Use of Minerals by the Copper Eskimo Joel Halpern University of Massachusetts - Amherst, [email protected]

University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Anthropology Series January 1952 Use of Minerals by the Copper Eskimo Joel Halpern University of Massachusetts - Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/anthro_faculty_pubs Part of the Anthropology Commons, and the History Commons Recommended Citation Halpern, Joel, "Use of Minerals by the Copper Eskimo" (1952). Rocks and Minerals. 68. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/anthro_faculty_pubs/68 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ROCKS AND MINERAL S 2 1 USE OF MINERALS BY THE COPPER ESKIM O By JOEL MARTIN HALPERN To most people the mention of the nadian archipelago . The Coppermine word Eskimo brings to mind a picture River and the Coppermine Mountain s of a man clad all in furs ; he is crouched west of it, however, appear to have bee n over a hole in the ice patiently waitin g the main source of supply . Some of the to harpoon a seal . All around him ar e chunks seem to have been of a size masses of ice and snow. To a limited which would rival some of the more extent this is true, but actually the Es- common finds in Michigan and else - kimo way of life is infinitely more com- where . Jeness describes obtaining from plex than most pc o p l e imagine . a native a solid block which weighed This article is concerned only with a spe- forty pounds and which had originally cific group of Eskimo and a very spe- been twice as large. This specimen wa s cialized part of their technology . A brief found on the Coppermine River . Stefans- description of general Eskimo life i s son relates the finding of a piece of float therefore justified . The Eskimo oc- copper as large as a house building brick cupy the shores of the Arctic Ocean an d on the north shore of Great Bear Lake. some of the inland territory all the wa y These deposits attracted the attentio n from eastern Siberia to northern Green - of traders of the Hudson Bay Compan y land. The Copper Eskimo, in particular, as early as 1766. Samuel Hearne wa s live in the Northwest Territory of Can- sent to investigate in the hope that thes e ada around the Coronation Gulf and Cop- deposits might possibly lend themselve s permine River regions . Throughout the to commerical exploitation . After great central Canadian arctic areas and Green - difficulty he finally reached the rive r land most of the groups specialize i n which he named the Coppermine . He the hunting of sea mammals, but eve n reported that the native copper was ex- within this area there are groups whose tensively utilized by the Eskimo who live d main source of food is caribou ; they there. As a result of his explorations , are called the Caribou Eskimo . In Alaska however, the section proved to be to o many groups specialize in hunting large remote and too inaccessible even if large and small whales . ore deposits were to be found there . To date there has been no commercial min- The very elaborate technology also va- ing of the mineral here . At a spot no w ries to suit the specific needs of th e called Bloody Falls the northern Indian s group concerned . Before we look at the who accompanied him massacered a smal l use of the mineral resources of the Cop - party of Eskimos camped on the shor e per Eskimo it might be well to mentio n of the river . that other Eskimo groups utilized minerals which were unknown in this area . From the copper in these deposits th e The Alaskan Eskimo used jade exten- natives made knives, silos (a special sively while those of northern Greenland woman's knife similar to our half-moon used meteoric iron . Beside this quartz shaped meat choppers), ice-picks, an d was used for religious purposes and iro n harpoon heads . In the manufacture of oxide for decoration . Pyrites were als o certain of these copper objects consider- used for the making of fire by many able skill and ingenuity was shown. To different groups . make a gaff-hook, for example (see il- lustration), a rough prong was first ham- The two chief minerals we will dea l mered out of a small mass of float coppe r with here are native copper and soap - using a beach pebble . After that it was stone. The copper was usually in th e smoothed and finished by rubbing agains t form of float and was found in many a large boulder. A piece of caribou ant- places from the north shore of Great ler was shaped into a head and then Bear Lake to Victoria Island in the Ca - holes were drilled through it, and each 22 ROCKS AND MINERALS ROCKS AND MINERAL S 23 prong was attached by passing one en d with heat . He goes on to state tha t used limestone instead. This limeston e through a hole and hammering it to a the use of copper among the Eskimo i s had to be painstakingly cemented to- flat rivet-head. The prongs were then relatively recent and does not date bac k gether and did not work out very well. secured by being wedged in place with more than four of five centuries . Jenes s The soapstone could be worked quite eas- small pieces of copper . Copper rivets thinks the wide-spread copper culture o f ily even with so soft a material as cop- were sometimes used to strengthen th e the northern Indians was much older . per. No great skill was required, an d gaff-hook . The head was beveled wher e The Eskimos are said to have acquire d even the largest lamps could he mad e it was fastened to a wooden shaft, an d the use of copper from them . As partial by an Eskimo in a few days . Some it was held in place with copper pegs, th e evidence the lack of any copper artifacts people in need of lamps made a special junction being securely wrapped with in archaelogical ruins excavated in thi s trip in the summer to the area aroun d strips of raw sealskin . When complete d area is cited . These theories, however , Tree River and returned with newly- the shaft was about fifteen to twenty have not as yet been completely accepted . made pots even though they had never feet in length and about one and a hal f The other important use of minerals seen one made before . inches in diameter . was in the making of stone pots an d All these objects soapstone pots One authority, Jeness, maintains tha t lamps . The latter were used in the snow and lamps. copper implements, and eve n the Eskimo inhabiting the regions aroun d igloo and were equipped with a mos s pyrites were valuable items for trade . Coronation Gulf were in the pseudo - wick and seal blubber to provide light Some nearby groups who lacked things metal age, — that is, the metal was use d and heat and were further utilized fo r to trade made special trips to the are a just as if it were malleable stone . This cooking. Fresh soapstone (talc chlorit e inhabited by the Copper Eskimo to col- is supported by the fact that no refining schist) is the chief raw material, although lect their own copper and soapstone . This techniques were used on ores and that the Southampton Islanders, far to the was possible since none of these resources the metal was not in any way treated cast in Hudson Bay, lacking soapstone of nature were considered to be "owned " by the local tribe . These trade regula- tions were quite interesting ; one group , the Naneragmiut, received copper an d s caribou skins from the north and article Head of gaff-hook with copper prongs . of wood from the south . They then acte d (After Cadzow ) as go-betweens for two other groups . of the material in their own territory ; Their own local resource was some iro n they often supplied pots for people a s pyrite deposits which were universall y far west as Siberia . used by all the Copper Eskimo in making Besides this limited tribal specializa- fire. tion there was also some individual spe- Another tribe, the Kanhiryuarmiut, cialization . Lame men or others unable were widely known as the makers o f to hunt often acquired considerable skil l weapons and implements of copper . They in the manufacture of these implements obtained their supply from pieces of floa t so that their products were noticeably which occurred near the deposits north - superior to others . They were paid in car- east of Prince Albert Sound on Victori a ibou skins and other items which wer e Island . They made long-blade hunting necessary to feed their families . knives, ulor, crooked knives for whittling, Today, of course, conditions have vastl y copper rods for foreshafts of seal har- changed, and copper implements an d poons, points for ice chisels, blades fo r soapstone vessels are no longer used . caribou spears, prongs for fish hooks , Many modern Eskimo work for wages needles for sewing . and nails and spike s and live in tar-paper shacks .

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