The old copper culture and the Keweenaw Waterway

L I B R_AFIY
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UNIVERSITY '
Of ILLINOIS

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5FIELDIANA . ANTHROPOLOGY

Published by
CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Volume 36 November 8, 1957 No. 8

THE OLD COPPER CULTURE AND
THE KEWEENAW WATERWAY

George I. Quimby

Curator, North Amkrican Archaeology and Ethnology
AND

Albert C. Spaulding

Curator of Archaeology, Museum of Anthropology
Associate I»rofb:ssor of Anthropology, University op Michigan

More than fifty years ago copper artifacts representative of the
Old Copper culture were collected in impressive amounts from sites
along the Keweenaw Waterway that crosses the Keweenaw Penin-
sula in Houghton County, Michigan. The southeastern or Portage
Entry section of the waterway seems to have been most pro-
ductive of sites. For instance, Charles E. Brown (1902) stated:
"While on a recent visit to Milwaukee, Mr. John T. Reeder of
Calumet, Michigan, exhibited ... a particularly fine and interesting
series of copper knives, arrow and spear points, a spud and crescent
and a number of flint implements obtained from the extensive and
interesting camp sites at Portage Entry, Lake Superior." Reeder
himself states (1906, pp. 114-118) that copper implements have
been found at the west end of the waterway, midway in its course at
Pilgrim River and Dollar Bay, and at the east end. According to
Reeder, the most productive site was at the southeast end of the
waterway on the east side of the canal; he lists adzes or spuds,
spears, knives, chisels, gouges, arrow points, eyed and eyeless needles,
and "ornamental pins and ceremonial trinkets" from this site, and
mentions a find of "a few implements, a small knife, arrow points,
two ceremonial objects, and a number of needles and pins" at a
depth of four to six feet in a small ridge. Two crescent-shaped
objects and a spear from the Dollar Bay area are also mentioned by
Reeder. In addition to the copper implements, "probably one or
two dozen small flint arrow points" have been found at the north-
west end of the waterway and from unspecified localities came

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 57-H891
No. 830 189

IHE UBRARY OP THC

NOV 2 1 1957

190 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 36

"a few flints, one old slate and one sandstone pipe of recent small
pattern, and stone hammers without number."

In Chicago Natural History Museum there is a collection of
about 33 copper artifacts from sites along the canal between Portage
Entry and Hancock. These artifacts are part of a large copper
collection obtained by purchase from Walter C. and Edward F.
Wyman in 1893 and 1900. The collection obtained by the museum
in 1893 was exhibited at the Chicago Columbian Exposition.

Seven objects of copper were found in a cache near the govern-
ment lighthouse at Portage Entry. The Wyman brothers' note on
this find is preserved in Chicago Natural History Museum records;
it reads: "Knives and spears found at Portage ship canal lighthouse
by the light keeper while digging a stump on the lighthouse grounds,
when at a depth of fourteen inches. They were found all together
during the summer of 1889, and obtained from William McGue, the
lighthouse keeper."

These objects of copper are as follows:

One leaf-shaped spear point with rolled socket and rivet hole
(cf. Wittry, 1951, type I-Bl); length 16.2 cm. (fig. 86, left). Cat.
no. 52256.

One leaf-shaped spear point with rolled socket and rivet hole
(cf. Wittry, 1951, type I-Bl); length 12.1 cm. (fig. 86, left center).
Cat. no. 52257.

One leaf-shaped knife with gradually tapered tang; length 23.2
cm. (fig. 86, center). Cat. no. 52258.

One knife with outward-curved back, tang, and curved cutting
edge; length 14.6 cm. (fig. 86, right center). Cat. no. 52259.

One knife with outward-curved back, tang and curved cutting
edge; length 11.7 cm. (fig. 86, right). Cat. no. 52260.

One small fragment of worked copper. Cat. no. 52264.

One fragmentary awl, rectangular in section (cf. Wittry, 1951,
type IV-Al) ; length 8.3 cm. Cat. no. 52344.

