Abstract

The Old Copper Complex is generally defined as a set of discrete Middle Archaic (5000 to 3000 BP) cultures found throughout the Great Lakes region. The heartland (represented by greatest artifact density) is located in eastern Wisconsin. The primary diagnostic trait of these cultures is the use of native copper fashioned into large, heavy implements that include woodworking, hunting, fishing and food-processing tool forms. Whether their users perceived the copper tools as principally prestige or practical objects is unknown. This paper will utilize replication and experimentation in an attempt to resolve this archaeological puzzle. By determining the differences in the costs of copper tools versus stone equivalents in the areas of resource procurement, manufacturing, use and resharpening/reuse as compared to the relative benefits in terms of time and energy (efficiency), it will be possible to shed some light on whether the copper tools were used in a practical or prestige sphere. This experiment will also generate information concerning optimal parameters of efficient tool use.