Wisconsin Arrowheads & 6000 year old Copper Culture Relics

[Michigan Badger]

These were found in a field near West Bend, Wisconsin.

Can you identify the time period?

The point on the bottom left is 2 1/8 inches long.

Thanks,

Badger

NOTE: New photos coming soon.

[tomclark]

I don't know the types from Michigan but they look classic Archaic time period to me. Nice.

[Gypsy Heart]

Considering that West Bend and the surrounding area has alot of burial mounds, presumably built by the
Ho-Chuck (Wisconsin Winnebago Tribe) over 500 years ago ...I would think they were from that nation



: Type: Provenance: Price
RDAR265 DURST STEMMED POINT, A Winnebago County, 100.00
nice wide and SCARCE Hixton
Wisconsin
Orthoquartzite, Archaic point. Dickie COA

[Michigan Badger]

Considering that West Bend and the surrounding area has alot of burial mounds, presumably built by the
Ho-Chuck (Wisconsin Winnebago Tribe) over 500 years ago ...I would think they were from that nation



: Type: Provenance: Price
RDAR265 DURST STEMMED POINT, A Winnebago County, 100.00
nice wide and SCARCE Hixton
Wisconsin
Orthoquartzite, Archaic point. Dickie COA

Thanks much Gypsy.

I have a good number of stone points from Michigan and Wisconsin. I've always wondered what they were or how old they are.

I also have some copper culture relics too. They say these are 4,000 to 6,000 years old but I wonder about that.

Badger

[Cannonman17]

Interesting points there. First of all, there is no way to really associate pre-historic stone points with a particular tribe. The Ho- Chunk was one of several Native American tribes who may have been in Wisconsin during pre historic times... these aretifacts predate our records of the locations of Native tribes in Wisconsin and the tribes were very fluid in nature, meaning that they merged, seperated, moved, and migrated so that where there were tribes at the time of first contact does not mean that same tribe was in that same area one thousand years before that.

Now, the two points you have on the left.. both look like snyders type blades, probably hopewell in nature and have dated between 200 bc and 200 ad at more than one site in Minnesota as well as Wisconin. I'm not 100% sure of the materials but I have see an awful lot of that white chert in neighboring areas like Port Washington, Washington county, etc. I usually lump all that material together as being burlington chert but don't hold me to it.
As for the middle row, the top one again appears to be made from burlington but there's no way to tell for certain what type or age this one is... not enough of the basal form there to say. My assumption is that it would be woodland though. The middle bottom one looks to be some type of knife.. I don't have a specific name for it, if I found it I would say I found a woodland knife... material on that one I have no clue- is it grainy or smooth or in between?
The top right point looks to be in the Monona Stemmed family of points 200 AD - 500 AD The red one in the lower right throws me off a little bit. I don't recognize the material as being local.. and the type throws me off too... looks like a miniture dovetail but I'm guessing is more closely related to the hopewell culture. Cools stuff either way-
I would love to see your copper culture stuff. And yes, they do get that old, some pieces of wood that were preserved in some of the socketed spear points have carbon dated that far back-

[Michigan Badger]

WOW! Thanks Cannonman17.

I only have a couple pictures on this computer.

These are stream finds in Wisconsin. Therefore the patinas are nasty brown, not green like my land finds in Michigan.

Anyway, here's what I have on this machine.

[Cannonman17]

That water patina is no big deal- sometimes it actually comes out looking nice... kind of golden which is cool if it's not pitted too bad. That awl on the bottom is a killer! 5" in a good size! I love the knife in the top picture too... very cool. Maybe Patina will stop by and comment on this.. he would probably be able to give you a date on that style of knife where as I would have to go and look it up! Thanks for posting- I love seeing artifacts from the "neighborhood"!

[thompy]

MB i figured, you had some copper, nice to see it, i understand 3 sites date back to 7000 years.

[Michigan Badger]

Thanks everyone for the ID help and comments.

Those who search for these work hard to find them.

I'll soon repost some new pictures of these relics.

Badge

[Michigan Badger]

Hey now that's something! Very very nice!

How long is it? Where was it found?

At one time I owned over 50 nearly perfect pieces but during hard times I sold my collection

Thanks much,

Badger

[Cannonman17]

Do you think his was a curved back like that? I thought the straight back knife like that was the more common design??

[Michigan Badger]

The most common was the straight back as some call it. Hundreds of these are found every year by THers.

I have a friend in Michigan's U.P. who averages about 3 of these per week during the warm months. The Copper Culture people most likely numbered in the hundreds of thousands and they mined copper in Michigan and Wisconsin for thousands of years. That's a lot of relics!

The most valuable are those with silver in the alloy. These were made of Great Lakes Float Copper. Relics of this type have been found as far south as Louisiana (trade).

[Cannonman17]

I have a few pieces of copper myself.. nothing super nice though.... not yet.... My buddy found some nice copper pieces with silver mixed in... very cool. Is it hard to detect in the UP for copper stuff? I always wondered if the mineralization made it hard.

[Michigan Badger]

I have a few pieces of copper myself.. nothing super nice though.... not yet.... My buddy found some nice copper pieces with silver mixed in... very cool. Is it hard to detect in the UP for copper stuff? I always wondered if the mineralization made it hard.

The biggest problem in the U.P. is gaining access to private land. It's totally illegal to hunt state lands (many do it anyway) and watch out for the Tribal lands and protected burial grounds! If they catch anyone detecting these areas it will get real ugly.

Hunting the U.P. requires a good back and I'd recommend a Minelab or maybe a Garrett Infinium but that's yet to be seen for me. Some fellows do real well with the Explorer II. Also the Fisher CZ's and better Whites are popular.

It depends on the area hunted which machine is best. The lakes and streams are hot but watch out for state and posted lands!

But again, I'm hoping the LS does the trick for me.

HH,

Badger