Another knife may have come from the cache under the tree
stump, and in any case was found nearby. The museum record
indicates only that it was found on the beach near the lighthouse
at Portage Entry prior to May, 1889. This specimen can be
described as follows:

One large knife of elongated triangular form with tapered tang
and bifurcated base; length 32.4 cm. (fig. 86, bottom). Cat.
no. 52254.

^c?. ^-r"

QUIMBY AND SPAULDING: OLD COPPER CULTURE 191

Fig. 86. Copper spear points and knives.

Four copper artifacts in the museum's collection are recorded as
having been found in 1886 near the Portage Ship Canal, Lake
Superior. These specimens are as follows:

One large knife of elongated leaf-shaped form; length 29.2 cm.
(fig. 87, bottom). Cat. no. 52255.

One socketed knife with straight back and curved cutting edge
(cf. Wittry, 1951, type II-C2); length 15.6 cm. (fig. 87, top right).
Cat. no. 52261.

One tanged knife with straight back and curved cutting edge
(cf. Wittry, 1951, type II-Al); length 15.2 cm. (fig. 87, top left).
Cat. no. 52262.

One conical spear point with rolled socket (cf. Wittry, 1951, type
I-L variant) ; length 6.4 cm. (fig. 87, middle left). Cat. no. 52263.

One group of seven copper artifacts from the Wyman collection
is simply recorded as having come from the Lake Superior Ship
Canal. Although the date the specimens were collected is not given,
it was before 1893, as they were received by the museum in that
year. These specimens are as follows:

192

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 36

Fig. 87. Copper knives and spear point.

One narrow trianguloid celt with tapered poll and nearly straight
cutting edge; length 29.8 cm. (fig. 88, left). Cat. no. 52340.

One leaf-shaped spear point or knife with rolled socket that has
serrated edges cf. Wittry, 1951; (possibly a variant of type I-B);
length 23.8 cm. (fig. 88, left center). Cat. no. 52341.

One awl, rectanguloid in section; length 15.9 cm. (fig. 88, right
center). Cat. no. 52342.

One awl, rectanguloid in section; length 14.6 cm. Cat. no. 52343.

One spud or socketed axe (cf . Wittry, 1951, type V-D variant) ;
length 15.2 cm. Cat. no. 52345.

One spud or socketed axe (cf . Wittry, 1951, type V-D variant) ;
length 11.4 cm. Cat. no. 52346.

One tanged knife with straight or nearly straight back and
curved cutting edge (cf . Wittry, 1951, type II-Al) ; length 20.6 cm.
(fig. 88, right). Cat. no. 52348.

A group of six copper artifacts in the Wyman collection is merely
recorded as having come from the Portage Canal near Hancock,
Michigan. Although the date the specimens were collected is not
given, it was before 1900, as they were received by the museum
in that year. These specimens are as follows:

One leaf-shaped spear point with rolled socket and rivet hole
(cf. Wittry, 1951, type I-Bl); length 11.4 cm. (fig. 89, top left).
Cat. no. 68013.

QUIMBY AND SPAULDING: OLD COPPER CULTURE

193

I

Fig. 88. Copper tools and weapons.

One narrow trianguloid spatulate form; length 19.0 cm. (fig. 89,
bottom left). Cat. no. 68058.

One awl with rectangular section; length 18.1 cm. Cat. no.
68059.

One tanged knife with nearly straight back and curved cutting
edge (cf. Wittry, 1951, type II-Al variant); length 12.7 cm. (fig. 89,
top left center). Cat. no. 68068.

One leaf-shaped knife or spear point with spatulate tang; length
10.6 cm. (fig. 89, top center). Cat. no. 68084.

194

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 36

t i

Fig. 89. Copper spear points, knives, and spatulate-shaped tool.

One leaf-shaped spear point with rolled socket (cf. Wittry, 1951,
type I-B2) ; length 7.3 cm. (fig. 89, top right center). Cat. no. 68102.

Another group of six copper artifacts from the part of the Wy-
man collection received by the museum in 1900 is recorded only as
having been found near the Portage Canal. These specimens, all
collected before 1900, are as follows :

One tanged knife with straight back and curved cutting edge
(cf. Wittry, 1951, type II-Al variant); length 14.6 cm. Cat. no.
68133.

