Old Copper Complex



A 12.1-ounce nugget of natural native copper from the glacial drifts of Michigan
Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Ancient Civilizations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Andes, and Mesoamerica are all known to have worked with copper.  A number of Native North Americans societies, referred to collectively as the Old Copper Complex, were also skilled in the production of copper weapons, tools, and ornamentation.  

Copper items have been featured in the first two books of the Timekeepers Series and will continue to be showcased in Book Three. The move from copper to bronze occurred at different time periods around the globe, so some of the cultures in our books, like the Ancient Native Americans, are still working with copper at the  same time that others, like the Shang Dynasty in Ancient China, have discovered that adding an alloy to the copper makes a stronger metal and are operating bronze foundries.

Copper was being quarried in the Great Lakes region of North America at least 6000 years ago. A little research into this subject reveals a surprising controversy.  Some investigators don’t accept the notion that the indigenous people were the miners, but rather that it was explorers from afar, including the Phoenicians or Minoans, who mined the copper. One piece of evidence supporting their theory is, well, lack of evidence. They estimate that a minimum of a half a billion tons of copper was taken from the area. Where did it go? It’s true that there was an extensive trade network across North America and Great Lakes copper artifacts were a part of that network. But could any of it have made it across the Atlantic Ocean as some claim? Skeptics dispute the idea that there is any reliable way to estimate the amount of copper mined, thus dismissing the need to account for vast missing quantities. They insist that it was indeed Native Americans who mined, worked, and traded the copper. Stay tuned for Book Three of the Timekeepers Series to find out what really happened!

To read more about the theory of Great Lakes copper being taken from American shores, see Phillip Cohen’s article Copper: a world trade in 3000 BC? at http://www.philipcoppens.com/copper.html

For a more detailed discussion on the Old Copper Complex and their production methodologies,  go to http://copperculture.homestead.com/ This site is the culmination of more than 40 years of research and artifact collection by its creator and his father.

Go here to find out how to make your own “Miskwabik” (copper) tapered tang dart point: https://www.msu.edu/~oberg/copper/funfacts.html

Rise of Civilization

   What is civilization?  The answer is not easily defined, and is broadly debated.   There are competing theories over every other aspect of the ancient world, why would simple definitions be spared?  According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a civilization is “a relatively high level of cultural and technological development ; specifically : the stage of cultural development at which writing and the keeping of written records is attained.”  Other expert sources tend to elaborate on the specific features of a civilization such as hierarchical societies, division of labor, elaborate religious centers, smelting of metals, agricultural sophistication, development of writing, etc.  Is a system of writing a necessary factor if many of the other factors of civilization are in place?  I think that ultimately the labeling of an ancient culture or society as a civilization is subjective .
Historically,  major world cultures have vied for the  distinction of having the oldest civilization.  China  boasts a civilization stretching back 6000 years, while Mesopotamia in modern day Iraq is commonly referred to as the “cradle of civilization.”   If a system of writing or recordkeeping is a necessary criteria, we have to jump forward in Chinese history to the time of the Shang dynasty (17th century BCE) to find evidence of civilization. 
We can’t say for certain in what order some of them arose, but we do know that several ancient cultures were on the scene contemporarily as depicted in Pieces of the Puzzle including  the Yellow River Valley in China, Caral in Peru, the Indus Valley, the Nile valley in Egypt, the island of Crete, and Sumer in Mesopotamia.  In honor of them and in gratitude of the story they inspired, I heartily label them all “civilizations.”

Judging Internet Sources

As one of our research duties, we are still sifting through the mountains of information on the internet. It seems Wikipedia is the best first place to go with a new lead, not because everything there is reliable, but the sources listed at the bottom of the page often are. One of the first things you must do when judging a source is determine whether it is a primary or secondary source. Was it written by someone who observed the event personally, was it an autobiography? Or was it recorded by someone centuries later? With ancient history, especially on the scale we’re working with, secondary is often all we have. With secondary information, we have to judge the author. Are they reliable, experts in their field, without bias? In many cases, we have equally reliable sources that contradict each other. Of course this can be beneficial in that it can offer a more panoramic view of the event. We are also looking for timely information. We attempt to seek out the latest archaeological evidence. Caral in Peru is an example. It was originally discovered about 50 years ago, but was largely left alone until 14 years ago. Since then it has been excavated to the point that is expected to be the second most popular tourist attraction in Peru, right after Machu Picchu. It was also a featured civilization in Pieces of the Puzzle!

We often go about researching with an idea in mind, we look for places that can further our story line, as Caral did. In the second book, we will be shifting away from our American pre-Incan civilizations and jumping into early Mayan. Mayan history is divided up into several periods. Looking at early pre-classic (2000 to 1000BC), we find first evidence of distinct “Mayan” civilizations in Sonusco, Mexico beginning around 1800 BC. This region just happens to border Guatemala where we find occupation as early as 1800 BC in Monte Alto. There it is! We’ve found the Mayans for our second book. Now we have to find reliable sources that support this, dig up as many facts as we can, while not discarding the gray matter- for this is where we can really run with the fictional aspects of the story.