Pre-Contact mortuary copper usage: An interdisciplinary investigation with emphasis in eastern North America

Copper was widely used by the indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes during Pre-Contact times. This usage is temporally deep and spatially wide. Beginning in what is considered to be the Late Paleo and Early Archaic Periods in northeastern Minnesota, copper was used in what is believed to be utilitarian forms. Later during the Archaic Period in the Great Lakes region, copper appears in significant quantities in utilitarian or tool form with some limited ornamental forms. During the Archaic Period peoples in this region also began to use copper as mortuary goods.;During the Woodland Period a shift is seen in copper usage to being primarily produced as ornamental or ritual objects. For reasons yet unclear, this period also finds copper used more extensively as mortuary goods.;To date no study has researched the extent of Pre-Contact mortuary copper usage in the Great Lakes and surrounding areas. This study will investigate such usage beginning with the Archaic Period through the Proto-Historic. This research is interdisciplinary in nature, relying on archaeological data, ethnographic works and ethnohistorical records.