Mississippian copper plates
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Mississippian copper plates, or plaques, are plain and repousséd plates of beaten
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
crafted by peoples of the various regional expressions of the
Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, eart ...
between 800 and 1600 CE. They have been found as artifacts in
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
s in the American Midwest and Southeast. The plates, found as far afield as Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, were instrumental in the development of the archaeological concept known as the
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (formerly the Southern Cult), aka S.E.C.C., is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture. It coincided with their ado ...
. Some of the more notable examples are representations of raptorial birds and avian-themed dancing warriors.


Copper in the Eastern Woodlands

Copper trade routes throughout the
Eastern Woodlands The Eastern Woodlands is a cultural area of the indigenous people of North America. The Eastern Woodlands extended roughly from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern Great Plains, and from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, which is now p ...
were established during the Archaic period (3000 - 1000 BCE) and continued into historic times.Brose et al. (1985), Ancient Art of the American Woodlands Indians : 149 Copper was usually imported from the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
region; however other sources of copper have been found elsewhere including in the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
near the Etowah site in Alabama. For generations the
Indigenous peoples of North America The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
pursued copper sources and transmitted the skill of copper's manipulation and preparation as a special material for use in elite goods on to their descendants. Elites at major political and religious centers during the Mississippian period used copper ornamentation as a sign of their status by crafting the sacred material into representations connected with the Chiefly Warrior cult of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. These elites used a trade network that spanned most of North America to acquire exotic trade items from far away, trading their own locally manufactured elite goods and materials. After the collapse of the Mississippian way of life in the 1500s with the advent of European colonization, copper still retained a place in Native American religious life as a special material. Copper was traditionally regarded as sacred by many historic period Eastern tribes. Copper nuggets are included in medicine bundles among Great Lakes tribes. Among 19th century
Muscogee (Creek) The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsTrail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
are regarded as some of the tribe's most sacred items.


Methods of manufacture

The
native copper Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native coppe ...
, as well as the technique of
cold working In metallurgy, cold forming or cold working is any metalworking process in which metal is shaped below its recrystallization temperature, usually at the ambient temperature. Such processes are contrasted with hot working techniques like hot r ...
it, is believed to have come from the Great Lakes area, hundreds of miles to the north of the Cahokia polity and most other Mississippian culture sites, although the copper workshops discovered near
Mound 34 Mound 34 is a small platform mound located roughly to the east of Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois. Excavations near Mound 34 from 2002 to 2010 revealed the remains of a copper workshop, although the one of a kind discove ...
at Cahokia are so far the only copper workshops found at a Mississippian culture
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
. Researchers at Northwestern's School of Engineering and Applied Science used an electron microscope to analyze pieces of the flat copper sheets found during excavations at the Mound 34 site at Cahokia. The researchers found that the metal had been repeatedly heated and cooled and while it was softened by the heat, had been hammered, a process known as annealing, similar to how blacksmiths work iron. They were also able to determine that the Cahokian coppersmiths had heated the copper in a wood fire to produce sufficient heat for this process. This process of heating and hammering was repeated over and over until a sheet of the desired thickness was obtained and was sufficient to work the copper into very thin sheets. Researchers have also tried different techniques to duplicate how larger pieces were manufactured. They determined that the larger pieces had not been
laminate Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance, or other properties from the use of the differing materia ...
d together but had most likely been
rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
ed together with small copper knobs. Researchers were also able to determine that the artisans cut the copper into the desired shapes by bending the sheet metal back and forth until it broke in the desired location. After the flat sheets of copper were produced, designs were then embossed into the surfaces probably with stone, bone or wooden tools. Frank Hamilton Cushing, an anthropologist working in the early 20th century, worked out a method for flattening and embossing the plates. He hammered raw nuggets of copper smooth and removed imperfections by scouring the surface with a piece of sandstone. He was then able to duplicate the avian designs by resting the sheet of copper on a rawhide pad and pressing into the surface using a piece of pointed deer antler and pressing with his chest. This produced a sharp thin line that when the plate was reversed resembled the embossed lines of the aboriginal artifacts. This process is thought to be similar in principle to the means used by Mississippian coppersmiths.


