CHAPTER XXX
OBJECTS OF COPPER
Mr. Charles E. Brown, Dean of the Museum of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, has prepared for me this chapter on copper objects. Mr. Brown’s long association with the Milwaukee Public Museum, and his knowledge of copper collections throughout the United States, have made him an authority on this subject.
I have added a few concluding paragraphs to Mr. Brown’s able paper.
_The Native Copper Implements of Wisconsin_
The number of native copper articles already recovered from Wisconsin fields, village-sites, mounds, and graves is very large, possibly exceeding that already obtained from the balance of the United States. A careful estimate places the total number of such articles collected in the state up to the present time at not less than twenty thousand.
Although the collecting of these implements in Wisconsin has already continued for nearly forty years the supply has not yet become exhausted.
The opening to cultivation of new lands in the central and northern portions of the state, the increase in the number of collectors, and the more careful examination of old sites, cause each passing year to add its large number to the total already in collections.
In an address delivered in 1876 before the Wisconsin Historical Society, Professor James D. Butler made the statement that the Society was then the proud possessor of 109 native copper implements. The Smithsonian Institution then owned 30 specimens; the Wisconsin Natural History Society of Milwaukee, 14; Dr. Increase A. Lapham, 11; Milton College, 4; and Beloit College, 1. At the present day there are in the combined collections of the State Historical Museum, Logan Museum at Beloit, Milwaukee Public Museum, and of Mr. H. P. Hamilton and of Mr. S. D. Mitchell nearly four thousand specimens.
[Illustration:
FIG. 568. (S. 1–4.) A group of copper nuggets and implements owned by S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 569. (S. 5–8.) Copper beads and small cylinders. Collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
A very large number of other specimens are in other public and private collections in Wisconsin and other states. To the activity of the Wisconsin Archæological Society and of its members is due the very great increase in recent years of the number of copper implements in local educational institutions.
[Illustration:
FIG. 570. (S. 2–3.) Copper gorget, W. H. Ellsworth’s collection. Copper beads, H. P. Hamilton’s collection. The gorget came from the banks of Silver Lake, Kenosha County, Wisconsin. ]
There is evidence to show that in pioneer days a very considerable number of such implements, their value being unappreciated, found their way into the hands of roving pedlers and junk dealers and afterwards into the founder’s crucible. In several institutions are implements which have been rescued from such a fate.
[Illustration:
FIG. 571. (S. 1–2.) Copper and stone pendants from the cemetery at the mouth of the Wabash. Andover collection. ]
Others have been found useful by their original finders and wholly or partially destroyed.
I continue: The conclusion now universally accepted among archæologists is that there is no reason for attributing the working of the copper deposits or fabrication of the implements to any other people than the Indians. The early explorers found both the northern and southern tribes in this country using implements and ornaments of native copper often in common with those of stone. From South America almost to Canada various travellers refer to this metal being in the possession of or employed by the natives. Many of these accounts have been so often quoted by writers on North American archæology that they are entirely familiar to the student, and there is therefore no necessity of repeating them here. There is no doubt that some of these accounts refer to European metal obtained from earlier visitors or traders, or possibly from shipwrecks along the coast. Thus the natives soon became quite proficient in fashioning it into articles adapted or better adapted to their needs than the ruder articles which they then employed.
[Illustration:
FIG. 572. (S. 1–2.) Copper ornament and discs from the Hopewell Group, ]
Ohio.
It is equally certain that other accounts refer to the native metal or to objects fashioned therefrom.
[Illustration:
FIG. 573. (S. 7–8.) Copper axe, Harness Mound, Ohio. Professor Mills states: “This axe was taken from a mound belonging to a group eight miles south of Chillicothe. Both sides of the object are greatly corroded and covered with a finely woven fabric. Beneath the fabric there seems to have been the skin of some short-haired animal. The axe was found near the left knee of an uncremated skeleton.” ]
Whether the working of the copper deposits or the fabrication of copper implements in this section of the country, thought to have been begun at least several centuries before, was discontinued before the coming of the white man, or whether the industry was continued or at least to some extent resumed by the descendants of the pre-Columbian miners and artificers during and after his intrusion, is still in dispute. It is doubtful whether this matter will ever be satisfactorily settled.
The accounts of the Jesuits, as given in the “Relations,” give the impression that while the Wisconsin Indians of that period were evidently familiar with the sources of the metal, they regarded it with superstition and employed it only in a reverential way. Radisson, however, found native copper ornaments in use among the Bœuf (or Buffalo) band of Dakota, in Minnesota in 1661–62. Alexander Henry, as a result of his visit to Lake Superior in a later day, stated that the Indians there obtained copper for the manufacture of implements and ornaments. In recent times, Indian agents testified to the use of copper implements among the Wisconsin Winnebago and Chippewa. Native copper implements have also occasionally been recovered from local mounds, where they were found in association with metal kettles, glass beads, and other articles of European manufacture.
[Illustration:
FIG. 574. (S. about 1–1.) From a mound on the banks of Black Snake River, Utah. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
The evidence of the mounds and of the earlier village-sites is to the effect that before the coming of white man the use of copper had become quite general among the Indian tribes of the upper Mississippi Valley.
[Illustration:
FIG. 575. (S. 1–4.) Copper spuds or axes. Collection of Logan Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 576. (S. about 1–3.) Collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
It is very probable that the native metal first became known to them through the accidental discovery of small nuggets among the debris of the glaciers, and as it quickly came into demand, was traced to its source in the Lake Superior region. These deposits they mined, cutting it into shapes convenient for transportation to their villages, where it was fashioned into articles for their own use, or for the purpose of trade with distant tribes.
Nowhere in this entire valley do copper implements, however, appear to have entirely replaced those of stone, the use of which was continued until quite recent times. The manufacture of copper implements doubtless extended through several centuries. The Siouan Winnebago and Dakota of Wisconsin, being nearest the source of supply, possessed of course the greatest quantity. Even among them the use of copper artifacts did not in prehistoric times equal the use of others. Among the outlying tribes in other states copper implements were yet probably somewhat of a luxury, when the intrusion of the Algonquian tribes into Wisconsin made more and more difficult, and finally altogether shut out access to the Lake Superior mines. It appears certain that the Chippewa after their occupation of the copper region, did do at least a small amount of digging for the metal which for purposes of trade, or for other uses, they found of value. This continued until the arrival of the traders laden with desirable articles caused a suspension of mining operations, and diverted the attention of the Indian from mining to other pursuits....
[Illustration:
FIG. 577. (S. 5–11.) Copper awls and chisels. Collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 578. (S. 1–4.) Copper axes. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 579. (S. about 1–2.) Copper chisels; the left and central ones were found near Clintonville, Waupaca County, Wisconsin. The right-hand one, near Chilton, Calumet County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
_Fabrication_
[Illustration:
FIG. 580. (S. about 1–4.) Three copper punches and seven chisels. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. ]
Our native copper implements were fashioned by being hammered into shape while the metal was in a cold or heated state with such rude implements as were at the command of the natives, the finishing touches being given by cutting and trimming the uneven edges with sharp flints and smoothing the surfaces by rubbing or grinding with stones. Successful experiments in reproducing the various forms of implements from the native or nodular copper by these primitive processes have been made by the late Frank H. Cushing, and by other archæologists. Mr. Gerard Fowke is authority for the following statement:—
“So far as its working qualities are concerned, copper at ordinary temperature is much more malleable than pure soft iron; and it is much more easily worked into shape when at a red heat than when cold. If hammered cold it must be annealed occasionally, otherwise it becomes brittle. It is somewhat hardened by pounding, which will account for the harder edge of celts and other aboriginal specimens beaten out thin.”[26]
[Illustration:
FIG. 581. (S. 1–5.) Collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan. 13 copper spuds, 4 pick-pointed knives, 4 knives. All except one from Michigan. ]
The theory that any of these implements may have been cast is now discarded by archæologists. There is no evidence to show that our local aborigines possessed any knowledge of the working of this metal in the broad sense.
