Golden Artifact

[Tesorodeoro]

Sorry for the clickbait title.

I’m not aware of any NA artifacts in my area (west coast) that were made of gold.
This is despite the fact that it was likely plentiful in certain areas.

It seems to me that NA Indians relied completely on natural items. They were very in tune with the different characteristics and properties of various materials.

Gold is unique in that it keeps its attractive color over time.
It’s much heavier than anything else readily found.
It’s very malleable and can be pounded out very thin.
It can be melted.
It can be easily drilled.

It easily stands out against other common minerals.

I suspect they must have had a negative underworld superstition that surrounded gold (having nothing to do with foreign contact). It’s not that they didn’t notice it or didn’t realize these properties.

Any ideas? I would have thought it would at least be used for decoration or traded.

 

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[Fat]

.....yellowstone..... I think too heavy and too soft, seems to me they needed and used lite weight and brittle to make a sharp tool.

I know the Spanish made a pass up threw South Dakota and claimed the land for Spain. I’ve seen the lead plate at ft. Pierre.

 

[smokeythecat]

I am on the east coast and have never seen an artifact in gold from here, not even in the myriad of museums around. There are substantial gold deposits in Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia, but I have never seen an artifact even though a few pieces of gold in the past went into the pounds range.

We know the Mayans used gold, but I like the way you laid it all out.

 

[newnan man]

The Shawnee made jewelry from a high grade silver and people have been looking for the source of it for 300 years.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I just find it odd because I know it was plainly visible in the bedrock cracks along the rivers.
It would have made great body adornments, beads, etc.

 

[H.P.]

.....yellowstone..... I think too heavy and too soft, seems to me they needed and used lite weight and brittle to make a sharp tool.

I know the Spanish made a pass up threw South Dakota and claimed the land for Spain. I’ve seen the lead plate at ft. Pierre.

Gonna put my comments here, hope you don’t mind...A ton of gold was taken by the Calusa when they salvaged Spanish treasure ships.a lot of it was found in south Florida mounds,, gold spider thingys ( pic ) were also found, the most common in Tampa bay that I knew about are rolled beads.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Gonna put my comments here, hope you don’t mind...A ton of gold was taken by the Calusa when they salvaged Spanish treasure ships.a lot of it was found in south Florida mounds,, gold spider thingys ( pic ) were also found, the most common in Tampa bay that I knew about are rolled beads.
View attachment 1898390

That’s a fairly modern reference (salvage of wrecked ships).
Interesting to think about though.

 

[BillA]

no silver or gold pre-Columbian artifacts, worked naturally occurring copper from the Keweenaw

look for slag, none

 

[unclemac]

.... but remember too.... there were a lot of copper artifacts!

 

[H.P.]

.... but remember too.... there were a lot of copper artifacts!

I know this photo doesn’t do the copper justice maybe do closeups in day or two...This copper breastplate, pendant, beads and string came from Cedar Key, it’s middle woodland, period...

 

[MosesOfTheSouth]

posted this before but


I've found one NA metal artifact. it's non-ferrous. not sure of its exact metallurgy. it doesn't have the appropriate patina for something of pure lead, it is heavy though. it appears to be crudely cast forged. i've not seen any other artifact like it personally from my area or in general.

it was found digging in close context/level to a benton cache and other early archaic type points. some late paleo. some i can't type.












also as someone who has prospected for gold quite a bit (in the coker creek area of Tennessee where one of the first gold rushes in the states happened), it isn't like big chunks of gold are easily visible. it's hard to come by and requires work. some states are different. i'm not saying that the ring is gold, but it does appear to be an alloy of multiple metals.

any metal NA object that isn't from the copper era is really quite interesting to me.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I read about gold "trinkets" being found in mounds in FL years ago. They supposedly came from Mexico. Too many years ago and I don't remember the source where I read it. Gary

 

[BillA]

MOTS, I too have been in high search for evidence of metal working in north America, not a bit to be seen.
Am familiar with naturally occurring copper worked into items and presume that annealing was known.
Gold can also be cold worked but seems not to have occurred, what the Spanish were after.
The movement of the technology north from Columbia is well known, why I live in CR.