Iconography


Avian themed plates

Avian themed plates are thought to depict aspects of the '' Birdman'', a major figure in Mississippian iconography closely associated with warfare, ritual dancing, and the game of
chunkey Chunkey (also known as chunky, chenco, tchung-kee or the hoop and stick game ) is a game of Native American origin. It was played by rolling disc-shaped stones across the ground and throwing spears at them in an attempt to land the spear as cl ...
. Numerous examples of similar avian themed plates have been found in locations across the Midwest and Southeast, from the large cache found in Malden near the bootheel region in
Dunklin County, Missouri Dunklin County is located in the Bootheel of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,283. The largest city and county seat is Kennett. The county was officially organized on February 14, 1845, and is named in ...
to others from Mangum in Mississippi, Spiro in Oklahoma, Etowah in Georgia, Lake Jackson Mounds in Florida and other sites in Missouri, Illinois, and Alabama.


Cahokia and the Birdman

Years of study by archaeologists, ethnologists and historians of artifacts of different materials found at many sites throughout the midwestern and southeastern United States has led many of these researchers to conclude that the cosmology associated with the avian imagery of this artwork originated at
Cahokia The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in south- ...
(the largest Mississippian culture site, in western Illinois near St Louis, Missouri) between 1100 - 1300 CE. This cosmology was expressed as the "
Braden style The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (formerly the Southern Cult), aka S.E.C.C., is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture. It coincided with their ad ...
", a label applied to
ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
, shell pieces, stone statuary and copper artifacts all bearing the hallmarks and elements of the same sophisticated style. These pieces were exported to other centers where they were emulated by regional craftsman and became the basis of local styles, such as the "Craig style" of Spiro Mounds, the "Hightower style" of Etowah Mounds and the " Hemphill style" of Moundville. Avian imagery occupied a central place in Cahokian iconography, with examples including an incised sandstone tablet with a birdman excavated from Monks Mound and an elaborate elite personage burial in
Mound 72 Mound 72 is a small ridgetop mound located roughly to the south of Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois. Early in the site's history, the location began as a circle of 48 large wooden posts known as a "woodhenge". The woodhe ...
with thousands of shell beads arranged in the shape of a bird. Although no copper plates other than some small fragments have ever been found at Cahokia, it is the only Mississippian culture site to date where a copper workshop has been located by archaeologists. Excavations of the copper workshops at
Mound 34 Mound 34 is a small platform mound located roughly to the east of Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois. Excavations near Mound 34 from 2002 to 2010 revealed the remains of a copper workshop, although the one of a kind discove ...
, (a small mound located on the Ramey Plaza east of Monks Mound) indicate copper was worked there. The area contains the remains of three tree stumps thought to have been used to hold anvil stones used for beating out the flattened sheets of copper. However, despite the lack of copper plates, one copper artifact has been found at the site. A copper-covered wooden mace by thought to have been part of a headdress was found during surface collections at Cahokia. Several other copper ornaments have been found in nearby locations.


Other themes

Many of the hundreds of plates found have not been specifically avian themed and come in a variety of other shapes. These include embossed geometric designs, weeping eye motifs, bi-lobed arrow motif headdresses, head shapes with headresses, and plain sheets. The unique "Upper Bluff Lake Dancing Birdmen" plate was found in the same burial in Union County, Illinois as a Malden style avian plate.Brose et al. (1985), Ancient Art of the American Woodlands Indians : 160-1, 213 Several related examples of bi-lobed arrow headdresses have been found at the Etowah site and the Moundville site. A variety of non-avian themed plates were found at the Spiro site. These finds include copper feather and flame-like shapes believed to have been part of headdresses, a human head cutout wearing similar "feathers", square sheets with Forked Eye motifs and concentric circle designs, and several copper covered wooden plaques also with Forked Eye motifs and circles.