“Even if copper could be melted in an open fire, which is very doubtful, it must not be overlooked that Indians had no materials of which to make crucibles or moulds capable of withstanding such heat. Admitting they had clay receptacles which would have answered these purposes, there is no way of handling the molten metal with safety.”[27]
While it is probable that many copper implements were fabricated in the vicinity of the workings, it is now perfectly clear that fragments of the native ore were also carried away to be cut up and fashioned into implements elsewhere. The possession of such masses by the aborigines was noted by the early explorers and missionaries. On the extensive village-sites at Two Rivers, Sheboygan, Green Lake, and elsewhere have been obtained numerous small chips, scales, and fragments of copper, plainly indicating that the manufacture of implements was carried on there. Elsewhere in the state have been found lumps of the metal exhibiting tool-marks, and other indications of working.
_Distribution_
To fully discuss this phase of the subject would require many pages. The student must therefore content himself with such information as can be condensed into a comparatively limited space.
Implements and ornaments of native copper are distributed commonly or sparingly throughout a large portion of the eastern half of the United States and in some states west of the Mississippi River. Outside of our own state, numbers of them have been recovered in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and West Virginia, and also from the mounds and stone graves and village-sites in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Mr. Clarence B. Moore, whose explorations have been very extensive, has reported their existence in the mounds of Florida and elsewhere in the extreme South. From five mounds on the St. John’s River in Florida he obtained ornaments of sheet-copper with repoussé designs, beads of sheet-copper, beads of wood, shell, and limestone copper coated, copper effigies of the turtle and the serpent, and piercing implements of copper. Dr. C. C. Abbott long ago recorded the existence of copper implements in the Delaware Valley.
[Illustration:
FIG. 582. (S. 3–4.) Copper gouges. The one to the left was found near Westford, Dodge County, Wisconsin. The one to the right was found near Chilton, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 583. (S. 1–1.) Copper spud from Mercer, Iron County, Wisconsin. Loaned to the Milwaukee Public Museum by Mr. R. L. Ball. ]
As a result of his researches, Rev. W. M. Beauchamp recently issued under the auspices of the University of the State of New York, at Albany, two finely illustrated bulletins, one descriptive of the metallic implements and the other of the metallic ornaments of the New York Indians.
[Illustration:
FIG. 584. (S. 5–6.) Copper axe. Found in a mound on Green Bay Road, one mile north of Milwaukee. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
Professor G. H. Perkins states that objects of this metal are far more numerous in New England than those of bone or shell. They are found not only on the surface, but in the graves as well. They are similar in form to Wisconsin artifacts, and he believes it probable that all are made of metal obtained from the Lake Superior district. Dr. David Boyle and others have called our attention to the presence of native copper implements in both eastern and western Canada.
There is no longer any doubt that much of this metal was thus distributed, either in the unworked state or as finished artifacts, in the course of the trades or regular exchanges known to have been carried on between the aborigines holding possession of the copper district and those of other regions.
A description of the Wisconsin districts from which the greatest number of such artifacts have been recovered up to the present time may be given as extending from about the middle of Milwaukee County, northward along the west shore of Lake Michigan to Door County, thence westward to the Wisconsin River or slightly beyond, thence southward along this stream to Dane County and eastward to Milwaukee County, the starting-point. Embraced within this territory are the extensive lake shore village-sites, from which thousands of articles have already been recovered, and certain well-known sites in Green Lake and adjoining counties, the Rush Lake, Lake Chetek, and similarly productive regions. The amount of copper implements obtained from the mounds and graves of Wisconsin is very small when compared with the quantity obtained from the village-sites and fields.
_Classes and Functions_
The native copper artifacts of Wisconsin admit of separation into two principal classes, designated as implements and ornaments. Of these the former class is by far the more numerous. Mr. Henry P. Hamilton estimates that articles of utility constitute fully 95 per cent of the copper artifacts found in Wisconsin.
It is but natural that on account of its proximity to the source of supply we should find in our own state not only a more bountiful supply of implements, but a greater range of classes, types, and varieties as well. The correctness of this conclusion is proven beyond doubt. In the matter of the number and artistic excellence of its copper ornaments and objects of a ceremonial nature, Wisconsin, while possessing some types apparently peculiar to itself, cannot properly be said to lead. The artistically cut or embossed sheet-copper discs, gorgets, and plates, the spool-shaped objects and copper-sheathed stone and wooden ornaments of Ohio, Illinois, and the South, are here conspicuous by their almost total absence.
[Illustration:
FIG. 585. (S. 1–1.) Copper spud with incised zigzag decoration. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
No one Wisconsin collection contains all of the classes and types of the implements described in this bulletin. An examination of almost any local copper cabinet, however small, is almost certain to reveal the presence of some object that is original or peculiar; or some variation of a well-known type not elsewhere to be seen. The difficulties attending the making of a proper classification are therefore apparent. Especially among the objects classed as arrow- and spear-points the number of well-established types, of varieties and infrequent forms, is particularly numerous. In a somewhat lesser degree this is also true of other classes of implements.
Among spear- and arrow-points especially, there appears to be a gradual development from the primitive leaf-shaped, through the stemmed, to the numerous and well-executed socketed forms. In this case the important element in the transition from one form to another is in the manner of hafting. A gradual transition in some instances from well-marked types of one class into those of another may also be noted. The uses of many of these implements, because of their close resemblance to modern articles, are readily understood. The precise function of others is not so readily ascertained.
An examination of a large series of any of these should convince us that each had its special function, although probably also employed for such other exigencies as might arise.
In the following pages the various classes of local copper implements and ornaments are described and such information and suggestions concerning their workmanship, purposes, frequency, and distribution given as is now obtainable.
_Axes_
Large numbers of these implements have been recovered from Wisconsin soil and are to-day represented by one or several examples in nearly every local copper collection. They vary in weight from half a pound to three pounds, rarely more, and in size from three to ten inches. So far as is known no hafted copper axe has yet been recovered. Probably the usual and most satisfactory method of hafting one of these implements was to insert it between the parts of a cleft stick, to which it was afterwards secured by winding the stick above and below it with strips of hide, a number of turns being also taken around or across it. There are at least three well-established types of these implements, which may be briefly described as follows:—
[Illustration:
FIG. 586. (S. 2–3.) Copper axe, Washington County, Wisconsin. Copper chisel, near Charleston, Calumet County, Wisconsin. ]
1. Those which are oblong or nearly oblong in outline, having the edges parallel or nearly so, and whose breadth is such as to exclude them from the class of implements known as chisels. Specimens range from less than four up to seven or more inches in length. They are generally of nearly uniform thickness throughout. (See Figs. 576, 578.) A variety of the above type has the margin at the edges slightly elevated, thus giving a depressed or concave surface in the centre, and from end to end, on one or both broad faces of the axe. In some examples this margin is fully one half inch in width at or near the middle of the axe. A curious feature of some examples of this uncommon form is the concave cutting edge. Such implements are to be seen in a number of the larger public and private collections in Wisconsin. So far as can be ascertained no examples of these curious axes have been obtained in surrounding states, where the normal form also occurs.
2. Axes with straight, tapering edges. They are widest at the cutting edge and become gradually narrower towards the head, which is either square, rounded, or pointed. The cutting edge is straight or convex. This appears to be the most common type of copper axe. The largest example known is fourteen inches in length and the smallest only two inches. The large specimen comes from Neillsville, Clark County, and is in the State Historical Museum. (See Fig. 578.)
3. A third and less frequent type has the edges curving equally from the cutting edge to the head. Most examples are quite thin, broad and flat. The head is square and sometimes nearly as broad as the cutting edge. By reason of their broad, expanding cutting edges, some of these axes may be appropriately described as bell-shaped. Fine specimens of this type are to be seen in the Milwaukee Public Museum, and in other collections. These axes approach the modern axes in form. In the H. P. Hamilton collection is a notched copper axe which comes from the vicinity of Horicon. It is rather rude and is irregularly oval in outline. Mr. M. C. Long has in his Kansas City collection the only grooved copper axe known.
[Illustration:
FIG. 587. (S. 1–1.) Copper spud, Island Lake, near Gagan, Oneida County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
Copper axes were well adapted alike for peaceful and warlike pursuits. In the hands of the Wisconsin aborigines they were undoubtedly useful implements, superseding at best the clumsy stone axe or hatchet, and possibly being in their turn laid aside for the more serviceable iron axe of the fur-trader.
Employed in warfare or the chase they would be terrible weapons. As tools they were probably especially useful in the felling of trees, the shaping of log canoes, the erection of dwellings, barricades, and stockades.
They may have been employed in connection with or without fire. It has been suggested that some of the smaller implements may have served as wedges.
