Both ancient and modern mines for the extremely useful metal abound in North America's Lake Superior region; long before modern miners extracted the ore from deep underground, local Indigenous...
Now, new research suggests that Isle Royale's mining boom peaked about 6000 years ago and left a legacy of aquatic pollution. The high levels of copper, lead, and potassium in sediments from a...
smithsoniancontributionstoknowledge. 155 ancientmining shoresoflakesuperior. by charleswhittlesey. [acceptedforpublication,april,,1862.]
Estimates regarding the amounts of copper mined in ancient times is upwards of a half billion pounds! Lake core samples and carbon dating have placed the ancient mining operations back in time up to 6500 years ago. It was during research into these ancient mines on Isle Royale that lead to the discovery of an enormous underwater anomaly.
The archipelago of islands in Lake Superior that comprise Isle Royale National Park, or Minong as it is known to the Ojbiwe, has been officially recognized for its cultural resources by the federal government. ... narrow inlet of Lake Superior on Isle Royale that receives drainage from a watershed that contains numerous ancient copper mines ...
Hagar, Albert D. "Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior." Atlantic Monthly 15 (Mar. 1865): 308-315. ... and so is the native copper of Lake Superior; and occasionally in these copper relics blotches and grains of native silver are found. These circumstances serve to establish the fact, that the material of which the implements were made ...
Wonderful Power: The Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin (Great Lakes Books): 9780814328439: Martin, ... Popular literature contributes to the persistence and controversey of these "urban legends" surrounding ancient copper mining in Michigan. This scholarly book presents the evidence and myth revealed in ...
The ancient copper-mines of Lake Superior, having been destroyed or covered by modern mining-dumps, are not accessible to the present inhabitants of that region, and, since no more are likely to be found, some account of those already discovered, from one who has seen them, may be acceptable to the Institute. Early in May, 1855, I took a party of men to open an …
Great Water: The Lost Mines of Lake Superior: 9798321443521: Pompeani, David P: Books ... This story follows an unexpected journey into the heart of prehistoric North America, where ancient copper mines around Lake Superior bear silent witness to a long-lost history of indigenous metal use. For over a century, the origins of these ...
The skeletons, buried amid copper artifacts, turned out to be the earliest evidence of an extensive, ancient trading culture based heavily on copper mined on the Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale, along the shores …
Wonderful Power: The Story of Ancient Copper Workings in the Lake Superior Basin (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999) ... Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region Published privately by the Authors: Calumet, MI 1961 Collection of 25 papers, mostly reprints of earlier publications ...
Michigan has approved a $50 million copper mine that has sparked outrage among residents due to its close proximity to Lake Superior.. Canada-based Highland Copper is set to break ground 100 feet ...
He explains that for the copper rush here, which started in the 1840s and continued on for more than 100 years, many mines dug into the spine of the peninsula while processing facilities, like the early 20 th century stamp mill here, strategically straddled the Lake Superior shore. This is one site of dozens where the basalt rock of the region ...
"In the opening of our principal mines we have followed in the path of our ancient predecessors, but with much better means of penetrating the earth to great depths," the Minong Mining Company boasted in 1875. ... Prehistoric copper mining in the Lake Superior region is among the oldest known examples from around the world of humans ...
Hagar, Albert D. Atlantic Monthly 15 (Mar. 1865): 308-315. IN the month of March, 1848, O. Knapp and J. B. Townsend discovered, from tracks in the snow, that a hedg had taken up his winter-quarters in a cavity of a ledge of rocks, about twelve miles from Ontonagon, Lake Superior, in the neighborhood of the Minnesota Copper Mine.
It is not clear who these ancient miners were, but we do know that the mining abruptly ended in 1,200 BC. This conveniently coincides with the end of the Bronze Age in Europe. The copper located in the Lake Superior area …
A copper lobe weighing six tons is lifted from a Lake Superior Copper Mine. Part of the Babylonian Amorite Copper Trade Historical descriptions of giant skeletons (Nephilim) found across North America. ... The ancient mines were for the most part in the same localities where the best modern mines are worked.
ANCIENT MINING ON THE SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR BY CHARLES WHITTLESEY WASHINGTON CITY: PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. APRIL, 1863. NEW YORK: D. APPLBTON & CO. ... and were therefore produced from native copper. In the Lake Superior veins spots of native silver are frequently seen studding the surface of the copper, …
It may be more reasonable to speculate that rather than refining and transporting a few tons of copper at least 7 or 8000 miles from Lake Michigan, through Lake Huron, then Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and many other …
Although he failed to locate it, his journey was one among many which opened the door for French priests to establish thriving missions around Lake Superior (NatAm 40). Alexander Henry makes the first English attempt …
Among these are the prehistoric copper mines scattered across its islands, suggesting a sophisticated mining operation that predates known history. Key Takeaways. Lake Superior is home to ancient copper mines, possibly over 5,700 years old. Some theories suggest these mines may have been created by extraterrestrial visitors.
Great Water: The Lost Mines of Lake Superior: 9798321762776: Pompeani, David P: Books. Skip to main content.us. Delivering to Lebanon 66952 Update location Books. Select the department you want to search in. Search Amazon ...
The region is scarred by ancient mine pits and trenches up to 20 feet deep. Carbon-14 testing of wood remains found in sockets of copper artifacts indicates that they are at least 5700 years old. ... In Prehistoric …
During the Bronze Age, 3500 to 1000 BC, five thousand copper mines were excavated on the south shore of Lake Superior. Millions of pounds of copper were extracted.
In 1848 the first of these old mines was discovered, and in it was found a mass ot pure copper, weighing six tons, which had been raised by ancient wedges, and rolled along the gallery....
This story follows an unexpected journey into the heart of prehistoric North America, where ancient copper mines around Lake Superior bear silent witness to a long-lost history of indigenous metal use. For over a century, the origins of these mines and the people who created them have remained shrouded in mystery.
Ancient mining on the shores of Lake Superior by Whittlesey, Charles, 1808-1886. Publication date 1863 Topics Copper mines and mining Publisher [Washington, Smithsonian Institution] Collection Boston_College_Library; blc; americana Contributor Boston College Libraries Language English Volume
The regions surrounding Lake Superior in the United States, including Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, are home to widespread copper deposits that were extensively mined in ancient times by societies associated with the Old Copper Complex (Martin, 1999, Martin and Pleger, 1999) (Fig. 1).Archaeological surveys in the middle 19th century …
Prehistoric copper miners had mined the region for millennia before the first modern mines were developed. Over 5,000 crude prehistoric copper pits were tabulated around Lake Superior with thousands located between Ontonagon and Copper Harbor. Copper in this area was so pure that early peoples could easily shape it into tools by cold hammering.
18. Whittlesey, C., Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1862, reprinted 2007 Gustavs Library, Davenport Iowa, no ISBN 19. Henderson, J., The Science and Archaeology of Materials, …