Known locations


Arkansas plates

A number of plates have been found in various sites in eastern
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
. At least three of the Arkansas examples (Rose Mound, Scott Place, and Clay Hill) and two others (a found in a
Dallas phase The Dallas phase (c. 1300–1600 CE) is an archaeological phase, within the Mississippian III period, in the South Appalachian Geologic province in North America.Sullivan and Prezzano 281 Geography Dallas peoples moved into what is now southwest ...
burial at the Henry Farm Site (40 LO 53) in
Loudon County, Tennessee Loudon County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the central part of East Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 54,886. Its county seat is Loudon. Loudon County is included in the Knoxville, TN Metr ...
in 1975 and a specimen unexamined by archaeologists thought to come either from the Neeley's Ferry (3 CS 24) or Rose Mound sites in Cross County) have stylistic similarities that indicate they may have all been made by the same artist. Four of the five were found in the St. Francis River Valley area of Arkansas. Researchers think the five plates may represent a composite creature that is part snake and part hawk as the shape of the tail feathers resemble a rattlesnakes' rattle or that the design may represent a hawk in the act of swallowing a snake. A copper plate found at the Clay Hill Site (3 LE 11) in
Lee County, Arkansas Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. With its eastern border formed by the Mississippi River, it is considered to be part of the Arkansas Delta. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,424. The county seat is Ma ...
has the same chest region design and long narrow shape and distinctive tail feathers as the Scott Site and Rose Mound examples. Although fragmented it is approximately in length. It was recorded to be in a private collection in 1978 but has not been seen since. The plate was found in an Armorel Phase burial that also contained a Clarksdale bell, an item of European manufacture that is a hallmark of the 1541
Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...
excursion through the southeast. This does not date the era for the production of the plate though as such items were often kept as heirlooms for long periods, even many generations, before they ended up becoming
grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...
. In 1910
Clarence Bloomfield Moore Clarence Bloomfield Moore (January 14, 1852 – March 24, 1936), more commonly known as C.B. Moore, was an American archaeologist and writer. He studied and excavated Native American sites in the Southeastern United States. Early life The ...
found a stylized hawk or eagle plate while excavating graves at the Rose Mound Site (3 CS 27) in
Cross County, Arkansas Cross County is a rural Northeast Arkansas county in the Arkansas Delta. Created as Arkansas's 53rd county on November 15, 1862, Cross County contains four incorporated municipality, municipalities, including Wynne, Arkansas, Wynne, the county ...
. The plate was and remarkably well preserved, missing only the tip of one wing. The plate is not embossed but merely a shape cut from a flat copper sheet. In the 1970s a copper bird in length was found by looters at the Scott Site (3 MS 24), also known as Big Lake Bridge, in
Mississippi County, Arkansas Mississippi County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,685. There are two county seats, Blytheville and Osceola. The county was formed on November 1, 1833, and named for the M ...
. The specimen was located at the back of the head of an extended adult burial, and may have been bent over the top of the head. Eight plain pottery vessels grave good vessels were found with it. A possible partial avian style plate was found at the Magness Site (3 IN 8) in
Independence County, Arkansas Independence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 36,647. The county seat is Batesville. Independence County is Arkansas's ninth county, formed on October 20, 1820, from a portion ...
along with several engraved shell cups. The plate is a typical head portion with the forked eye, earspool, and elaborate headdress and hairdo known from other examples. As the lower portion of the plate is missing it is impossible to tell if the figure is a dancer or a human headed bird like the Wulfing A plate. A avian themed plate very similar to the Wulfing Plates copper plate was discovered at the Toul Creek Site in
Baxter County, Arkansas Baxter County is a county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 41,627. The county seat is Mountain Home. It is Arkansas's 66th county, formed on March 24, 1873, and named for Elisha Baxter, the tent ...
by several local farmers. The plate was located in the chest area of an extended adult who was also wearing the two limestone ear spools. Other grave goods found in the burial included a marine shell dipper and a chert knife. Its whereabouts are currently unknown.


Etowah and the Rogan plates

The Rogan plates were discovered in a stone box grave within Mound C at the Etowah site by John P. Rogan in the 1880s. Several are very similar to plates later found at Lake Jackson Mounds, and it is believed that the Lake Jackson plates came from Etowah. The designs of the plates are in the Classic Braden style from the Cahokian area, and it is generally thought that some of the plates were manufactured at Cahokia before ending up at sites in the Southeast. The two Rogan plates were interred as a pair and are very similar to one another. The first is approximately and the second . Holes in the plates suggest they were once hung as a decoration. Other plates were found by Warren K. Moorehead at the Etowah site in excavations during the mid-1920s. The other plates are in a slightly different style and indicate that local artisans had begun production of their own copper plates in emulation of the Braden style. These plates, along with artifacts from Spiro and Moundville Archaeological Site were instrumental in the development of the archaeological concept of the S.E.C.C.