_Chisels._ (_See Figs. 577, 579, 580._)
The aboriginal copper implements known as chisels are of nearly as frequent occurrence in local cabinets as the implements of the foregoing class. In the H. P. Hamilton collection there is to be seen an especially fine series of at least a dozen or more examples, ranging in size from five to fifteen inches and in weight from five ounces to five and three fourths pounds. An equally fine series is in the Field Museum.
The office of these fine implements probably included the excavating of wooden canoes, mortars, and other vessels. Their employment in connection with the mining operations of the Indians has been mentioned. Some specimens exhibit upon their heads the flattening which would result from their being used in conjunction with a wooden mallet, club, stone, or other weighty object. Others show no such marks and were probably employed without such agencies. Rev. W. M. Beauchamp states that a large proportion of the copper articles found in New York are of the celt (axe) or chisel form. Professor G. H. Perkins has described similar implements from New England. At least three distinct types of these implements are known to occur in Wisconsin:—
1. The first of these is broadest at the cutting edge. The edges taper gradually upward from the cutting edge to a pointed, rounded, or squared head. They are usually thickest at or below the middle, the flat or convex surface sloping toward the narrow extremity. Some of these have the upper surface convex and the lower surface flat. The broad or narrow sides may be either convex or flat. Fine implements of this form are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, State Historical Museum, and other local collections. A few approach fourteen inches in length. (See Fig. 579.)
[Illustration:
FIG. 588. (S. 1–1.) Back view of Fig. 587. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
2. A second type is of nearly uniform width throughout, with straight, parallel edges. A specimen in the S. D. Mitchell collection has a cutting edge at either extremity. Implements of this type are to be seen in various Wisconsin cabinets. They range from about five to ten or more inches in length, and from one and one half to two inches in width. (See Fig. 580.)
3. A third and less frequent type is characterized by a more or less prominent median ridge, which traverses its upper surface from within an inch or more of the cutting edge to the opposite extremity. From this ridge the surface bevels off evenly on either side toward the edge. The lower surface is usually flat, thus giving a triangular section. The edges are generally parallel for at least three quarters of the distance back from the cutting edge, whence they taper or curve gradually to the rounded head. A few are of nearly uniform width throughout, with an angular or squared head. Several of these implements have the upper extremity abruptly narrowed and prolonged into a short tang, as if intended to be set into a wooden handle. A few are curved or bowed from extremity to extremity. Some specimens have an expanded, curved cutting edge. One of the largest of these ridged chisels is fourteen and three fourths inches in length. It is in the H. P. Hamilton collection and comes from the town of Oshkosh, Winnebago County. (See specimen to the left, Fig. 579.)
_Spuds._ (_See Figs. 581, 583._)
In northwestern Wisconsin have been obtained a limited number of copper implements bearing a close resemblance in form to some of the so-called stone spuds or spade-shaped implements, after which they were probably patterned. They are rather broad, flat implements, of nearly uniform thickness throughout, and from six to eight or more inches in length. The broad, narrow blades are semicircular or crescentic in outline. From them the handle tapers backward to a squared or slightly rounded extremity. The narrow sides are flattened. The author is indebted to Professor T. H. Lewis for sketches and information in regard to some of these, which were obtained by him at Lake Chetek, Barron County, Wisconsin; at St. Paul, Minnesota, and at Ontonagon, Michigan.
[Illustration:
FIG. 589. (S. 6–7.) Copper spud from near Pewaukee Lake, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 590. (S. 3–5.) Copper spear. S. D. Mitchell’s collection, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
The conclusion, probably correct, in regard to these implements is that they were employed, like the stone and modern iron implements which they resemble, in stripping bark from trees and for similar purposes.
_Gouges._ (_See Figs. 582, 585._)
These implements are closely allied to the chisels, from which they are distinguished by the presence on their lower surface of a concavity sometimes reaching quite to the middle. They are well adapted for working out rounded or oval holes or hollows, and in Wisconsin are generally considered to have been wood-working tools. Elsewhere they were probably also employed like the more common stone gouges in quarrying and working steatite, catlinite, and similar deposits useful to the aborigines. Such implements are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, Field Museum, and one or two other collections.
[Illustration:
FIG. 591. (S. about 1–1.) Copper spears. Found on Bluff Point, near Penn Yan, New York. Collection of L. G. Ogden, Penn Yan, New York. ]
Several specimens known to the author approach seven inches in length.
Professor Perkins mentions copper gouges as being rare in New England, where stone gouges are a common and characteristic implement. Neither stone nor metal gouges are of frequent occurrence in Wisconsin.
_Adzes_
These implements have also been called spuds, winged chisels, and hoes. Of these the term “spud,” though unsatisfactory, appears to be that in most general use at the present time. This name, as has already been shown, is likewise applied to a rather numerous class of stone implements of quite different pattern and use. Several theories as to the possible function of these implements have been advanced. It has been suggested that they were ice-cutting tools, or agricultural implements.
An examination of a large series of them suggests the correctness of the now prevailing opinion that they were employed in shaping wooden canoes and executing tasks of a like nature. Properly hafted, their general adaptability to such service is plain.
[Illustration:
FIG. 592. (S. 1–2.) Various copper implements. University of Vermont collection. ]
A somewhat similar tool is also employed by modern woodworkers.
1. There are at least two well-marked types of these implements. The first of these is generally nearly square, less frequently oblong in outline. The flanges of the implement are turned inward to form a socket, at the base of which is a hip or shoulder, against which the tip of the wooden handle abuts. The blade is elevated above the socket and is provided with a straight or slightly curved cutting edge. The back of the implement, opposite the socket, is flat or transversely convex, and slopes or curves downward to the cutting edge. This is certainly the most common type, and has been obtained in many parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Examples have also been collected in Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa. The average specimen appears to be about three inches in length by two and a half inches in width. The smallest known is only one and a fourth inches and the largest six and a fourth inches in length. Fine series of these implements are to be seen in the Logan Museum, Field Museum, State Historical Museum, Milwaukee Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections. In weight adzes of this type vary from a few ounces to one and a half or more pounds. (Fig. 581.)
2. A second type differs from the preceding mainly in the fact that the extremity of the socket is angular in outline and that the flanges are bent straight upward or inward, instead of curved. The hip at the base of the socket is also often absent. The back is generally flat or transversely rounded, and in some specimens traversed from the top to the cutting edge by a pronounced median ridge. A specimen in the Milwaukee Public Museum has the middle of its back ornamented with a double row of zigzag incisions. Its blade is also ornamented. (Fig. 583.)
These implements are as a class larger than the foregoing. Of a dozen or more examples which the writer has examined in the Hamilton and other local cabinets, none are below five inches in length and two and a fourth inches in breadth, the largest known being six inches in length and three inches in breadth. The weight of these specimens ranges from twelve ounces to nearly two pounds.
There are also a small number of peculiar forms, each represented by a single example. These vary in the length and breadth of the flanges and the shape of the blade. When a sufficient number of these shall have been recovered, it may be advisable to expand the present classification to include them. Many of the implements included in the adze class are admirable for their symmetry and perfection. A specimen secured in the Lake Superior region has a portion of the wooden handle still fitted in the socket.
[Illustration:
FIG. 593. (S. 2–3.) Copper chisel and awls. Logan Museum collection, Beloit, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 594. (S. 2–3.) Copper spears. Collection of the Logan Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin. ]
_Spatulas_
Of the copper implements known as spatulas only a small number of examples have as yet been recovered in Wisconsin. The blade of these artifacts is usually broad and thin and irregularly rounded or somewhat triangular in outline. The handle is short, seldom more than three eighths of an inch in thickness, and nearly square or somewhat rectangular in section. Specimens are to be seen in the State Historical Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, and other local collections. They range from four to nearly six inches in length.
[Illustration:
FIG. 595. (S. about 3–4.) Copper ridged spear-point, socket tang. From Coloma, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 596. (S. 1–4.) Copper spears. Collection of H. P. Hamilton, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 597. (S. about 3–5.) Copper knives. Left to right: Hartford, Washington County, Wisconsin; Merton, Waukesha County, Wisconsin; Wayne, Washington County, Wisconsin. ]
The Reverend W. H. Beauchamp has described and figured both an iron and a copper implement of this class from New York. The possible employment of these implements in the shaping of aboriginal earthenware, the removing of the flesh from skins and bones, and of the scales from fish, has been suggested. They are but poorly adapted for use as spoons.
