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{{Short description|North American archaeological culture (7500–1000 BCE)}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name = Old Copper Complex
|dates = 7500 - 1000 BCE 
|region = [[Great Lakes]]
|period = [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic]]
|typesite = [[Copper Culture State Park]]
|precededby = 
|followedby = 
}}
[[File:Copper knife, spearpoints, awls, and spud, Late Archaic period, Wisconsin, 3000 BC-1000 BC - Wisconsin Historical Museum - DSC03436.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|Copper knife, spearpoints, awls, and spud ([[adze]]), from the Late Archaic period, Wisconsin, 3000 BC-1000 BCE.]]
[[File:Copper-38278.jpg|thumb|[[Native copper]] nugget from [[glacial drift]], [[Ontonagon County, Michigan]]. An example of the raw material worked by the people of the Old Copper Complex.]]

The '''Old Copper complex''' or '''Old Copper culture''' is an [[archaeological culture]] from the [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic period]] of North America's [[Great Lakes]] region. [[Artifact (archaeology)|Artifacts]] from some of these sites have been dated from 6500 to 1580 BCE.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Pompeani |first=David P. |last2=Steinman |first2=Byron A. |last3=Abbott |first3=Mark B. |last4=Pompeani |first4=Katherine M. |last5=Reardon |first5=William |last6=DePasqual |first6=Seth |last7=Mueller |first7=Robin H. |date=April 2021 |title=ON THE TIMING OF THE OLD COPPER COMPLEX IN NORTH AMERICA: A COMPARISON OF RADIOCARBON DATES FROM DIFFERENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/abs/on-the-timing-of-the-old-copper-complex-in-north-america-a-comparison-of-radiocarbon-dates-from-different-archaeological-contexts/E46715993E58EDC94F225CC6FE776CF2 |journal=Radiocarbon |language=en |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=513–531 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2021.7 |issn=0033-8222}}</ref>{{sfn|Pleger|2000}}{{page needed|date=October 2022}} It is characterized by widespread [[copper]] artifacts, including tools and weapons, as well as ornamental objects. The archeological evidence of [[smelting]] or alloying is subject to some dispute, and it is commonly believed that objects were cold-worked into shape. Furthermore, some archaeologists are convinced by the artifactual and structural evidence for metal casting by [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewellian]] and [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] peoples.{{sfn|Neiburger|1987}}{{page needed|date=October 2022}}

==Western Great Lakes==
The Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes is the best known, and can be dated as far back as 9,500 years ago.<ref>''Ancient Native Americans were among the world’s first coppersmiths'', David Malakoff, ''Science'', Mar. 19, 2021 (https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-native-americans-were-among-world-s-first-coppersmiths)</ref><ref name=":0" /> [[Great Lakes]] natives of the [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic period]] located 99% pure copper near [[Lake Superior]], in veins touching the surface and in nuggets from gravel beds. Major quarries were located on [[Isle Royale]], the [[Keweenaw Peninsula]], and the [[Brule River]], and copper was deposited elsewhere by glaciation as well.{{sfn|Gibbon|1998|p=28}} Evidence of mining, deep holes chipped into the rock, can be found in [[Ontario]], [[Manitoba]], and around [[Lake Superior]].

By heating, annealing and hammering, these cultures worked the copper into shape and produced a variety of spearpoints, tools and decorative objects. In addition to their own use, the Copper Complex peoples traded copper goods for other exotic materials. By about 3,000 years ago copper was increasingly restricted to jewelry and other status-related items, rather than tools. This is thought to represent the development of more complex social hierarchies in the area.<ref>Thomas C. Pleger, "A Brief Introduction to the Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes: 4000-1000 BC", ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6NUQNQAACAAJ Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the Forest History Association of Wisconsin]'', Oconto, Wisconsin, October 5, 2002, pp. 10-18.</ref><ref>Thomas E. Emerson, Dale L. McElrath, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=awsA08oYoskC&dq=%22Old+copper+metalsmithing%22&pg=PA709 Archaic Societies: Diversity and Complexity Across the Midcontinent]'', SUNY Press, 2009 {{ISBN|1-4384-2701-8}}.</ref><ref name=occ>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Obgdz8auwkMC&pg=PA28|pages=28–29|title=Indians in the Americas: the untold story|author=William Marder|publisher=Book Tree|year=2005|isbn=1-58509-104-9}}</ref>

The [[Copper Culture State Park]], in [[Oconto, Wisconsin|Oconto]], northeastern [[Wisconsin]], contains an ancient burial ground used by the Old Copper complex culture between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago. It was rediscovered in June 1952 by a 13-year-old boy who unearthed human bones while playing in an old quarry. By July the first archaeological dig was started by the Wisconsin Archaeological Survey.<ref name="report">[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wioconto/CopperCultureCemetery.htm Rootsweb: Original 1952 report and photographs of the Copper Culture burial site] – from the first archaeological dig – accessed 4.14.2013</ref>

==Other locations==
Copper is known to have been traded from the [[Great Lakes]] region to other parts of North America. However, there were also other sources of copper, including in the [[Appalachian Mountains]] near the Etowah Site in Georgia.<ref>Welch (1991), Moundville's Economy : 184</ref> The [[Mississippian copper plates]] were made by a process of [[annealing (metallurgy)|annealing]]. Ancient copper artifacts are found over a very wide range, all around the Great Lakes region, and far south into what is now the USA.

==See also==
* [[Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America]]
* [[Etowah plates]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Gibbon |first=Guy |date=February 1998 |title=Old Copper in Minnesota: A Review |journal=Plains Anthropologist |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=43 |number=163 |pages=27–50 |jstor=25669519}}
* {{cite journal |last=Pleger |first=Thomas C. |title=Old copper and red ocher social complexity |journal=Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology |publisher=University of Illinois Press |volume=25 |number=2 |date=Fall 2000 |pages=169–190 |jstor=20708133}}
* {{cite journal |last=Neiburger |first=E. J. |date=April 1987 |title=Did Midwest Pre-Columbian Indians Cast Metal? A New Look |journal=Central States Archaeological Journal |publisher=Central States Archaeological Societies, Inc. |volume=34 |number=2 |pages=60–74 |jstor=43138520}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Byers |first=A. Martin |date=April 1999 |title=Intentionality, Symbolic Pragmatics, and Material Culture: Revisiting Binford's View of the Old Copper Complex |journal=American Antiquity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=64 |number=2 |pages=265–287 |doi=10.2307/2694278|jstor=2694278 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Wittry |first1=Warren L. |last2=Ritzenthaler |first2=Robert E. |date=January 1956 |title=The Old Copper Complex: An Archaic Manifestation in Wisconsin |journal=American Antiquity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=21 |number=3 |pages=244–254 |doi=10.2307/277196|jstor=277196 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Wittry |first=Warren L. |date=1951 |title=A Preliminary Study of the Old Copper Complex |journal=Wisconsin Archaeologist |volume=32 |number=1 |pages=1–18}}

{{Pre-Columbian North America}}

[[Category:Great Lakes tribal culture]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of North America]]
[[Category:Archaic period in North America]]
[[Category:Native American history of Michigan]]
[[Category:Pre-Columbian cultures]]
[[Category:Archaeology of the United States]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in Ontario]]
[[Category:Copper]]