Florida plates

Although at the periphery of the Mississippian world, Florida has been the site of the discovery many S.E.C.C. associated copper artworks. Archaeologists believe that this is because of the
busycon ''Busycon'' is a genus of very large edible sea snails in the subfamily Busyconinae. These snails are commonly known in the United States as ''whelks'' or ''Busycon whelks''. Less commonly they are loosely, and somewhat misleadingly, called "conc ...
shell trade, the shells being a valuable ritual and high status trade good to Mississippian elites. It has even been proposed that the Fort Walton culture founders of the Lake Jackson Mounds site moved east and founded the settlement in approximately 1100 CE to strategically position themselves in this trade network. Lake Jackson trade for copper pieces seems to have taken place almost exclusively with the Etowah polity of north central Georgia. When Mound 3 at the site was excavated it yielded fourteen copper plates, deposited in the burial mound sometime between 1300—1500 CE. The so-called "Copper Solar Ogee Deity," a high repoussé copper plate, depicts the profile of a dancing winged figure, wielding a ceremonial mace in its right hand and a severed head in the left. The extended, curling nose resembles a
proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...
and resembles another S.E.C.C. motif, the long-nosed god maskette. The figures elaborate headdress includes a bi-lobed arrow motif and, at the top of the plate, an ogee motif surrounded by a chambered circle. Some art historians have argued that this plate and one of the Rogan plates may represent a female or "Birdwoman" because the breast on the figure protrudes slightly more than it does on other examples, while others have argued that the plate may represent a
third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usuall ...
or "
two-spirit Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-varia ...
" tradition. After the collapse of the Etowah polity in approximately 1375 trade continued for the Lake Jackson peoples, albeit now with peoples located in the northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee area. No longer able to get the elaborate copper plates from Etowah, a local style developed, producing a new style of such as that depicted on the "Elder Birdman" plate, thought to represent the merger of the Birdman corpus with a local solar deity. Further east and south into Florida were non-Mississippian culture peoples who were involved in long-distance trade of local high status items such as busycon shells for gorgets and
yaupon ''Ilex vomitoria'', commonly known as yaupon () or yaupon holly, is a species of holly that is native to southeastern North America. The word ''yaupon'' was derived from the Catawban ''yą́pą'', from ''yą-'' tree + ''pą'' leaf. Another commo ...
holly for the
black drink Black drink is a name for several kinds of ritual beverages brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States. Traditional ceremonial people of the Yuchi, Caddo, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee and some other Indigenous pe ...
. The Mill Cove Complex is a St. Johns culture site in
Duval County, Florida Duval County is in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 995,567, up from 864,263 in 2010. Its county seat is Jacksonville, Florida, with which the Duval County government has been con ...
with two sand burial mounds, one
platform mound Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...
shaped and associated village habitation areas.
Clarence Bloomfield Moore Clarence Bloomfield Moore (January 14, 1852 – March 24, 1936), more commonly known as C.B. Moore, was an American archaeologist and writer. He studied and excavated Native American sites in the Southeastern United States. Early life The ...
excavated the mounds in 1894 and found numerous copper grave goods, including two copper
long-nosed god maskette Long-nosed god maskettes are artifacts made from bone, copper and marine shells (Lightning whelk) associated with the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological sites in the Midwestern United States and the Southeastern ...
s and 11 copper plates. The one plate found in the Shields Mound was plain, but several of the other 10 found in the Grant Mound were decorated with an oval central boss and ringed with an oval embossed or beaded line. They measured - to -. They had perforated holes for hanging. Archaeologists speculate they were used either for gorgets or headdress ornaments. Analysis of the metal in the plaques has connected them to locations in the Great Lakes region, Wisconsin and the Appalachian Mountains. A little further down the Atlantic coast was the Mount Royal Mound (8 PU 35), a site occupied on and off since 4000 BCE, and during the historic period a
Timucua The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The v ...
settlement. Construction of the mound at Mount Royal, began in approximately 1050 CE. In 1893 and 1894, Clarence B. Moore excavated the mound. Among the copper ornaments he disinterred, Moore discovered a copper breast-place with a "forked eye and blade image", and another plate with concentric circles and lines. The first plate was almost square and the second plate was square. Located in central Florida, the Old Okahumpka Site (8 LA 57) is a now destroyed burial mound in Lake County, Florida near the modern town of
Okahumpka Okahumpka is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 267 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the loc ...
. The site was excavated by Clarence B. Moore in the 1890s. During his excavation he found a burial associated plate measuring wide by in length and depicting the lower portion of a dancing figure wearing a sash, kilt, cuffed
moccasin A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional pane ...
s, and holding a knife. The design is almost identical to two examples known from Spiro and a site in Jackson County, Alabama, although of the three it is the only one to show a figure wielding a knife. Archaeologists estimate the plate was deposited in the mound sometime between 1100 and 1300 CE. The plate is now part of the collection of the
National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...
. From an unknown location on the west coast of central Florida comes the Wilcox plate, a partial avian themed copper plate showing the middle section details of scalloped wings, tail feathers and a raptors leg and claw in the Malden style very similar to the Wulfing plates. It was discovered somewhere near
Waldo, Florida Waldo is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. According to the 2010 census the population was 1,015, up from 821 in 2000. History The first major U.S. federal highway in early territorial Florida, Bellamy Road, was constructed in ...
in
Levy County Levy County is a county located on the Gulf coast and in the northern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,915. Its county seat is Bronson. History Levy County was created in 1845, after the Semino ...
in the 1880s, where it was purchased from a local doctor by Joseph Wilcox for the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading nat ...
. It has been part of the collection of the
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—commonly known as the Penn Museum—is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City neighb ...
since the mid-1930s.