The small number of specimens on hand at present makes it undesirable to venture an opinion of their utility.
_Knives_. (_Figs. 597, 598._)
In point of numbers these easily rank second to the numerous class of socketed spear-points. They have been recovered in considerable numbers in many parts of the state. At least four distinct types and some intermediate and peculiar forms are recognized. The close resemblance of some of these to the white man’s knife has frequently been remarked upon.
1. The most frequent form has a usually straight back and oblique curved or straight cutting edge. It is provided with a generally short, tapering, pointed tang, suitable for insertion into a wooden, bone, or horn handle. Such knives, ranging in size from diminutive specimens one inch in length up to twelve inches, are not uncommon in local collections. (Left specimen, Fig. 597.)
An exceptionally large and fine example in the Oshkosh Library collection measures seventeen and a half inches in length and weighs eleven ounces. The blade is one and a half inches in breadth at its base, and the tang is six inches in length. A few have the cutting edge of the blade beveled. In the R. Kuehne collection is a small hammered native silver knife of this type which was obtained from the vicinity of Sheboygan. A small number of these knives have their blades ornamented with incisions and indentations. Specimens of these are to be seen in the H. George Schuette, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections.
2. A second type is distinguished from the preceding by the greater breadth of its broad curved blade, which terminates in a broadly rounded point. In this style of knife the blade on one or both sides is frequently traversed from point to tang by a pronounced median ridge. The broad, flat tang also terminates in a blunt point. Such implements are to be seen in the Field Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, State Historical Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections. These vary in size from six to twelve and three fourths inches in length and from one and a fourth to two and an eighth inches in the extreme breadth of the blade. (One in Fig. 568.)
[Illustration:
FIG. 598. (S. 2–3.) Copper spears, knives, and arrow-points. Collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
3. A third type, locally known as the “handled copper knife,” differs from the preceding styles mainly in having the tang so uniformly broad as to obviate the necessity of a wooden or other handle. Only a small number of these are in collections. A fine specimen is seven inches in length. The handle is two and a half inches in length, and of a nearly uniform breadth of three fourths of an inch. It comes from Pardeeville, Columbia County, and is in the Logan Museum at Beloit. A knife in the J. T. Reeder collection, at Houghton, Michigan, has a broad copper ferule still encircling its tang. The tip of the tang is bent over, meeting the ferule. (Fig. 581, left specimen, near centre.)
4. Socketed knives. These resemble the knives of the type first described in the shape of their blades. They are provided with a socket similar to those of the socketed spears. A small number of these have been found and are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, H. George Schuette, and other Wisconsin collections. They range from two to nine inches in size.
In these knives the cutting edge is usually along the right, rarely along the left side of the blade. A specimen in a Milwaukee collection has its blade ornamented with indentations. A small number of knives of peculiar forms are also to be seen in local cabinets. (See Fig. 597.)
_Arrow- and Spear-Points_
1. Leaf-shaped points. (Fig. 598, upper right-hand specimen.) These vary considerably in form and size, measuring from two to six or more inches in length. The average size appears to be about four inches. Some are oval in outline, others elliptical, lanceolate, or almond-shaped, the elliptical forms appearing to predominate. The points are not numerous. One or more specimens are to be seen in all of the larger Wisconsin collections.
A small number of lanceolate forms in the Hamilton collection have the added feature of a median ridge which traverses either side of the blade from end to end. These range from two and three fourths to nine inches in length.
2. Stemmed, flat points. (Fig. 603—to the right. Fig. 598—lower central specimen.) These are of quite common occurrence in Wisconsin collections. These points are generally quite flat and of nearly uniform thickness throughout. The stem is of uniform breadth or tapers slightly toward its extremity. In the former form it sometimes expands at the base. The base is sometimes indented. In the Field Museum there is a fine specimen of this variety from Montello, Marquette County. It is nearly seven inches in length.
[Illustration:
FIG. 599. (S. 4–5.) Copper spear-points. Left to right: Merton, Waukesha County, Wisconsin; Colgate, Waukesha County, Wisconsin; Wayne, Barton County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
The blade varies considerably in shape and size. The smallest example known is one and three fourths and the largest about eight inches in length. The average size appears to be about three inches. A very small number have the face of the blade ornamented with indentations, usually arranged in two parallel rows.
2 a. Ridged points. (Fig. 595.) These and several of the succeeding forms are, strictly speaking, only well-established varieties of the preceding type. In the present instance they are distinguished by the presence of a median ridge which traverses both faces of the point, usually from tip to tip. This is not a frequent form. The largest specimen now known measures six inches in length. It is in the H. P. Hamilton cabinet and was found at Two Rivers. Professor T. H. Lewis obtained a specimen from a mound in Pepin County. Other specimens are in the Field Museum and Milwaukee Public Museum and several private collections.
[Illustration:
FIG. 600. (S. 1–2.) Copper spear-heads. Rat-tail type. Logan Museum collection, Beloit, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 601. (S. 1–3.) Copper spears and knives. Collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 602. (S. 2–3.) Copper punch, hooked end, to right; from Barton, Wisconsin. Copper punch to left; from Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Copper punch in the centre, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
2 b. Beveled points. Of these only a small number of examples have been recovered. They are distinguished from the most frequent flat, stemmed form by a distinct bevel of generally uniform width which extends along the edges on both faces of the blade. Sometimes this bevel is nearly one half inch in breadth. The shape of the blade varies considerably. The known specimens range from two and a half to five inches in size. Examples are to be seen in the Field Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections.
2 c. Eyed points. The base of the stem in this rare form is provided with an eye, opening outward and probably intended for the reception of a rivet. Otherwise these points do not differ from the flat, stemmed types. Only a very small number of specimens have been found.
2 d. Notched points. These bear a close resemblance to a numerous class of flint arrow- and spear-points, after which they are probably patterned. No two of them are exactly alike. They differ from each other in the shape of the blade and shape and position of the notch. A few are traversed by a median ridge. Some have indented bases. They vary in size from less than two and up to six inches in length. Such points are of infrequent occurrence. Specimens are in existence in the Milwaukee Public Museum, Field Museum, Logan Museum, and other collections.
2 e. Toothed points. These are rather remarkable and interesting implements, and are distinguished from all others by the peculiar angular toothing or serration of the edges of the stem, the purpose of which is evidently to facilitate the fastening of the point to the wooden shaft or handle, into which it was inserted, by means of sinews or strips of hide. A greater solidity of attachment was thus secured. The number of opposite notches on the stem varies in different examples, from two to as many as six or seven. The usual number appears to be two or three. Most examples of this type are long and narrow. A few, however, are short and broad, and elliptical in outline. The largest known example of this form is about nine and a half inches and the smallest about two inches in length. The average size appears to be about three and a half inches. In many specimens a central ridge or elevation extends along either side from extremity to extremity, or only from the base of the stem to the point of the blade. (Fig. 599.)
[Illustration:
FIG. 603. (S. 1–3.) Copper knives, awls, fish-hooks, and other objects. S. D. Mitchell’s collection, Ripon, Wisconsin. ]
In both the F. M. Benedict and H. P. Hamilton collections are large and fine series of these points. Upon a specimen in the latter collection indications of cloth wrappings are to be seen. Other collections also possess one or a number of examples. The greater part of the known specimens are from the Fox and Wolf river valleys in northeastern Wisconsin. Now and then flint spear-points of somewhat similar pattern have been found in and about the same district. Michigan has furnished a few specimens of the copper points. Slate points of very similar form occur in New England, where they are regarded as knives. A small number of copper points of this pattern are also reported to have been found there.
3. Spatula-shaped points. (Fig. 596, central ones, and Fig. 600.) These peculiar points have obtained their name from the resemblance which the typical form bears to a chemist’s spatula. They are also locally known as “rat-tailed points.” In the most frequent form the blade is rather flat and somewhat elliptical in outline. It does not generally exceed three inches in length, being usually less than one half the total length of the implement. A small number have an elliptical, lanceolate or very rarely elongated lozenge-shaped blade. The usually long, tapering stem is generally circular or nearly circular in section, and is well adapted for insertion into a perforation or socket in a wooden shaft or handle. Several specimens have near the tips of their pointed stems a succession of rudely cut opposite notches, probably intended to prevent the easy withdrawal of the point from the shaft. A very small number have the blade traversed by a median ridge. The smallest specimen of this type of copper point now known is four inches and the largest nine and a half inches in length. A large number attain the size of eight inches. Fine specimens are to be seen in the State Historical Museum, Logan Museum, Field Museum, Hamilton, and other collections. The Reverend Mr. Beauchamp has noted the occurrence of a limited number of specimens in New York. A small number of iron trade points of similar shape have been found.
