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Native American Historical Use of Metal?

Pete e

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
732
Location
North Wales, UK
As a Brit reading these forums from time to time, I don't see much about old Native American artefacts being found?

How wide spread was the use of metal before Europeans arrived?

I am thinking in terms of North America, rather than Central or South America...
 
It was. I only know the little bit I do because I was fortunate enough to find a prehistoric copper artifact here in NY...

A NY State archaeologist sent me this informative email about metal artifacts in New York and Great Lakes region... I am not sure about how widespread metal was used throughout other parts of the country ...

Such copper adzes and gouges are relatively common in much of the Great
Lakes, especially Wisconsin, where they date roughly to between 4000 and
1500 BC (6000 and 3500 years ago). There, they are viewed as one
diagnostic of the so-called "Old Copper Culture," a Native American
lifeway that included the mining of copper that occurs naturally in
parts of the Great Lakes, in the manufacture of these tools.

In the New York region, these copper artifacts are less common but are
discovered occasionally. Parallel-sided gouges have been found in
association with Brewerton notched points, dating to circa 3000-1500 BC.
Copper adzes similar in form to yours have been found in the Champlain
basin – their age is uncertain but may be from roughly the same
timeframe. Because there are natural sources of copper in parts of the
Great Lakes, but not New York, archaeologists believe these artifacts
probably came into the region by some form of trade or exchange from
other Great Lakes groups. This interpretation is generally supported by
chemical sourcing methods that compare geologic sources of this material
with artifacts made of copper.
 
As a Brit reading these forums from time to time, I don't see much about old Native American artefacts being found?

How wide spread was the use of metal before Europeans arrived?

I am thinking in terms of North America, rather than Central or South America...

In North America, especially the NorthEast, copper smelting was essentially non-existent. Some copper tools were made, as a result of trade with the Great Lakes peoples (where copper can literally be found on the surface), but for actual smelted tools and artifacts, you're really looking at Central and South America.

See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallurgy_in_pre-Columbian_America

Skippy
 
I have seen documentaries where there were copper veins on the surface in North Carolina near Danville VA. The natives would take raw copper and pound in into sheet metal and make small arrowheads and jewelry. I think that was about the extent of it. I never heard of any smelting operations.
 
Thanks Folks...so what was the state of play when the Europeans first arrived then? Had the Native American tribes progressed to using iron tools or were they still using cooper/bronze or even stone?
 
Pete, you've gotten good answers so far.

The pre-European contact Indians here had no refined metals. The lone exception, was a bit of crude copper , from certain geographic zones of the the mid-west states.

But as for silver, gold, refining, etc.... : The answer is: No.

The south American Indians had wised up to gold, (as evidenced by the Spaniard's conquests). But .... not so for the north American Indians. So, for example, the pre-European Indian sites in CA have absolutely nothing that can be found by metal detectors . Yes, even the Indian sites that were in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Where, presumably, they could have picked up nuggets and hammered/fashioned them. Yet simply didn't.

So to the average md'r in CA, they have absolutely no interest in pre-contact Indian sites here on the west coast. Unless, of course you're into beads, arrow heads, etc....
 
Thanks again folks...it seems amazing that the “technology” never progressed beyond the limited use of copper...by the sounds of it, they never even discovered bronze which was discovered soon after copper in Europe...
 
Thanks again folks...it seems amazing that the “technology” never progressed beyond the limited use of copper...by the sounds of it, they never even discovered bronze which was discovered soon after copper in Europe...

I've read a few books related to the subject. One reason was the limited state of agriculture (plants and animals) in the pre-Columbian "United States".

Despite fertile soil and biodiversity, very few plants in what became the United States stood out as suitable for surplus-level cultivation. If I recall correctly, corn/maize is the only native cereal grain. There was a type of rice that grew wild in limited areas and was gathered but not cultivated. The list of native edible plants suitable for intensive farming given other constraints or alternatives was very short. But, hunting/gathering resources were abundant (the early Europeans were in awe). There was another big obstacle:

A lack of animals that could be domesticated for agricultural purposes.