Illinois plates

Outside of Cahokia, Illinois has seen the discovery of many Mississippian culture copper items including copper maces, ear spools, several avian plates, a wooden copper covered mask (known as the Emmons mask), and headdress pieces. Three copper plates have been found, one of them been identified as being from the same workshop as the Wulfing plates and others as having stylistic similarities with the Wulfing, Spiro and Etowah plates. The Edwards falcon plate is a by copper avian plate found at the Material Service Quarry Site in
La Salle County, Illinois LaSalle County is located within the Fox Valley and Illinois River Valley regions of the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 109,658. Its county seat and largest city is Ottawa. LaSalle County is part of the ...
. Before it was deposited as a grave good it had its head riveted on in the reverse position. It is one of several plates found in Illinois believed to have been made by the same workshop as the Malden plates. The ''Peoria Falcon'' is a unique avian plate found in 1856 on the shore of
Peoria Lake Peoria Lake is a section of the Illinois River between Peoria in Peoria County, Illinois and East Peoria in Tazewell County, Illinois. The oldest section of Peoria, the largest city on the river, lies at its shores. The lake is formed by a bro ...
. It is a by copper plate depicting a naturalistic
peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey bac ...
. It is part of the collection of the
National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...
, but it is on long-term loan to the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences in
Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Ce ...
where it is on display. The Upper Bluff Lake plates are two plates found at the Saddle Site (11U284) in
Union County, Illinois Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States Census, it had a population of 17,244. Its county seat is Jonesboro. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as " Littl ...
in the 1880s, in the same stone box grave. One of the plates is avian themed and the other a unique double birdman design, but still within the corpus of the S.E.C.C. The Upper Bluff Lake falcon plate is a by avian themed Wulfing style plate. It has a mostly intact tail, which the Malden plates do not, and has helped archaeologists understand what the tails of the other pieces would have looked like. The Dancing Figures plate is a rectangular by plate depicting two Birdman figures holding ceremonial chipped flint maces, possibly dancing, and shielding themselves from a possible liquid or ropelike motif falling from the top center of the plate. Stylistically the Dancers plate has been linked to the Classic Braden style associated with Cahokia and it bears stylistic similarities to Craig A style shell objects found at the Spiro site. Both the plates date from 1100 to 1300 CE. Both of the Upper Bluff Lake plates are now in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History.


Malden plates or the Wulfing cache

The plates of the ''Wulfing cache'', named after an early owner, were discovered by a farmer named Ray Groomes while plowing a field south of Malden in
Dunklin County, Missouri Dunklin County is located in the Bootheel of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,283. The largest city and county seat is Kennett. The county was officially organized on February 14, 1845, and is named in ...
in 1906. The eight plates, made in the Late Braden style associated with Cahokia, are thought to date to the late 13th or early 14th century. The Wulfing plates depict raptors and one bird-human hybrids, ranging human heads to raptor's heads to double-headed raptors on stylized bird's bodies, with naturalistic bird's claws. The plates were found buried in a field with no known local mounds or village sites. They had been considerably used prior to their burial, as each plates shows multiple episodes of aboriginal repair work including patch repairs and riveted cracks. The eight plates are designated Plates A-H. Plate A, the only anthropomorphic human headed avian in the Wulfing cache, measures in length by in width and weighs . Many similar plates found in other states are now believed to have come from the same workshop, if not the same artist, as the Wulfing cache. The sites of the discovery of these other plates span the United States from central Florida to northern Illinois to Oklahoma, and include the Upper Bluff Lake falcon plate, the Toul Creek plate, the Reed Mound plate, the Edwards plate, and the Wilcox plate, as well as showing stylistic links to plates found in burials at Etowah and Spiro.