4. Short-stemmed points. The blade is generally long and triangular in shape, the stem short, cylindrical, and pointed at the end. The average size of these points appears to be about six inches. (Fig. 596.)
The largest example now known is twelve inches in length, the stem measuring only about three inches. This is not a frequent form of copper point. Fine specimens are to be seen in the Field Museum, Hamilton, and other collections. A cache of four of these singular points found at Chilton, Calumet County, is to be seen in the Milwaukee Public Museum. The Reverend W. M. Beauchamp has described similar spear-points from New York.
[Illustration:
FIG. 604. (S. 1–1.) Copper harpoons. Logan Museum collection, Beloit, Wisconsin. ]
4 a. Barbed or pronged points. This type of copper point is of rather infrequent occurrence. The blade is usually of an oval or somewhat triangular shape. A few specimens have long narrow blades. Situated just below the base of the blade on either side is a single barb or prong. These prongs are sharply or obtusely pointed and as a general thing do not extend out to a point in line with the outer edge of the base of the blade. The stem is short, flat, or cylindrical, and usually tapers to a sharp point. (Upper left-hand specimen, Fig. 592.)
In some examples the blade is traversed on one or both faces by a well-defined median ridge. The prongs probably served the double purpose of barbs and of projections, by means of which the point could be more firmly secured to the wooden shaft into which it was inserted. Such points are to be seen in the Hamilton, Field Museum, and other collections.
The smallest specimen known is three inches and the largest about seven and one half inches in length. The average size appears to be about four inches.
This interesting form of spear-point also occurs sparingly in surrounding states, and has been recorded from as far east as New York and New England, where a few specimens have been found.
Large iron spear-points of somewhat similar form, but with the projections squared at the ends, have been found in Wisconsin. Some of these have hearts and other devices cut or punched through the face of their blades. These were probably introduced among the Indians by the early fur-traders.
5. Conical points. A very large number of these have been collected from the extensive Lake Michigan shore village-sites in Wisconsin, of which locations they appear to be more or less characteristic, replacing to a large extent all other types of copper points. Some fine examples have also been obtained from other sites in counties farther inland; from the Lake Superior shore, and from the Lake of the Woods region in Minnesota. Fine series of these points are to be seen in the A. Gerend, Hamilton, Kuehne, and other collections. (Fig. 598, three lower figures.)
[Illustration:
FIG. 605. (S. about 3–4.) Copper harpoons. Left to right: Hartford, Washington County, Wisconsin; Wisconsin; Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 606. (S. 1–2.) Copper harpoon. Collection of S. G. Crump, Pittsford, New York. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 607. (S. 1–8.) Front and reverse of a copper war-club. Dug out of a prehistoric grave at Spuzzum, British Columbia. Obtained by Mr. James Teit. ]
These points vary in length from less than one inch up to six inches or more. The majority, however, are of small size and do not exceed two inches in length. The most prevalent form is fashioned in the shape of an attenuated hollow cone of small diameter. Other specimens have the point solid for an inch or more back from the tip. Less frequently they are furnished with an open angular socket and hip like that of the ordinary socketed copper spear. In a few examples the flanges of the socket are pierced with a square or round hole, as if for the reception of a rivet, or possibly for the attachment of a light line. A few have a rivet-hole also at the base of the socket. It has been stated that these points have occasionally been found with fragments of the wooden shaft filling or extending beyond the socket. Their presence in numbers upon the sandy lake shore sites where the aboriginal residents appear to have depended largely upon the fishing industry for subsistence, appears to indicate their employment in such a connection. Possibly in the shooting or spearing of fish.
[Illustration:
FIG. 608. The base of the Effigy Mound, Hopewell Group. Explored in 1891–92. Copper axes and plates in the foreground, lying as found. Teams, thirty to forty feet distant, and two feet higher than the deposit. ]
6. Ridged socketed points. If we except from consideration the very numerous small awls and fish-hooks, we may truthfully state that this is by far the most common type of copper implement occurring in Wisconsin.
Thousands of these points have been collected in Wisconsin, and probably as many or an even greater number are yet to be recovered from the soil.
They are represented in greater or less numbers in every Wisconsin and in many other collections.
This type and its varieties are too well and widely known to require much of a description. They are frequently symmetrically and beautifully wrought, indicating a degree of skill on the part of their aboriginal makers that is unsurpassed. The blade varies considerably in length and breadth. The stem is provided with flanges which are bent straight upward or inward, thus forming an angular socket for the reception of the wooden shaft. Some points having fragments of this shaft still in place have been found. This form is rarely if ever provided with a rivet-hole. In most examples there is a dip or shoulder in the socket at the connection of the stem and blade, against which the head of the wooden shaft abutted. A distinctive feature of these points is the pronounced central ridge which traverses the back of the implement from end to end. It is this feature which has gained for this style of point the local name of “bayonet-backed spear-point.” The tip of the stem is also usually angularly pointed. A small number of these points have the upper surface of their blades ornamented with indentations variously arranged in double rows or lines. This type of copper point has been found as far to the south as the Gulf, as far east as New England, westward to the Missouri, and northward into Canada.
The largest example known to have been found in Wisconsin measures thirteen inches in length. It is in the E. C. Perkins collection. The average size is between three and five inches.
[Illustration:
FIG. 609. (S. 3–5.) Large copper plate covered with shell beads, Seip Mound, Ohio. W. C. Mills’s collection. ]
6 a. Rolled socketed points. (Fig. 601.) This form is almost if not quite as common as the preceding, from which it is distinguished mainly by the fact that the back of the blade and stem are not usually upon the same plane. The central ridge also is absent. Many examples are provided with a rivet-hole (very rarely with two, one above the other) within the socket near the base of the stem. Specimens with a small copper rivet or nail still in place in the socket are of not infrequent occurrence in Wisconsin collections.
At least two well-defined varieties of these points may be recognized:—
1. The first of these is provided with a short, broad, oval, or almond-shaped blade. The stem and socket in this form is usually broadest at the base, tapering or narrowing toward the blade. The average length of these specimens is about four inches. A large specimen found at Ripon, Fond du Lac County, measures seven inches in length, and two inches in breadth near the base of the blade. Specimens of this type may be seen in the Hamilton, State Historical Museum, Logan Museum, and other collections.
2. The second form is furnished with a long, narrow, lanceolate blade, often twice or more than twice as long as the stem. The socket and stem rarely taper upward and are of more nearly equal width throughout. In both this and the preceding form the flanges of the socket are rolled inward, in some instances nearly meeting. The average length of these points appears to be about five inches. The largest specimen known measures eleven and one half inches in length. Such specimens are to be seen in nearly every Wisconsin cabinet.
In the very limited number of the smaller specimens the face of the blade, rarely the back, is ornamented with indentations. The edges of the blade are also sometimes beveled.
Among the smaller specimens is observed a variety in which the length of the stem equals or exceeds that of the blade. In some specimens the socket has the appearance of having been formed by excavating the stem, the narrow flanges being continuous with the blade instead of cut and turned inward as in the ordinary form. A small number of iron socketed spear-points, not differing greatly from the ordinary socketed copper point, have been found.
Peculiar points. In several Wisconsin collections are several spear-points of curious form not included under any of the foregoing descriptions or represented, so far as can be learned, in other Wisconsin cabinets.
[Illustration:
FIG. 610. (S. 1–1.) Ornamented copper plate, Seip Mound, Ohio. W. C. Mills’s collection. ]
One of these in the H. P. Hamilton collection has a long slender blade and a very short socket. It is seven and one quarter inches in length and comes from Two Rivers, Manitowoc County. Its blade is ornamented with a row of nine indentations.