Species that were good candidates for domestication were geographically limited (e.g., mountain goats in the far northwest and bighorn sheep in the Rockies) and that just didn't take hold. There's some evidence that a few species existed that were good candidates for domestication before the Europeans arrived, but qualities that made them good for domestication also made them easy to hunt right into extinction.

No pigs (domesticated or wild). Eggs could be eaten from native birds, but that process looked more like hunting/gathering. No domesticated chickens. Milk? No cows. No domesticated goats or sheep.

There were no pre-Columbian draft animals. Remarkable! There's no need for a large/strong/sharp plow when you've never seen a large animal that could be domesticated to pull a plow. That also means no draft animals to pull stones or timber. Clearing land and mining would have to be done by hand.

Even along the Mississippi River where intenstive agriculture was practiced and maize was highly productive, it was all limited to what could be done by hand. The exchange of effort for calories was still dependent on time consuming hunting/fishing and gathering.

High surplus high protein agriculture was not widespread or even possible in most places and that put a damper on the ability or need to specialize in metallurgy.

Along with the lack of other draft animals, there were no horses or other animals for transportation! Native North American people didn't have anything to ride other than small boats. North America is not only huge, it presents large, challenging forests, deserts, rivers, and mountain ranges.

Trade meant taking what you could carry. Walking or traveling in small boats. The day before Europeans arrived in what would become the United States the state of raw materials trading was nothing like what had been going on for thousands of years between and within Europe, Asia and Africa.
 
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I've read a few books related to the subject. One often cited reason was the state of agriculture (plants or animals) in the pre-Columbian "United States".

Despite such fertile soil and biodiversity, very few plants in what became the United States stood out as suitable for larger scale surplus-level cultivation. If I recall correctly, corn/maize is the only cereal grain native to North America. There was a type of rice that grew wild in limited areas and was gathered but not cultivated. The list of native edible plants suitable for intensive farming was very short. Not impossible, but hunting/gathering resources was abundant (the early Europeans were in awe), and there was another big problem:

There was a lack of animals that could be domesticated for nearly every common agricultural purpose that would allow for a greater surplus of food and need/time for specialization in other areas.

There were no pre-Columbian draft animals. There's no need for a large/strong/sharp plow when you've never seen a large animal that could be domesticated to pull a plow. I'll go pick berries and catch some fish. That also means no draft animals to pull stones, timber, etc... So, mining would also have to be done by hand.

Species that were good candidates for domestication were geographically limited (e.g., mountain goats in the far northwest and bighorn sheep in the Rockies) and it just didn't take place. I think there's some evidence that some species existed that could have been domesticated for various purposes over a few hundred or thousand years, but had been hunted to extinction long before Europeans arrived.

No pigs (domesticated or wild). Eggs could be eaten from native birds, but that process looked more like hunting/gathering. No domesticated chickens. Milk? No cows. No domesticated goats or sheep.

Even along the Mississippi River where intenstive agriculture was practiced and maize was highly productive, it was all limited to what could be done by hand. The exchange of effort for calories was still dependent on time consuming hunting/fishing and gathering.

High surplus high protein agriculture was not widespread or even possible in most places and that put a damper on the ability or need to specialize in metallurgy.

Along with the lack of other draft animals, there were no horses or other animals for transportation! Native North American people didn't have anything to ride other than small boats. North America is not only huge, it presents large, challenging forests, deserts, rivers, and mountain ranges. Trade meant taking what you could carry. Walking or traveling in small boats by navigable waterways, or a combination of both. The day before Europeans arrived in what would become the United States the state of raw materials trading was nothing like what had been going on for thousands of years between and within Europe, Asia and Africa.

Excellent excellent post !
 
Thanks Folks...so what was the state of play when the Europeans first arrived then? Had the Native American tribes progressed to using iron tools or were they still using cooper/bronze or even stone?

The majority of tribes used stone tools into the end. My aunt found a broken whiskey bottle from the 1860’s with a partially made glass arrowhead inside it. Found near Virginia City NV. Virginia City was built near the Paiute/Washoe Indians winter food supply, pinenut forests.
 
I've read a few books related to the subject. One reason was the limited state of agriculture (plants and animals) in the pre-Columbian "United States".

