The Cocaine Mummies

[guohua]

Phonecian Copper Mines

• On Isle Royale in Lake Superior and in northern Michigan, thousands of worked copper mines were discovered as early as the sixteenth century by French Jesuit missionaries, who also reported that the Indians of the peninsula knew absolutely nothing about their origins. Their presence, which includes skid logs, axe marks, cedar shovels, mauls, copper gads or wedges, charcoal, and great masses of copper, has perplexed scholars for years. One mine itself had a detached mass of copper weighing nearly six tons. Henriette Mertz (Atlantis: Dwelling Place of the G-ds) says that engineers claim more than a billion pounds of copper was mined out of the Michigan Peninsula and the Isle Royale."This incredible amount of copper has not been accounted for by American archaeologists–the sum total according to archaeological findings here in the states amounts to a mere handful of copper beads and trinkets–float copper. Five hundred thousand tons of pure copper does not disintegrate into thin air–it cannot be sneezed away–it must be somewhere and, to date, it has not been located in the United States."19Carbon-14 dating of the organic matter taken from the mineshafts places them back around 1000 BCE. This was the time of major Phoenician naval power during the Bronze Age, and it might give insight to where the copper went. Mertz argues that it was mined for extensive shipment (presumably by Phoenician ships) to various Mediterranean civilizations. She mentions Egypt as requiring incalculable amounts of copper for tools necessary for pyramid and temple construction; Greeks too needed unlimited quantities for copper lining the interiors of such structures as the 50 foot dome of the Treasury at Mycenae and that at Orchomenus–while roads leading into these magnificent edifices blazed with gleaming copper–so Schliemann found.20But there perhaps was a greater need for copper, tons and tons of it, which was for use in the first Temple that King Solomon built. The time element is the same. The Phoenicians [either Israelites or Israelite dominated] would have carried out extensive colonizing and mining as navies of Kings David and Solomon. This was during the Golden Age of Israel, around 1000 to 900 BCE, in which Israelite ships sailed around the world collecting gold, silver, exotic animals, and, in particular, copper for use in the making of bronze or use in the Temple or both.

There are back and forth theories for all of this but I find it fascinating nonetheless. Here are a few other tid-bits:

Mining Myths

According to American Indian oral tradition, Michigan copper was mined in antiquity by “red haired white-skinned ‘marine men’ who came from across the sea”.

Copper Mines

The Menomonie Indians of north Wisconsin possess a legend that speaks about the ancient mines. They described the mines as being worked by “light skinned men”, who were able to identify the mines by throwing magical stones on the ground, which made the ores that contained copper ring like a bell. 

This practice closely resembles a similar practice that was used in Europe during the Bronze Age. Bronze with a high concentration of tin indeed resonates when a stone is thrown against it. The legend might have confused the start of the process with the result of the process. Even so, S.A. Barnett, the first archaeologist who studied Aztalan, a site near the mines, believed that the miners originated from Europe. His conclusion was largely based on the type of tools that had been used, tools which were not used by the local people.

Whether it was Native Americans, David for the temple, Greeks, or Egyptians, it's fascinating nonetheless. 

@"DuckforcoveR"  We just got home today after a week of fishing.
Those Copper Mines sound interesting.