earliest metalworking (was: Re: cocaine in mummys

Yuri Kuchinsky (yuku@io.org)
31 Dec 1996 15:06:25 GMT

August Matthusen (matthuse@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: Yuri Kuchinsky wrote:

: > On a related note. We know that metalworking existed in N. America
before : > anywhere else in the world (the Old Copper Culture of
Wisconsin). Of : > course they did not smelt copper, hut used the existing
unique "native" : > copper in the area. I just wonder if it is possible
that those copper : > artifacts could have made it across the ocean?
Anyone aware of any good : > evidence for this? Such theories have been
proposed in print...

: From what I've read, the Old Copper Culture is dated back to about
: 5500 BP (Rapp, G. Jr, E. Henrickson, J. Allert, 1990. Native Copper
: Sources of Artifact Copper in pre-Columbian North America; in Lasca N.P.
: and Donahue, J. eds, Archaeological Geology of North America, Geological
: Society of America, Centennial Special Volume 4, pp. 479-498)
: and flourished between 5000 and 3000 BP (Vernon, W.W., 1990. New
: Archaeometallurgical Perspectives on the Old Copper Industry of
: North America; in Lasca N.P and Donahue, J. eds, Archaeological
: Geology of North America, Geological Society of America,
: Centennial Special Volume 4, pp. 499-512.)

: Butzer (1971 _Environment and Archaeology_, p 602) indicates copper
: tools in Mesopotamia ca. 4300-3500 BC and Egypt ca 4000 BC.

: How does this equate with metalworking in North America before
: anywhere else in the world?

August,

On the second thought, when I thought about these dates, can we really be
so sure where the earliest metalworking began? I think that perhaps we
should be cautious about this whole thing? (OK, _I wasn't_ in my original
post...) The dates are pretty close, you know...

a) How sure are we that both areas have been excavated and studied
adequately? Old World sites probably were studied better than the
Wisconsin sites?

b) What about the carbon dating? We all know about the limitations of it.
Yes? Specifically, were any of those dates calibrated? This can change
the dates quite a bit!

Happy Holidays to all,

Yuri.

--

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