ice dive millelacs 3-30-08

[DiveCaptDean]

Shooter-
Here is the response I got from Kira ....


Mike and Dean,

    Is the metal ferrous or iron?  You can tell by taking a magnet to it.  If the metal sticks, it is iron and more recent.  Some historic points were made from iron.  So if it is iron, it could be a historic European spear point or a historic Native American spear point (dating from 1600’s to 1800’s).  It could also be a deteriorated piece of historic metal from a boat or other piece of machinery.



If the magnet does not stick, it may be copper.  Prehistoric Native Americans did make copper spear points such as the item pictured.  Much of the copper came from Michigan .  Native Americans were making copper spear points as long as 6000 years ago.  The copper points that Native American made were typically not 10 inches long – that is pretty big for a Native American point.



Website with some information about the Archaic copper tool tradition follows with the web link.  In the literature it is sometimes called the “Old Copper Culture.”







It doesn’t look like copper to me though from the picture



Hope that helps!  Thanks for the picture.  If they find anything else, let me know.  I heard of divers finding things in Lake Koshkonong last summer.



Kira



Kira Kaufmann, Ph.D., RPA

Marine Archaeologist



Florida Public Archaeology Network, Dep. of Anthropology

Florida Atlantic University

111 East Las Olas Blvd.

Suite AT817

Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 33301