by Gordon K. Morris, Bruce, Wisconsin, Offices of Law and Late Quaternary Geology and Jack Steinbring, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and Ripon College
Volume 67, Number 1, January 2020 Central States Archaeological Journal
Wood preserved by copper salts in socketed Old Copper projectile point types from two sites in Rusk County, Wisconsin, was recently dated by Beta Analytic, Miami, Florida. Both sites are situated on outwash sand and gravel deposited during the late Chippewa phase of the Wisconsinan glaciation (Fig. 1).
Beta Lab No. 485561 from the Big Bend site (47RU72), located on the Chippewa River in Section 24, Township 33 North, Range 7 West, was dated via the high probability density method (HPD) intcal 13, resulting in a conventional radiocarbon age of 3350 +/- 30 BP, calibrated to 3686–3483 calendar years BP.
Beta Lab No. 485561 from the Taylor 1 site (47RU59) located on Soft Maple Creek in the NW-NW, Section 2, Township 33 North, Range 8 West, approximately 3 km upstream from its junction with the Chippewa River, dated via HPD intcal 13 resulted in a conventional radiocarbon age of 5730 +/- 30BP, calibrated to 6633–6445 calendar years BP.
Typology
In that the purpose of the AMS dating is to establish relative ages of two Old Copper types, a word on typology is useful. The Big Bend point (Fig. 2), is Wittry type I-L (Wittry 1957: 214) having rolled socket, rounded base and solid rectangular tip. The Taylor 1 point (Fig. 3), not typed by Wittry, but also having a solid rectangular tip, is distinguished by its angular socket, pointed base and dorsal median ridge. Excluding the tip, the attributes of the Taylor 1 point are those of Wittry type 1-A. Wittry (1957: 214) described two subtypes of 1-A. Sub-type 1-A1 has a triangular blade, angular socket, pointed base and dorsal median ridge (Fig. 4). Sub-type 1-A2 is similar to 1A1, but as set in the socket, presumably for shaft abutment (Fig. 5). Experimental replication of sub-types 1-A1 and 1-A2 by Gordon K. Morris and Joseph Neubauer, Sr. of Pine City, Minnesota, in 1995–1996 reveals that greater skill is required to fabricate 1A2 as step creation without obliteration of the dorsal median ridge is a challenge. The correspondence of attributes between the Taylor 1 point and the 1A subtypes suggests a close relationship for which the writers deem a sub-type designation of 1A3 appropriate. The Taylor 1 point is not unique to the Taylor 1 site; otherwise known as “triangular conical,” it has been found in various Wisconsin counties (Schanen 2017: 21, 101–102).
The Sites
The multi-component Big Bend site is situated in former cropland, the plow zone containing Old Copper, Late Woodland and Middle to Late Contact period components. Trade axes, flintlock gun parts, Jesuit rings and silver ornaments point to a Middle to Late Contact period component (Quimby 1966: 117–159). The large quantity of rose head cut nails with other Contact period artifacts suggests the presence of an 1800s trading post (Oerichbauer 1982: 186–187). A partial assemblage of the Big Bend Old Copper component, or one of them, is depicted in Figure 6.
The Taylor 1 site, likewise multi-component and also situated in plowed ground, contains Paleoindian, Archaic (including Old Copper) and Woodland components. The Nater Mounds (47RU3) adjoin Taylor 1 on the south; one of the mounds was partially excavated by the University of Wisconsin Center in 1947 (Jones 1948: 5–13). A Folsom point (Jones 1948: 8) was recovered in that excavation. Figure 7 depicts copper artifacts recovered by Morris from the Taylor 1 site. It should be noted that the Taylor 1 site has been surface collected for many years and the assemblage shown in Figure 7 is not a complete site inventory. Remarkable about Taylor 1 is the variety of exotic lithics present with the copper; Hixton silicified sandstone, catlinite, siltstone, Knife River flint, LaCrosse chert and rhyolite, among others, can be found, particularly in the case of Scottsbluff fragments, as well as tools manufactured from quartzites obtained from the glacial gravels (see Fig. 8).
The Dates
Hill (2011: 77–78) obtained an AMS date of 4490 +/- 40 BP for wood extracted from a I-L copper point from Burial 26 at the Reigh Cemetery (47WN1) (Baerreis, et al 1954: 259). Comparison of Hill’s date to the AMS date of 3350 +/- 30 BP for the Big Bend I-L, if nothing else, evidences manufacture and use of I-L over a wide geographic area for more than a millennium.
The AMS date of 5730 +/- 30 BP for the Taylor 1 (1-A3) point with its 1-A attributes lends support to the writers’ belief that the Wittry type I-A is among the earlier Old Copper types. It is the writers’ hope that this short report will stimulate more AMS dating of wood associated with Old Copper artifacts so that a reliable chronology for types and sub-types can be achieved.
References
Baerreis, David A., Daifuku, Hiroshi, and Lundsted, James E.
1957 The Burial Complex of the Reigh Site, Winnebago County, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Archaeologist, Vol. 38, (4) pp. 244–278.
Hill, Mark A.
2011 New dates for Old Copper: Contemporaneity in the Archaic Western Great Lakes. The Wisconsin Archaeologist Vol. 92 (2) pp. 75–82.
Jones, Robert R.
1948 Archaeological Excavations in Polk, Barron and Rusk Counties. The Wisconsin Archaeologist Vol. 29(1) pp. 5–13.
Oerichbauer, Edgar S.
1982 Archaeological Excavations at the Site of a Northwest and XY Company Wintering Post (47BE12), A Progress Report. The Wisconsin Archaeologist Vol. 63 (3) pp. 153–236.
Quimby, George I.
1966 Indian Culture and European Trade Goods. University of Wisconsin Press.
Schanen, Paul
2017 A Visual Reference Guide to Prehistoric Copper Use in the Western Great Lakes Region. Sand Ridge Press, Adams, Wisconsin.
Wittry, Warren L.
1957 A Preliminary Study of Old Copper Complex. The Wisconsin Archaeologist Vol. 38 (4) pp. 204–221.