Haven't a clue as to what your ring might be, and without testing no one does.

I look for slag, but Spanish lead/silver is my oldest and it was in Sonora.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

also as someone who has prospected for gold quite a bit (in the coker creek area of Tennessee where one of the first gold rushes in the states happened), it isn't like big chunks of gold are easily visible. it's hard to come by and requires work. some states are different. i'm not saying that the ring is gold, but it does appear to be an alloy of multiple metals.

any metal NA object that isn't from the copper era is really quite interesting to me.

Perhaps true for Tennessee, but on the west coast, it is documented in diaries (and I believe it), that the first gold miners simply went around with a knife or the end of a fork and pried gold from the cracks of the bedrock. Very easy mining. Once that easy gold was exhausted, they began the real work. Now after two surges of gold miners, a prospector certainly has to work hard to find gold. My point is that prior to exploitation, it was literally laying on the bedrock along the creeks and rivers.

 

[unclemac]

not quite what we are talking about, but interesting non the less....NW coast metal

https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/metallurgy-of-the-tlingit-dene-and-eskimo/

https://warriorpublications.wordpre...s-and-daggers-of-the-pacific-northwest-coast/

 

[southfork]

posted this before but


I've found one NA metal artifact. it's non-ferrous. not sure of its exact metallurgy. it doesn't have the appropriate patina for something of pure lead, it is heavy though. it appears to be crudely cast forged. i've not seen any other artifact like it personally from my area or in general.

it was found digging in close context/level to a benton cache and other early archaic type points. some late paleo. some i can't type.

View attachment 1899378

View attachment 1899379

View attachment 1899380

View attachment 1899381

View attachment 1899382


also as someone who has prospected for gold quite a bit (in the coker creek area of Tennessee where one of the first gold rushes in the states happened), it isn't like big chunks of gold are easily visible. it's hard to come by and requires work. some states are different. i'm not saying that the ring is gold, but it does appear to be an alloy of multiple metals.

any metal NA object that isn't from the copper era is really quite interesting to me.

Nice nose ring

 

[BillA]

Nice nose ring

seems right, looked and looked and did not see it
but that is a good lead: did the locals from then wear nose rings?
(recovered from a defined setting, any material ok)

 

[MosesOfTheSouth]

Perhaps true for Tennessee, but on the west coast, it is documented in diaries (and I believe it), that the first gold miners simply went around with a knife or the end of a fork and pried gold from the cracks of the bedrock. Very easy mining. Once that easy gold was exhausted, they began the real work. Now after two surges of gold miners, a prospector certainly has to work hard to find gold. My point is that prior to exploitation, it was literally laying on the bedrock along the creeks and rivers.

i agree. i mentioned it was different in other states. the big placer gold deposit areas that had large nuggets rolling around, it's a good question to ask.

it seems like there are always legends about mines that the natives only knew about. in my very close vicinity there was "legend" about a lead mine and several silver mines.

seems right, looked and looked and did not see it
but that is a good lead: did the locals from then wear nose rings?
(recovered from a defined setting, any material ok)

nose ring has been what it's called the most by others. it's been difficult to find anything to compare it to though. if the finds from the stratum of soil it came from equates to the age it was made/in use, i'm not sure there is definitive fashion guide to the styles of that time.

 

[Doublebarrel]

The south west native american Indians like the Navajo's used silver and turquoise as adornments

 

[BillA]

The south west native american Indians like the Navajo's used silver and turquoise as adornments

starting when?
(bet it was coin silver used)

native silver in metallic form does exist, but is rather rare
I have found wire silver in that area, but it came from a hard rock mine.
gold will be cast before silver is smelted