One leaf-shaped knife with rolled socket (cf. Wittry, 1951, type
I-B2) ; length 7.0 cm. Cat. no. 68149.

One conical spear point (cf. Wittry, 1951, type I-L variant);
length 4.4 cm. (fig. 89, bottom right center). Cat. no. 68150.

One socketed spear point with long narrow, straight-sided blade
with rectangular section (cf . Wittry, 1951, type I-O) ; length 6.4 cm.
(fig. 89, top right). Cat. no. 68151.

One fragment of worked copper. Cat. no. 68152.

One fragmentary blade, probably straight-backed, with tang and
curved cutting edge; length 6.0 cm. Cat. no. 68153.

QUIMBY AND SPAULDING: OLD COPPER CULTURE 195

One conical spear point (cf. Wittry, 1951, type I-L variant);
length 5.1 cm. (fig. 89, bottom right). Cat. no. 68154.

One narrow conical spear point (cf. Wittry, 1951, type I-L vari-
ant) ; length 3.3 cm. Cat. no. 68155.

The Museum of Anthropology of the University of Michigan
gathered further data on the archaeology of the waterway in the
summer of 1953 during the course of a survey of the upper Great
Lakes made possible by a generous research grant from Mrs. Marion
T. Dimick. The Michigan expedition investigated the Portage
Entry site without finding any surface material, thus amply con-
firming Reeder's statement (1906, p. 117) that the site was practi-
cally bare by 1903. Several other localities reported to have pro-
duced one or more specimens were similarly investigated without
result. However, one area on the property of Henry Garnell,
although lacking surface material, had produced a number of copper
and stone specimens which were available for inspection, and it was
decided to investigate the site.

The Garnell site lies on the west side of the waterway about
five-eighths of a mile east-northeast of the village of Oskar. The
boundaries of the site are indefinite; it is simply an area extending
along the waterway for perhaps half a mile on which specimens have
been found when the land was plowed. It would be still more
accurate to state that the specimens came primarily from two hay
fields within this locality, the remainder of the area being forest and
swamp. We did not find any surface material on the fields from
which the specimens were collected, and Mr. Garnell stated that all
of the artifacts he had found were turned out by the plow. A
majority were found on the southwestern part of the area in the
vicinity of the farm buildings at that point and from less than fifty
to a few hundred feet from the waterway. A second area of con-
centration lay perhaps a quarter of a mile to the northeast in another
field. Both of these areas are slightly elevated and relatively flat
ridges emerging from the low and swampy ground characteristic of
the locality. A topographic map of the southwestern area by John
M. Dimick shows that all of the specimens were found at elevations
below 612 feet above sea level (ten feet above the July, 1953, level of
Lake Superior), and some were no more than two or three feet above
the modern water level.

There are six chipped stone and ten copper specimens in the
Garnell collection, all of which were photographed and described by
John Dimick, and one additional chipped stone point from the

196 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 36

Garnell farm was seen in the collection of Irving Edwards of Hough-
ton. The stone specimens in the Garnell collection include:

One stemmed projectile point (fig. 90, left), 8.9 cm. long.

One square-based knife or projectile point (fig. 90, left center),
7.7 cm. long. The tip of this specimen is broken.

One square-based knife or projectile point (fig. 90, center), 6.1
cm. long. This specimen is white quartz.

One stemmed or corner-notched projectile point (fig. 90, right
center), 4,3 cm. long.

One square-based? knife or projectile point (fig. 90, right), 7.6
cm. long. This specimen appears to be quartzite. It has a
broken tip.

One chip.

With the exception of the quartz and quartzite specimens noted
in the list, the implements appear to be made from variously colored
flints or chalcedonies. The varieties of materials suggest that the
raw materials were obtained from the local gravels.

The stone specimen in the Edwards collection is a stemmed
projectile point 4.8 cm. long and 1.9 cm. broad across the shoulders,
its widest point. The stem expands slightly toward its base, and
the appearance of the stem area is not very different from that
illustrated in figure 90, right center, although the point as a whole
is longer and more slender. It is made of quartz.