In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a series of three peculiar socketed spear-points of an average length of about eight and one half inches. The blade of each of these is very long and narrow, with straight edges, and terminates in a sharp point. The stem is very short and narrow in comparison with the blade and broadens into a short socket at its base. One specimen has the middle of its blade, from near the base toward the middle, ornamented with a continuous zigzag indentation. Another has upon its blade a series of dots arranged in a triangular form. Two of these points come from Fond du Lac County, and the other from Sheboygan County.
_Harpoon-Points_
The purpose of these implements is too plain to make any explanation necessary. Four distinct types of harpoon-points, none of which are as yet known to be of other than very infrequent occurrence, have been obtained in Wisconsin. What special application any of these several patterns may have had is not yet clear. The following is a brief description of them:—
1. The first are short, flattish points seldom exceeding two and a half inches in length. (Fig. 605, to the left.) One edge of these implements is either straight or presents a continuous curve from extremity to extremity. The other edge is curved or straight from the point downward to about opposite the middle of the implement, where it terminates in a barb. From thence it narrows to the other extremity, thus forming a stem. Occasionally this is notched on either side near its base. Small numbers of these points have been recovered from the village-sites along the Lake Michigan shore.
2. A second and less frequent form is cylindrical in section and tapers to a sharp point at each extremity. (Fig. 604, second from right.) Removed from one extremity by several inches, more or less, is a stout and very pronounced barb. All are of large size. A particularly large specimen measures ten and three fourths inches in length and about one half inch in diameter at the middle. Others are to be seen in the State Historical Museum and H. P. Hamilton collections. Mr. Clarence B. Moore has figured and described a large example obtained by him in Florida.
[Illustration:
FIG. 611. (S. 2–3.) Copper crescents. Collection of Logan Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin. ]
Iron harpoons of similar form, but frequently possessing from two to three barbs, sometimes alternating on opposite sides of the implement are still in use by Wisconsin Indians for spearing large fish.
[Illustration:
FIG. 612. (S. 1–1.) Ear ornaments from the Hopewell Group, Ohio. ]
3. Another form of harpoon is represented by a specimen in the Milwaukee Public Museum. This implement is somewhat triangular in section, about eight and a half inches in length and about three fourths of an inch in breadth at the middle. The ends taper to a blunted point. The thinner edge of the implement is furnished with four stout, broad barbs, separated from each other by a distance of about one and a half inches. Bone harpoon-points of this pattern occur in New York and Ontario. (Like Fig. 606.)
4. A fourth type, the so-called “socketed harpoon-point” (Fig. 604), has one edge of its blade prolonged into a barb at the base. This barb may be on either the right or left side. Otherwise this type does not differ in shape from some of the flat-backed, socketed spear-points. Only a small number of these points have been found. All these are provided with a rivet-hole in the socket. An example in the Logan Museum is about four inches in length, and comes from Mequon, Ozaukee County.
_Pikes and Punches._ (_See Fig. 602._)
In this class of objects, which are as yet alluded to by students and collectors by either of the above or other names, are included the largest copper implements found in Wisconsin. They are rod-like in form, usually circular or square, less frequently rectangular in section, and taper to a point at one or both ends. Large specimens of each of these several patterns have been found. The largest is in the Field Museum. It is about forty inches in length, one inch in diameter at the middle, and tapers to a point at either extremity. It weighs five and a quarter pounds and was obtained from a burial-mound on the Abraham place, at Peshtigo, Marinette County.
[Illustration:
FIG. 613. (S. 1–1.) Copper crescent-shaped object obtained near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Milwaukee Public Museum collection. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 614. (S. 1–3.) Copper crescents. Collection of Wisconsin Archæological Society. ]
A specimen in the H. P. Hamilton collection is twenty-nine inches in length, seven eighths of an inch in diameter, and weighs two and three fourths pounds. About one inch from the pointed extremity there is a broken projection which Mr. Hamilton believes to have been a barb. The other end terminates in a small claw or broken out eye. It comes from Maple Creek, Outagamie County. In the T. W. Hamilton collection there is another fine specimen which is eighteen and a half inches in length and weighs one and a half pounds. A specimen found at New Haven, Adams County, is fourteen and a half inches in length and weighs one and three eighths pounds. Other large specimens are to be seen in the Logan Museum, State Historical Museum, and Milwaukee Museum collections. Some of these are rather flat, rectangular in section and one inch in width and less than three eighths of an inch in thickness. They are pointed at one extremity and rounded or blunted at the other. Some other large specimens are known to have been cut in two and otherwise maltreated by the persons who found them.
In the Field Museum collections implements of this pattern ranging from eight inches or less up to the largest size are classed as “pikes.” That they were employed as weapons is extremely doubtful. It has been suggested that they may have been heated and employed in the burning-out of wooden canoes or wooden vessels. There is reason to believe that some of the lighter forms were mounted in wooden handles, at least one example with an accompanying copper ferule having been found at Milwaukee.
[Illustration:
FIG. 615. (S. 2–3.) Copper saucer-shaped object. Hopewell Group, Ohio. ]
_Awls and Drills._ (_See Figs. 593 and 603._)
These have been obtained nowhere in greater numbers than in the Lake Michigan coastal region in Wisconsin. They vary in size from about one to six inches or more, and in thickness from one sixteenth to one half an inch. The greater number are of very small size.
The simplest and most frequent form is a slender cylindrical piece of metal pointed at one or both extremities. A second and usually stouter form is either round or square in section and tapers from a well-marked shoulder at or near the middle to both extremities. Sometimes one end only is pointed. Occasionally also the upper half of the implement is straight and the lower half tapers to a point. Many of these small implements were probably mounted in handles of wood, bone, or antler, the object of the shoulder being to prevent their passing too far into the handle. Several specimens mounted in antler handles have been found. Similar implements of bone and stone have been found in Wisconsin. Most of them were probably employed in drilling holes in wood, bone, or stone, in piercing skins, and for similar purposes. The Eskimo are said to employ somewhat similar implements of bone for catching waterfowl. They are used by attaching a line to the centre, the bone spindle being baited with a small fish into which the implement is inserted lengthwise. Large fish are captured by them in the same manner. We have no record of the employment of such methods by Wisconsin Indians.
[Illustration:
FIG. 616. (S. 1–2.) Possibly this was the crown of a head-mask. It seems to indicate growing antlers, or those of a young buck. When found the horns or projections were downward and the raised surface uppermost. Hopewell Group, Ohio. ]
_Spikes._ (_See Fig. 580, lower left-hand specimen._)
In a number of Wisconsin cabinets are to be seen copper implements locally known as “spikes,” taking their names from the close resemblance which they bear to the modern articles. These vary somewhat in shape and size.
[Illustration:
FIG. 617. (S. 1–1.) Pendant of sheet-copper. C. B. Moore’s explorations. ]
One specimen is four and a half inches in length, one fourth of an inch in thickness, with one extremity pointed and the other enlarged and blunted to form a head. Another is seven inches in length and tapers gradually downward from the head, where it is three fourths of an inch in diameter, to the point.
A few specimens are decidedly square in section.
An examination of the heads indicates that they are not the result of pounding while in use, but constitute an intentional feature of these implements. No suggestion has been offered as to their function. They may be simply perforators or drills. Some of the stouter implements, with broad, flattish points, may have been employed as chisels.
_Needles_
These are obtained from the same sites as the foregoing and are frequently associated with them, though not nearly as numerous. All are provided with eyes, and except in their somewhat ruder fashioning do not differ from the needles in ordinary domestic use at the present day. Their purpose requires no explanation.
These implements range in size from less than two to as much as eight and an eighth inches. The average size appears to be between two and three inches. Such implements are to be seen in many of the eastern Wisconsin collections. In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a small series of copper needles from Mexico.
_Fish-Hooks._ (_See Fig. 603._)
Hundreds of these and fragments of many others have been collected from the aboriginal village- and camp-sites on the west shore of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. They have also been obtained in numbers from the village-sites at Green Lake and at various other localities along the upper Wisconsin, Fox, Wolf, and Little Wolf rivers, and elsewhere in this part of the state where good fishing was to be had. Some have also been found far to the north along the Lake Superior shore.
Most specimens are of small size, from less than an inch up to two inches in length. The largest known example is four inches in length. They are generally circular, though sometimes decidedly square in section. The points curve and slant outward and inward at all angles and degrees of curvature. None possess any indication of a barb.
