been used by aboriginal peoples have a long his- of a new chronological seriation for the Petun tory. Recent investigations of the active ways that sites. More recently, Paul Thibaudeau’s (2002) aboriginal people chose to recycle introduced doctoral research on the Thomson Walker site copper-based metals have been influenced by collection focused on traces of use-wear. His Martha A. Latta through both her personal research, which included an experimental com- research and her role as advisor to graduate stu- ponent, found that several of the irregularly dents. Future work suggested by her own and her shaped forms with evidence of working were students’ research might focus on expanded use- used for hide preparation. wear analysis of copper-based metal artifacts as My own doctoral research sought to broaden well as implementation of an advanced analytical our understanding of the use of these metals by program to test additional artifacts throughout aboriginal peoples during the early and middle the Northeast in order to ascertain their chemical contact periods through a comparative regional signature. Once these data are collected, it may approach (Anselmi 2004). I examined a number then be possible to trace usage patterns across sites of copper-based metal collections attributed to as well as local and regional trading networks. the nations of the Wendat confederacy in Ontario and to the Seneca, Onondaga and Acknowledgments. This paper was originally pre- Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee confed- sented at a session in honour of Martha A. Latta at eracy in New York. I also examined contempo- the 2004 combined Ontario Archaeological rary collections crafted by European metalwork- Society/Eastern States Archaeological Federation ers in the New World, such as those recovered at meeting in Midland, Ontario. I wish to thank the French Sainte Marie I and English Jamestown organizers of that session, Mima Kapches and Pat sites. Through this comparative approach and a Reed, for their invitation to participate in the ses- small experimental study, I was able to demon- sion and this volume. I would also like to thank strate a predictable difference between the ways Marti, the supervisor of both my master’s and doc- that aboriginal individuals were working copper- toral research projects. I am ever grateful for her based metals taken from introduced trade goods support and guidance. Anselmi Archaic to Contact Period Copper-based Metal Artifacts 89

Note 1892 Annual Archaeological Report of Ontario

1 1891. Warwick Brothers, Toronto. The phrase “European-introduced copper-based metals” com- 1896 Annual Archaeological Report of Ontario monly includes both smelted copper and copper-alloys such as 1894-1895. Warwick Brothers, Toronto. brass, which were introduced into aboriginal cultures following Bradley, J. contact with Europeans and may include materials manufac- tured in European centers such as Nuremberg or altered by 1979 The Onondaga Iroquois 1500-1655: A Study Europeans in the New World at early settlement sites such as in Acculturative Change and Its Consequences. Jamestown, Virginia (see discussion in Anselmi 2004). Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, References Cited New York. 1987a Evolution of the Onondaga Iroquois: Anselmi, L.M. Accommodating Change 1500-1655. Syracuse 1995 Recycle and Rework: Huron Manipulation of University, Syracuse, New York. European-Introduced Metal Trade Goods at 1987b Native Exchange and European Trade: the Auger Site (BdGw-3), Simcoe County, Cross-Cultural Dynamics in the Sixteenth Ontario. Unpublished MSc thesis, Department Century. Man in the Northeast 33:31-46. of Anthropology. University of Toronto, Bradley, J., and S.T. Childs Toronto. 1987 Analysis of a Copper Artifact from the 2004 New Materials, Old Ideas: Native Use of Palmer Site, Westfield Massachusetts. European-Introduced Metals in the Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Northeast. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Society 48(2):53-57. Department of Anthropology. University of 1991 Basque Earrings and Panther’s Tails: The Form Toronto, Toronto. of Cross-Cultural Contact in Sixteenth Anselmi, L.M., M.A. Latta, and R.G.V. Hancock Century Iroquoia. In Metals in Society: Theory 1997 Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of Beyond Analysis, edited by R.M. Ehrenreich, Copper and Brass from the Auger Site pp. 7-17. MASCA Research Papers in Science (BdGw-3), Simcoe County, Ontario. and Archaeology 8(2). University of Northeast Anthropology 53:47-59. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Beauchamp, W. Brenner, E. 1903a Metallic Implements of the New York Indians. 1988 Sociopolitical Implications of Mortuary Bulletin 55. New York State Museum, Ritual Remains in 17th Century Native Albany, New York. Southern New England. In The Recovery of 1903b Metallic Ornaments of New York Indians. Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the Bulletin 73. New York State Museum, Albany, Eastern United States, edited by M. Leone New York. and P. Potter Jr., pp. 147-181. Smithsonian Blitz, J. Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1986 The Mcrae Mound: A Middle Woodland Brown, J. Site in Southeastern Mississippi. Mississippi 1989 On Style Divisions of the Southeastern Archaeology 21(2):11-40. Ceremonial Complex: A Revisionist Boisvert, R., A. Spiess, and S. Fulton Perspective. In The Southeastern Ceremonial 1994 Evidence of 17th Century Fur Trade at the Complex: Artifacts and Analysis, edited by P. Hormell Site, Freedom, New Hampshire. Galloway, pp. 183-204. University of Paper presented at the Annual Spring Meeting Nebraska, Lincoln. of the Vermont Archaeological Society, Chapin, H. Rutland, Vermont. Ms. on file, Department 1926 Unusual Indian Implements Found in of Anthropology, Buffalo State College, Rhode Island. Rhode Island Historical Society Buffalo, New York. Collections 19(4):117-128. Boyle, D. 1927 Indian Graves: A Survey of the Indian Graves 1889 Annual Archaeological Report of Ontario that have been Discovered in Rhode Island. 1887-1888. Warwick Brothers, Toronto. Rhode Island Historical Collections 20(1):14-32. 1891 Annual Archaeological Report of Ontario Cox, S. 1890-1891. Warwick Brothers, Toronto. 1996 Forest City Phase 2 Report. Ms. on file, Maine State Museum, Augusta, Maine. 90 Ontario Archaeology No. 77/78, 2004

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En Ontario et dans toute la région nord-est de l’Amérique du Nord, on a depuis longtemps reconnu que les groupes des Premières Nations ont utilisé le cuivre natif, ou pur, et les métaux à base de cuiv- re introduits par les Européens pour fabriquer des objets ornementaux et utilitaires. Cet article présente une brève revue de quelques projets qui ont examiné ce genre d’objets à la lumière de l’usage des métaux. On débute par les enquêtes menées, dans les dernières années de 1800, par Sr Daniel Wilson concernant le cuivre natif utilisé par les Archaïques et on termine avec les recherches récentes entreprises par l’université de Toronto, recherches qui se rapportent à l’utilisation, par les groupes des Premières Nations, des métaux à base de cuivre introduits par les Européens durant les périodes de contact ancienne et moyenne. Cet article souligne en particulier le rôle qu’a joué Martha A. Latta dans ces dernières études, dont plusieurs ont été complétées par des étudiants gradués sous sa supervision.

L.M. Anselmi Anthropology Department Buffalo State College 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, USA 14222 [email protected]