Cahokia's copper workshop and the Mississippian copper plates (Cahokia, Etowah, Spiro, Lake Jackson; about 800–1600 CE)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1600 · Places: Florida, Gulf Coast
SUMMARYCahokia's copper workshop and the Mississippian copper plates (Cahokia, Etowah, Spiro, Lake Jackson; about 800–1600 CE) [Connections: Tech of the Americas, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDWikipedia, citing Chastain et al. 2011 and White 2011: Cahokia's copper workers hammered metal after heating, "a process known as annealing," and "heated the copper in a wood fire." Larger pieces were likely "riveted together with small copper knobs." The workshops near Mound 34 "are so far the only copper workshops found at a Mississippian culture" site. Copper "was usually imported from the Great Lakes region" (no inline citation), with Appalachian sources also noted (Welch 1991). Lake Jackson (Tallahassee) traded for copper "almost exclusively with the Etowah polity" (LeDoux 2009). Copper trade routes go back to the Archaic period, 3000–1000 BCE (Brose et al. 1985)
PATTERNA continent-wide copper network from Lake Superior to the Gulf, with a workshop, a heat-treatment method and standard art styles
LENS (WW9)The copper people did not vanish after the Archaic. The line runs from the Isle Royale pits to Cahokia to Lake Jackson in Florida
OPENRead Chastain et al. 2011 directly. Confirm the "only workshop" claim is still current