Copper
Copper Age

Production in the Old Copper Complex in Michigan and Wisconsin is dated between 6500 and 3000 BC. A copper spearpoint found in Wisconsin has been dated to 6500 BC. Copper usage by the indigenous peoples of the Old Copper Complex from the Great Lakes region of North America has been radiometrically dated to as far back as 7500 BC. Indigenous peoples of North America around the Great Lakes may have also been mining copper during this time, making it one of the oldest known examples of copper extraction in the world. There is evidence from prehistoric lead pollution from lakes in Michigan that people in the region began mining copper c. 6000 BC. Evidence suggests that utilitarian copper objects fell increasingly out of use in the Old Copper Complex of North America during the Bronze Age and a shift towards an increased production of ornamental copper objects occurred.
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