your explanation of Annealing is a bit off. the way you explained it sounds like forging, which is not a good way to work copper, it will crumble if worked at those temperatures.

the reason you anneal copper is that it "work hardens" i.e. its crystal structure trends towards hardness as its worked. annealing rearranges this to soften the metal and allow it to be further worked.

the process of annealing involves heating the metal to its annealing temperature and then allowing it to slowly cool back down. once cooled it can then be worked for a time until it becomes harder and you risk cracking and crumbling it, when you anneal it again.

As a master-metalsmith who has worked native copper with paleo tech and a dilatant stone knapper with lots of points to my credit I promise that stone tools are much sharper than copper can be made to be. Stone blades are also much better at keeping that edge. Copper is only really superior for it's plastic distortion capacity (the awls and needles for example).

The general public thinking that the First Nations were stone age peoples with no metal working technology aside from a little gold and silver in Central America isn't a stereotype, it's a deficiency in education. I had pretty significant schooling in pre-columbian North Americans in my youth and none of the text books or other books mention copper working around the great lakes. It wasn't until a few years ago when I started living near a reserve on the north shore and talking to people there that I'd heard word one about copper tools being made and used before European contact. Thanks so much for the video, I hope it gets shared a ton.

I have been a university (Geology)  Professor for 30 years and have heard thousands of lectures in classes and professional meetings. I can tell you that this is one of the best presented and illustrated. Thank you!
BTW, as a kid I lived in Marquette MI and after big storms, we would find pebbles of native Cu polished to a glow amongst the gravel of Lake Superior's beaches. No doubt to indigenous folks did to: no "working" needed.

It's not just in the great lakes region, I'm from southeast Missouri and there is an ancient copper mine behind my dad's house, still has some native drawings on it so a few years ago some scientists from Washington university came to take pics and put them through different filters to pull off images that you can't see with your naked eye and from what they said it was a "shrine" to the underwater panther god

This area could be the cradle of civilization, however nobody would ever know because there's nearly no archeological activity here and everyone believes there is no history worth knowing. Native history in the Americas holds so many untold secrets. I think this was a really good look at the facts around a long untold story.

I am a man of Mesoamerican extraction. The Maya area to be precise. One of the things that is seldom told because of all the excitement surrounding gold is it the native people of that region valued copper more than they valued gold and silver. Gold and silver were something for the gods. Copper could be used in every day life. That and obsidian were exceedingly valuable raw materials. So, this vid delights me but, it does not surprise me.

When I was in high school in the 1960s we had a neighbor who collected minerals and artifacts.  I took him to a site I knew where I had found several arrowheads and later he showed me his collection of copper jewelry made by local Senecas. He told me that the copper came from Wisconsin and was part of the Seneca trade network that stretched south down the Mississippi, east to Long Island and west to Wisconsin.  When he died in 1980 his entire collection went to a museum in Buffalo.  From him I developed an interest in history and archaeology that I am sorry I did not pursue  by going to college because I couldn't afford it.

I had no idea there was any degree of metallurgy in North America north of the Rio Grande. Binge watching your videos now

As a Michigan Tech Grad the Keweenaw is absolutely majestic. Highly recommend it to anyone looking for an amazing getaway. Copper harbor and Lac la Belle are wonderful communities. Plenty of cool mine tours as well, the Delaware is very nice.

The Inuit worked iron from a meteor in Greenland starting at about the same time. The Cape York meteorite is the source of this iron, it came to earth thousands or perhaps 10,000+ years ago.

I vividly remember visiting copper sites including archeological displays 50 years ago as a child. Thanks to my parent's yearly trips throughout the US, I was fortunate to visit many archeological sites and museums. They nurtured my love of archeology and anthropology, resulting in a college minor and life-long learning. Thanks for including this often overlooked culture in your series.

I live in Simcoe County, Ontario (between Georgian Bay of Lake Huron and Lake Simcoe).There’s a really cool collection of books and maps by a guy called Andrew Hunter, called ‘Huron Village Sites of Simcoe County’ (1895-1906). He literally rode around on a bicycle and documented all of the Wendat and Algonquian sites he could find (over 400) and a ton of them have copper artifacts and other items like conch shells and glass beads. He also noted some brass artifacts as well, but that may have been during the French occupation of the area. Great video 👍

My friends and I used to vacation in the U.P. of Michigan. I have driven through all of the abandoned copper mine towns and even in some of the mines themselves, very haunting.

Given the scrap value of copper, leaving the site unmarked might be a security precaution. If someone went along with a metal detector because they heard 'copper' and thought 'money', who knows how much priceless archaeology they could destroy?

Above the great lakes is a massive open air copper deposit that was gradually revealed as the icesheet receded essentially exposing the hard copped ore.

I live in the area of pure copper, I have raw worked copper, I have found arrowheads, Copper Culture State Park in Oconto WI is right down the road from me. After Copperfest in early June, on Saturday, generally many of the collectors of Indian artifacts from the area, meet at the Copper Culture park, set up tables and show their collections to the public. I don’t know how the pandemic might mess this up…but it might return this June.

Alaskan natives also used metallic copper from the Copper River/Wrangell Mtns to make tools and trade goods.  The University of Alaska Fairbanks  has a fantastic copper nugget in their museum that weighs over 5,000 lbs. Prospectors found a nugget weighing over 3 tons.

Anybody from whom would consider a trip to the copper country of Michigan, I suggest doing it.  The region not only has a copper history, but for mineral collectors there are many interesting rocks. For those less interested in native American history & more interested in industrial history the entire region is the Detroit of the 1920s.  It was the best in the world & over night everybody left & didn't take there stuff with them.

The chief gain for copper weapon tips is that they don't break.  Making a copper tool a sharp as good chert point is, in fact, impossible.  That means the use-life of a copper weapon tip is the length of time between manufacture and loss rather than failure.  The OC is a long-term interest of mine, but as an archaeologist in California, not a topic I could spend a lot of time on.  Thanks for this.