The shank at the point of attachment to the line is most frequently straight. Sometimes, however, it is notched, flattened, bent over and flattened, or bent over to form an eye. A few specimens have been collected which have bits of sinew or twisted fibre still attached to the shank. Fine series of these useful articles are to be seen in many local collections.
In the H. P. Hamilton collection there is a series of ten fish-hooks obtained from the bank of the Little Wolf River, in the township of Muckwa, in Waupaca County. These are from two and a half to two and three fourths inches in length, the strongly and broadly curved hook reaching up to about opposite the middle of the shank. Some are circular and others square in section, and all are of a nearly uniform thickness of one fourth of an inch. Several have the tips of the shank flattened, and all are heavily incrusted with soil and verdigris, plainly indicating the manner in which they had lain upon and across each other.
_Peculiar Implements_
In a few of the large Wisconsin cabinets are to be seen a very small number of implements whose exact functions are unknown and which cannot be placed in any of the various classes here described.
[Illustration:
FIG. 618. (S. 1–2.) Remarkable effigy in copper. Collection of J. M. Wolfing, St. Louis, Missouri. ]
One of these, in the H. P. Hamilton collection, is eight and one quarter inches in length. It is circular in section and tapers to a point at either extremity. It is seven eighths of an inch in diameter near the thicker extremity and is knotty all over the surface. Mr. Hamilton suggests that it may have been employed as a club or bludgeon. It weighs eight and one half ounces and comes from Little Chute, Outagamie County. In the same collection there is also to be seen a long, curved, flattish implement which, it has been suggested, may have served as a sword. It is about twenty inches in length and about one inch in width near the middle. It was obtained with a cache of six other copper implements at Oconto, Oconto County, Wisconsin.
_Banner-Stones_
The only specimens in native copper of this interesting and widely distributed class of ceremonial objects are in the H. P. Hamilton collection. One is of the ordinary butterfly pattern with expanding wings. Both specimens were found at Oconto, Oconto County, and were included in a remarkable cache of copper implements and ornaments, consisting of a crescent, sword, chisel, leaf-shaped blade, and two arrow-points. This specimen, weighing five ounces, is three and one half inches in length, and one and one fourth inches in width across the elevated part at the middle. The broad wings are one and one fourth inches in length and one and one half inches in width across their outer edges. The perforation at the middle is of one inch in length and has a short diameter of half an inch. A second specimen in the same cabinet is of the so-called “pick” shape. It weighs two and one fourth ounces. It is five inches in length and only one inch in width across the widest part, near the middle. The narrow wings are two and one fourth inches in length and taper to a rounded point, the perforation at the middle being half an inch in diameter.
_Beads._ (_See Figs. 569, 570._)
The most common local form of copper bead is somewhat spherical in shape and was fashioned by rolling together a small, narrow strip or welt of native metal, varying in thickness from less than one eighth to one fourth of an inch or more, only one or two turns of which were necessary to make a rude bead of quite large size. Beads of this kind have been obtained in large numbers from Wisconsin village-sites, graves, and, sometimes, from the mounds. Quantities of them, as many as one hundred or more, have occasionally been taken from a single grave.
[Illustration:
FIG. 619. (S. 1–3.) Unknown symbols in sheet-copper, Hopewell Group. ]
In several Wisconsin collections fine strings or necklaces of such beads may be seen. Beads of this form have also been obtained in Ohio, northern Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Reverend W. M. Beauchamp has mentioned their occurrence in New York.
A second and quite common form of copper bead is made of a thin sheet of metal rolled into the form of a cylinder.
They vary in diameter from one eighth to one quarter of an inch or more, sometimes exceed two inches in length. They are of quite common occurrence on the Lake Michigan shore and on some inland village-sites. From aboriginal village-sites at Two Rivers and on the shores of Green Bay small cylinders formed by twisting thin sheets of native copper between the fingers in a spiral shape are found.
_Bangles._ (_See Fig. 569._)
These are also made of thin sheets of native copper. They are of small size, conical or somewhat conical in shape, and open at both extremities. It is believed that these served as bangles, probably taking the place, in the past, of the small metal discs, brass or tin cones, brass thimbles or bells with which it was the custom, among the later Indians, to ornament dress fringes or other articles of wearing apparel. They occur on aboriginal village-sites in the Fox River Valley and in the Lake Michigan shore region.
_Finger-Rings_
These consist of small, narrow rods or strips of metal bent into the form of a simple circlet, the ends abutting or nearly meeting. Occasionally the rods are thickest at the middle and taper to a point at the extremities. Some may have served equally well as ear-rings. Specimens are occasionally found in the Lake Michigan shore region, as well as elsewhere in the state.
[Illustration:
FIG. 620. (S. 1–2.) Copper fish. Hopewell Group. Field Museum collection, Chicago. ]
_Ear-Rings_
The fondness of the later Indians for such ornaments is well known, and it is quite probable that they were also in rather general use among the earlier aborigines.
In the S. D. Mitchell collection is a small crescent-shaped copper ornament which may have served as an ear-ring or nose-ring, being well adapted for such use. It measures one and three eighths inches in extreme width, and was obtained from an Indian village-site in Green Lake County. Similar specimens are in several other local collections.
The Reverend W. M. Beauchamp states that the earliest metallic ear-rings in use among New York aborigines were probably those of copper wire coiled and flattened, and believes it possible that perforated discs and coins may have served the same purpose in early historic times, but that they were more likely to have been employed in some other way. Glass and shell beads, and probably many other things, were so utilized.
[Illustration:
FIG. 621. (S. 1–4.) Copper eagle. Hopewell Group. Field Museum collection, Chicago. ]
_Ear-Spools or Ear-Plugs._ (_See Fig. 612._)
Professor T. H. Lewis has obtained ornaments of this class during mound explorations conducted by him at Prairie du Chien, Crawford County, and Wyalusing, Grant County, in Wisconsin. Ear-spools have been obtained from various localities in Ohio, Illinois, and the South. Some of these are rather elaborately ornamented with embossed figures. In the Field Museum collections are specimens which were taken from the mounds of the celebrated Hopewell Group in Ohio.
A specimen in the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society’s collections has still attached to it a fragment of the string or cord by means of which it was probably attached to the ear of its aboriginal owner. Similar objects of stone overlaid with sheet-copper have been described by various authors.
_Gorgets and Pendants._ (_See Figs. 570 and 617._)
Careful inquiry has shown the existence of only a small number of these in Wisconsin collections. It is quite possible, however, that such ornaments were in more common use among Wisconsin aborigines than the present limited number would indicate. Being fashioned of sheet-copper, they would even under ordinary conditions be more likely to suffer destruction, through decomposition, than many other less fragile artifacts, which show very plainly the effects of chemical action during their interment. One form of pendant is triangular in shape and is provided at the broad upper extremity with two perforations, by which means it could be attached, by a cord, to the person of its aboriginal owner. Such pendants have been found in Winnebago, Jefferson, Crawford, and Barron counties. One of the largest measures three and one eighth inches in length, and one and one fourth inches in width at the upper edge.
Sheet-copper pendants of circular shape have also been obtained. These have perforations near the edge or at the middle. The largest specimen known is about three and one quarter inches in diameter. Pendants of this form have been obtained in Kenosha, Jefferson, Dane, Columbia, Grant, Crawford, Barron, Burnett, Winnebago, and Brown counties. A few specimens of other forms have also been recovered.
_Crescents._ (_See Figs. 611, 613, 614._)
In this class of copper ornaments are at present included a number of thin, flattish objects, the basis of all of which appears to be the crescent, either plain or variously modified by the addition of prongs or other prolongations arising from the inner or upper edge, near the middle or extremities.
There is probably little doubt that the greater number of the objects included in this class were worn by our primitive Indians as breast ornaments, being fastened to the neck by means of cords. In this way several of them may have been worn, one below the other. The adaptability of certain of the pronged forms for use as hair ornaments is noticeable.
Large numbers have been collected in Wisconsin, and others will probably be found as old sites are more thoroughly explored, and new lands opened to cultivation. The existing examples appear to have been obtained, for the most part, from the village-sites and graves, where they sometimes occur in association with copper beads and other articles of personal adornment. But very few have been recovered from the burial-mounds of the state.
A few have also been found in Minnesota, northern Michigan, and Illinois. The finest series of these copper crescents, representing nearly all of the known types, is in the H. P. Hamilton collection. The following is a brief description of the Wisconsin types of copper crescents:—
1. One of the simplest, although uncommon forms, has the upper edge quite straight and the lower ones broadly curved. Specimens have been found in Manitowoc County, and in Houghton County, Michigan.
