Archaic Copper Economy and … Exchange? in the Western Great Lakes: A Comparative Study from Two Wisconsin Localities

Robert E. Ahlrichs, Ph. D. Candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

This talk presents the results of an analysis of a large privately curated collection of Archaic (Old Copper Complex) copper artifacts from the Western Great Lakes. Results from morphometric, LA-ICP-MS chemical characterization, and radiometric dating analyses will be presented. The data set is drawn from a collection of over 2000 formal copper tools recovered by a single individual at two localities in Wisconsin, one in northern Wisconsin nearer the primary source of Great Lakes copper and one several hundred kilometers to the south. Results of these analyses will be compared and the relative strength of the social and cultural link between these two copper bearing sites will be assessed and discussed.