Despite fertile soil and biodiversity, very few plants in what became the United States stood out as suitable for surplus-level cultivation. If I recall correctly, corn/maize is the only native cereal grain. There was a type of rice that grew wild in limited areas and was gathered but not cultivated. The list of native edible plants suitable for intensive farming given other constraints or alternatives was very short. Hunting/gathering resources was abundant (the early Europeans were in awe), and there was a big problem:

The lack of animals that could be domesticated for nearly every common agricultural purpose.

There were no pre-Columbian draft animals. There's no need for a large/strong/sharp plow when you've never seen a large animal that could be domesticated to pull a plow. That also means no draft animals to pull stones, timber, etc... So, mining would also have to be done by hand.

Species that were good candidates for domestication were geographically limited (e.g., mountain goats in the far northwest and bighorn sheep in the Rockies) and it just didn't take place. I think there's some evidence that some species existed that could have been domesticated for various purposes over a few hundred or thousand years, but had been hunted to extinction long before Europeans arrived.

No pigs (domesticated or wild). Eggs could be eaten from native birds, but that process looked more like hunting/gathering. No domesticated chickens. Milk? No cows. No domesticated goats or sheep.

Even along the Mississippi River where intenstive agriculture was practiced and maize was highly productive, it was all limited to what could be done by hand. The exchange of effort for calories was still dependent on time consuming hunting/fishing and gathering.

High surplus high protein agriculture was not widespread or even possible in most places and that put a damper on the ability or need to specialize in metallurgy.

Along with the lack of other draft animals, there were no horses or other animals for transportation! Native North American people didn't have anything to ride other than small boats. North America is not only huge, it presents large, challenging forests, deserts, rivers, and mountain ranges. Trade meant taking what you could carry. Walking or traveling in small boats by navigable waterways, or a combination of both. The day before Europeans arrived in what would become the United States the state of raw materials trading was nothing like what had been going on for thousands of years between and within Europe, Asia and Africa.

Thanks, that's a very interesting insight...

You mention trading in Europe..there are feral goats in the mountains not to far from me, and their DNA show their ancestors were brought over from the Alpine parts of Europe probably in the Iron Age..

It always amazes me such trade over such distances took place 2500 years ago....
 
I've read a few books related to the subject. One reason was the limited state of agriculture (plants and animals) in the pre-Columbian "United States".

Despite fertile soil and biodiversity, very few plants in what became the United States stood out as suitable for surplus-level cultivation. If I recall correctly, corn/maize is the only native cereal grain. There was a type of rice that grew wild in limited areas and was gathered but not cultivated. The list of native edible plants suitable for intensive farming given other constraints or alternatives was very short. Hunting/gathering resources was abundant (the early Europeans were in awe), and there was a big problem:

The lack of animals that could be domesticated for nearly every common agricultural purpose.

There were no pre-Columbian draft animals. There's no need for a large/strong/sharp plow when you've never seen a large animal that could be domesticated to pull a plow. That also means no draft animals to pull stones, timber, etc... So, mining would also have to be done by hand.

Species that were good candidates for domestication were geographically limited (e.g., mountain goats in the far northwest and bighorn sheep in the Rockies) and it just didn't take place. I think there's some evidence that some species existed that could have been domesticated for various purposes over a few hundred or thousand years, but had been hunted to extinction long before Europeans arrived.

No pigs (domesticated or wild). Eggs could be eaten from native birds, but that process looked more like hunting/gathering. No domesticated chickens. Milk? No cows. No domesticated goats or sheep.

Even along the Mississippi River where intenstive agriculture was practiced and maize was highly productive, it was all limited to what could be done by hand. The exchange of effort for calories was still dependent on time consuming hunting/fishing and gathering.

High surplus high protein agriculture was not widespread or even possible in most places and that put a damper on the ability or need to specialize in metallurgy.

Along with the lack of other draft animals, there were no horses or other animals for transportation! Native North American people didn't have anything to ride other than small boats. North America is not only huge, it presents large, challenging forests, deserts, rivers, and mountain ranges. Trade meant taking what you could carry. Walking or traveling in small boats by navigable waterways, or a combination of both. The day before Europeans arrived in what would become the United States the state of raw materials trading was nothing like what had been going on for thousands of years between and within Europe, Asia and Africa.

Thank you for a great post!
 
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