[Illustration:
FIG. 622. (S. 2–3.) Mica ornament. Hopewell Group. ]
2. A closely allied type has both edges curved, approaching more nearly the true crescent form. The degree of curvature varies considerably in the small number of specimens known. Specimens have been found in Washington, Sheboygan, Marquette, Crawford, and Barron counties. Minnesota has produced several specimens: one from Monroe County, having both extremities notched to allow for suspension. (Fig. 611.)
3. A third type, the so-called “canoe-shaped” crescent, usually has its lower and upper edges curving equally and formed at the extremities into a short point or embryo prong, directed inward. This is the most frequent Wisconsin type, and examples of it are to be seen in many collections. The largest and finest example now known (10 × 2¼ inches, weight 20 ounces) is in the Hamilton collection, and was found in the city of Oconto, Oconto County. Michigan and Minnesota have also yielded a number of specimens. (See Fig. 611.)
4. A fourth type has the prongs or points at the extremities of greater length and directed upward or inward. Specimens have been found in Calumet, Door, Sheboygan, and Marquette counties. They vary in length from five to seven and one half inches. (One in Fig. 568.)
5. In a fifth type the prolongations, arising from the extremities of the upper edge of the curved base, approach each other and unite to form a central spike, which is usually circular in section and formed by the prolongations being twisted about each other. Specimens have been obtained in Price, Manitowoc, Green Lake, Waukesha, Washington, and Columbia counties. One has been found in Minnesota. (Fig. 614, specimen D.)
6. Another peculiar type is furnished with a pair of spikes or prongs, usually rather long, and either flat or cylindrical in section, which arise on either side of the middle of the curved top (or base). (Fig. 613.) Specimens have been obtained in Columbia, Pierce, Washington, and Vernon counties. One has been found in Ottertail County, Minnesota. These specimens range from four to eight inches in length, the prongs being from three to four inches long. A modification of this type has the prongs united at their points by a short cross-bar. (Specimen G in Fig. 614.)
_Other Ornaments_
In the Milwaukee Public Museum are two broad, flat strips of native copper which may have been worn as headbands.
Both of these fragments, originally curved, have the appearance of having been straightened, by the finders, and may have formed a part of the same band. The larger (six inches by one inch) and the smaller (three and five eighths inches by one inch), and less than one fourth of an inch in thickness, are ornamented along either edge and down the middle with a row of deep indentations. The locality is Sheboygan County. On the skulls of two skeletons in a mound in Crawford County were found thick copper plates. The larger of these was ornamented along two edges with a double row of indentations, and measured eight inches long by four inches wide. The other plate was about four and one half inches square.
Mr. Brown has called attention to the distribution of copper and has described these objects so thoroughly that no remarks on my part are necessary. However, I wish to offer, briefly, one or two suggestions.
Copper seems to have played an important part in aboriginal life in this country. As the natives possessed neither gold nor silver and because silver ornaments are extremely rare, one may say that silver was not in use; copper appealed to them as being something beyond the ordinary, if not possessing supernatural powers. There was no other substance which they could hammer into shape, or slightly anneal and work more easily. No other malleable material possessed that bright, beautiful color and was capable of such polish. Therefore, copper appealed to the aborigines, and they made general use of it more as an ornament, or a totem, than for ordinary utility; that is, save in the “copper belt,” where it was so common that tools were made of it.
[Illustration:
FIG. 623. (S. 3–4.) Mica ornaments. Ohio mounds. Collection of W. C. Mills, Columbus, Ohio. ]
What the Northern Indians received in exchange for the copper has always been a mystery to me. In Wisconsin and Michigan where drift copper occurred in large quantities, and where it still may be found, it is likely that the natives carried on an extensive trade in copper and that the peoples of Ohio passed it on, one may suppose, to the South. This trade was extensive because not only in our museums are there thousands of copper objects, but there are many more in the hands of private collectors, and in the mounds of the Mississippi Valley where there has been much digging, great quantities of hatchets, plates, nose-rings, and spools are dug up from time to time.
[Illustration:
FIG. 624. (S. 1–3.) Mica ornaments from mounds of the Hopewell Group. Field Museum collection, Chicago. ]
One may question whether the presence of copper in the Ohio Valley really means extensive aboriginal commerce or trade. I say Ohio Valley because more mound copper is found there than elsewhere, although the South should by no means be excluded. Copper and other foreign materials abound in the middle and lower Mississippi Valley. Yet upon the shores of Lake Superior, about the copper range, on the streams and lakes of Wisconsin and Michigan where lived the Indians who possessed so much copper that they made of it hatchets, fish-hooks, knives, spear-points, etc., usually are to be found no Southern types save a few pipes and problematical forms in slate. What did these Northern natives receive in return for the quantities of copper which they must have bartered? Did they receive bird-stones, gorgets, pipes, etc.? Their bird-stones are very like those of Indiana and Ohio, yet they have a broad bird effigy usually with ears on both sides of the head which is not found save occasionally in southern Ohio and Indiana, and seldom in the South where mound copper is common. Their gorgets and pipes appear to be local. It has occurred to me that the peoples of Indiana and Ohio, and possibly the South, made raids in the copper country, or found copper nuggets in the drift, or mined their own copper, or robbed the Northern peoples of such copper as they wanted. If there had been any extensive aboriginal trade, we should surely find more evidence of it.
Mr. Clarence B. Moore[28] has conclusively proved that the copper taken from the Southern mounds and Ohio mounds is prehistoric and not of European origin. Some of the gentlemen connected with the Smithsonian Institution and affiliated museums contend that the fine _repoussé_ work, on sheet-copper, could not have been made by aborigines working with stone tools.
A few words regarding the illustrations. An inspection of all the figures in this chapter, marked from the Hopewell Group, give some idea of the remarkable copper effigies, ornaments, cut designs, etc., comprising the Hopewell collection. This is now on exhibition in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, and can be seen by any person who will take the pains to visit that institution. It is justly considered the greatest prehistoric copper collection in the United States. In the Hopewell Group altars hundreds and hundreds of copper ear ornaments were found, all more or less affected by heat. Professor Mills has dug up many ornaments of these same kinds and says of them:—
“Copper ear ornaments were frequently met with in the graves, and twenty specimens were secured. They were invariably found in pairs. The manufacture of these ornaments required skill, as well as a high degree of advancement in ornamental art. The mode of manufacture of the ear ornaments, although two different types were found, was similar. One type was made of two concavo-convex plates, and were connected by a cylindrical column; but only a few pairs of this type were found. The other type, which was most common, was made of four plates of copper, two of which are circular, and two concavo-convex. The concavo-convex plates are attached to the circular pieces, which form the inside of the ornament. The discs are connected with a small cylinder of copper. This figure is a good illustration showing two views of the second type of ear ornaments. Other copper ornaments were found sparingly in the burial cists. From one grave a large copper crescent was removed, and from another, six large copper balls.”
Sometimes the copper plates were highly ornamented and cut or trimmed. Fig. 610 is thus described by Professor Mills:—
“The plate shown in this figure is perhaps the heaviest and smoothest of all the plates taken from Seip Mound. The scroll pattern cut upon one side of the plate represents the first specimen of the kind taken from the mounds of Ohio, as far as known. The plate was wrapped in leather when it was placed in the grave, and portions still adhere to the plate, as shown in the cut.”
Of the interesting pendants in sheet-copper, Fig. 617, exhumed from a mound in Moundville, Alabama, Mr. Moore has to say:—
“The upper part of the pendant has parts excised to form a six-pointed star within a circle. On the body of the star, _repoussé_, is a symbol to which we shall revert later. Below is an excised triangle; beneath which is part of an arm encircled by a string of beads and an extended hand bearing on it the open eye, all _repoussé_.”
The decayed cloth, the fragments of skins and the curious, fine silt, usually about a handful, lying around copper objects, indicate that they were at one time carefully wrapped up. If we had preserved to us some of these wrappings, not a little light might be shed on the use of the more highly developed copper problematical forms in the United States.
I am indebted to the directors of the Milwaukee Public Museum for making illustrations of the finest copper objects in their collections: Figs. 574, 579, 582–89, 595, 597, 599, 602, 605, 613.