Copper specimens in the Garnell collections are:

Two tanged knives (fig. 91, left and left center), 13.0 and 7.9
cm. long.

One copper chisel-shaped tool with rounded edges (fig. 91, right
center), 11.4 cm. long.

One fragmentary or unfinished bar with rounded end (fig. 91,
right), 8.3 cm. long.

Four projectile points with rolled sockets (fig. 92), left to right
respectively 6.5, 8.8, 9.4, and 9.7 cm. long. Three of these are
subconical in form, but the fourth has slight shoulders and a definite
separation of blade and socket.

Two adzes or chisels. The first of these is roughly rectangular
in outline and 14,6 cm. long and 4.6 cm. broad. It is plano-convex
in longitudinal section, with the greatest thickness about 5 cm. from
one end. From this point it tapers gradually to each end. Both
of the ends have bluntly rounded edges. The second specimen is
fragmentary. In outline, the remaining part is parallel-sided with

Fig. 90. Projectile points or knives of chipped stone.

Fig. 91. Copper knives and tools.
197

198

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 36

- 4?

Fig. 92. Copper projectile points.

a rounded end. It is 8.4 cm. long and 5.0 cm. broad. Its longitu-
dinal section also shows a plano-convex form with a maximum
thickness of 2.3 cm. at a distance of 6.5 cm. from the unbroken end.
The top (convex side) is slightly concave when viewed in lateral
section. The presumed cutting edge is somewhat rounded.

The University of Michigan party (Mr. and Mrs. Dimick, Hilary
Hoover, Bruce B. Powell and A. C. Spaulding) excavated six test
pits at the southwestern end of the site in an area where several
specimens had been found. With the exception of a retouched flint
flake found in the plow zone, no archaeological evidence of any sort
was discovered. The excavations showed a darkened, gravelly plow
zone underlain by sand and gravel to an elevation of 605 feet (about
3 feet above the 1953 level of Lake Superior). Below this elevation
was a red clay which is also found on the bottom of the waterway.
This disappointing result and the difficulty of digging in the gravel
suggested a more vigorous approach, and through the co-operation
of the Michigan Department of Conservation the party was able to
dig by means of a fire plow a trench some 1,200 feet long, about a
foot wide, and deep enough to expose a cleanly cut floor immedi-
ately below the humus line. The result was completely negative : no
trace of artifacts, pits, charcoal, or other cultural debris was observed.

QUIMBY AND SPAULDING: OLD COPPER CULTURE 199

The party concluded that further excavation would be unprofitable
and abandoned the site.

In summary, our positive information on the site consists of the
surface finds and their approximate proveniences and the retouched
flint flake found in the test pit. The latter (UMMA cat. no. 39722)
is a nearly rectangular prismatic blade of black flint or chert 2.3 cm.
in length and from 1.2 to 0.9 cm. in width. It has three longitudinal
flake facets on its upper surface and one long edge is blunted by a
steep and delicate retouching. The narrower end appears to have
been broken across at some time after manufacture so that the
original length of the tool was probably somewhat more than the
measurement indicated. The question of whether or not these
artifacts can be considered a meaningful assemblage is, of course,
not definitely answerable with the information at hand. They did
occur in two more or less circumscribed areas, and the copper
implements are mutually related on technical grounds and on the
basis of other information on the Old Copper culture. Clear as-
sociation of the chipped stone artifacts with the copper is not easy
to demonstrate, but the projectile points have a robust character
which is at least not out of place in a presumed Archaic context.
A clear and rounded picture of Old Copper flint work is not available,
but such information as we have is consonant with the hypothesis
that all of the points belong to the general period of the copper
artifacts. The prismatic blade also represents a type at home in
a preceramic context. On the negative side, we did not find ob-
viously later material, and our extensive trenching revealed no trace
of pits, charcoal, flint chips, sherds or other features which are
commonly associated with later sites. It would seem on balance
that the material collected probably does represent a comparatively
ancient occupation or occupations.

