Copper Arrow- Ontario, Canada

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Institution: Museum of Ontario Archaeology

Province: Ontario

Object: Arrow

Era: 17th Century

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This copper point was found at Fort Ste. Marie II, an island site occupied by the Jesuits and the Huron-Wendat between 1649-1650. Both parties sought refuge in this area after purposely burning down Sainte-Marie, the first French Jesuit settlement in Ontario.

Although local indigenous groups had access to natural copper, the time period suggests that this point was made using European copper. Foreign copper was less brittle as a result of smelting. However, native copper can be worked cold or occasionally heated because it isn’t made from an ore.

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Sources:

• Anselmi, L. M. "A brief historical retrospective of investigations of Archaic to contact period copper-based metal artifacts in northeastern North America." Ontario Archaeology 77.78 (2004): 81-94.

• Hancock, Ronald GV, et al. "Chemical analysis of copper alloy trade metal from a post‐contact Huron site in Ontario, Canada." Archaeometry 37.2 (1995): 339-350.

• Michelaki, Kostalena, et al. "Using regional chemical comparisons of European copper to examine its trade to and among Indigenous groups in late 16th and early 17th century Canada: A case study from Nova Scotia and Ontario." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 4 (2015): 285-292.

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