THE NIPISSING DATE LINE

During the Nipissing stage of the upper Great Lakes, radiocarbon
dated at about 2800-1500 B.C., the areas adjacent to the present
Lake Superior Ship Canal were under water. Leverett and Taylor
(1915, p. 460) state that the Nipissing beach level at the north end
of the Portage Canal stands about 30 feet above the level of Lake
Superior, and that at Houghton, Michigan, the Nipissing beach de-
posits stand about 26 feet above the level of Lake Superior. Hough
(1953, fig. 26) indicates that the area of the present canal was under
water during the Nipissing stage.

200 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 36

The U. S. Geological Survey topographic map of the Keweenaw
Quadrangle (1954 ed.) indicates that the area around the lighthouse
and much of the region bordering the Portage Ship Canal is less than
20 feet above Lake Superior and thus lower than the level of the
Nipissing stage.

Certainly, then, the finds of copper from beneath the stump on
the lighthouse grounds at the Portage Entry, from other localities in
the vicinity, and from the Garnell site are from levels beneath those
of the Nipissing stage, and this is very probably true of other finds
near the waterway. Obviously the Old Copper occupation of the
area could not have occurred during the Nipissing high water phase.
Other evidence, including radiocarbon dates of 5,600 and 7,510 years
ago (Libby, 1954, p. 740) for the Old Copper cemetery at Oconto,
Wisconsin, suggests that the culture was well established in the
period intervening between the Algonquin and Nipissing high water
phases. If the waterway finds date from this period then they were
submerged by the Nipissing water, and we have a possible ex-
planation for the peculiar nature of the Garnell and other sites in
the vicinity. The salient feature of these sites is the presence of
a few comparatively heavy tools and a nearly complete absence of
ordinary campsite debris such as flint chips, bone scraps, and
charcoal. It seems quite possible that the slight reworking of
shallow cultural deposits by the advancing and retreating water
might produce this effect. The tools do not exhibit a heavily rolled
or battered appearance, but this is not a fatal objection to the theory.
The Garnell site would have been situated on a relatively quiet inlet,
and even in the case of the more exposed Portage Entry site a rapid
rise and fall of the water level would not have provided an extended
opportunity for water action. The alternative explanation, a post-
Nipissing dating, cannot be ruled out, but it has the disadvantage
of requiring an inordinately long duration for the culture. Further,
it fails to explain why a presumed habitation site should lack the
refuse usually present. Although the problem is not definitely
solvable with our information, we feel that the pre-Nipissing date is
more probable. This tentative conclusion is in accord with data
from finds made at Fort William, Ontario, where Nipissing deposits
seem to overlie Old Copper artifacts (Quimby, 1954), and at Heron
Bay, Ontario, where Nipissing deposits were on top of an Old Cop-
per artifact (Bell, 1928).

QUIMBY AND SPAULDING: OLD COPPER CULTURE 201

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bell, Charles N.

1928. An implement of prehistoric man. Thirty-sixth Annual Report of the
Ontario Provincial Museum, pp. 51-54. Toronto, Ontario.

Brown, Charles E.

1902. Archaeological notes. Wisconsin Archaeologist, vol. 1, no. 4, p. 102.

Hough, Jack L.

1953. Final report on the project. Pleistocene chronology of the Great Lakes
region. Office of Naval Research, Contract No. N6 ORI-07133, Project NR-
018-122. University of Illinois, Urbana. (Mimeographed.)

Levbrett, Frank, and Taylor, Frank B.

1915. The Pleistocene of Indiana and Michigan and the history of the Great
Lakes. United States Geological Survey, monograph 53.

LiBBY, Willard F.

1954. Chicago radiocarbon dates V. Science, vol. 120, no. 3123, pp. 733-742.

QuiMBY, George I.

1954. The Old Copper assemblage and extinct animals. American Antiquity,
vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 169-170.

Reeder, John T.

1906. Evidences of prehistoric man on Lake Superior. Historical Collections:
Collections and Researches Made by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Society, vol. 30, pp. 110-118. Lansing, Michigan.

WiTTRY, W, L.

1951. A preliminary study of the Old Copper complex. The Wisconsin
Archaeologist, (N.S.), vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1-18.