Spiro plates

Spiro Mounds Spiro Mounds ( 34 LF 40) is an archaeological site located in present-day eastern Oklahoma that remains from an indigenous Indian culture that was part of the major northern Caddoan Mississippian culture. The 80-acre site is located within a fl ...
is a
Caddoan Mississippian culture The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Wes ...
archaeological site located in present-day
LeFlore County, Oklahoma LeFlore County is a county along the eastern border of the U.S state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 50,384. Its county seat is Poteau. The county is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area and the name honors a Choct ...
. In the 1930s the only burial mound at the site, the Craig Mound, was looted by locals who used
dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and patented in 1867. It rapidl ...
on the mound to gain access to its interior. Once inside the high and wide cavity the looters discovered almost perfectly preserved fragile artifacts made of wood,
conch shell Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Ame ...
, fabric of vegetal and animal fibers, lace, fur, feathers and copper. The Great Mortuary, as the hollow interior has since become known to archaeologists, was a burial structure for Spiro's rulers. It was created as a circle of sacred cedar posts sunk in the ground and angled together at the top like a ''
tipi A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan, and in use in Dakhótiyapi, Lakȟó ...
''. The cone-shaped chamber was covered with layers of earth to create the mound, and it never collapsed. Minerals percolating through the mound hardened the chamber's log walls, making them resistant to decay and shielding the perishable artifacts inside from direct contact with the earth. No other Mississippian mound has been found with such a hollow space inside it or with such large and distinctive collection of preserved artifacts. Among the grave goods were numerous copper pieces, including ear-spools, , copper sheathed wooden knives and 265 repoussé plates. One of the more famous of these copper plates depicts a man's head, possibly severed, in profile, with a Forked Eye motif, an ear-spool, and hair styled into an occipital hair knot from which a single feather projects. The plate measures by . Another of the plates is the avian themed "naturalistic hawk cutout", which measures in width. The plate shows stylistic similarities with the Wulfing plates. Some of the other repoussé copper pieces found include eight examples of copper "feathers" that were worn as hair ornaments. Many of the plates found at Spiro are in the "Braden Style" and are thought by archaeologists to have been imported from Cahokia.


Other locations

Besides the Spiro site, four other plates have been found during excavations at Caddoan Mississippian sites. The Reed Mound in Oklahoma produced a fragmentary Malden style plate thought to be from the same workshop as the Wulfing set. Three other plates were found at the Gahagan Mounds Site in
Red River Parish, Louisiana Red River Parish (French: ''Paroisse de la Rivière-Rouge'') is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,091, making it the fourth-least populous parish in Louisiana. Its seat is Coushatta. ...
in the early 20th century, along with numerous other copper objects including copper covered ear spools and a matched set of large copper long-nosed god maskettes. The plates were large rectangular plaques embossed with concentric circles or squaresFundaburk, ''Sun Circles and Human Hands'' : 107-108 and are similar to the Mount Royal plates from Florida. A matching pair of large thin sheet copper cutout human hands were also found at Gahagan. Two plates were found in a
Plaquemine culture The Plaquemine culture was an archaeological culture (circa 1200 to 1700 CE) centered on the Lower Mississippi River valley. It had a deep history in the area stretching back through the earlier Coles Creek (700-1200 CE) and Troyville culture ...
site in Mississippi. Three fragments of a repoussé plate with an avian design were found in a burial in the Mangum Mound Site in
Claiborne County, Mississippi Claiborne County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,135. Its county seat is Port Gibson. The county is named after William Claiborne, the second governor of the Mississippi Terri ...
in 1936 by a farmer who owned the site. When pieced together the plate was about in width and weighed a total of . The plate had been reinforced and riveted in several places to protect weak spots in the metal. A second plate was found during archaeological excavations at the site in 1963. The Mangum plates stylistically resemble the Rogan plates from Etowah.


Other copper items

Besides the repoussé copper plates, Mississippian people also created copper axes, knives, gorgets, beads, and fishhooks, as well as wooden beads and
ear spool A plug (sometimes earplug or earspool), in the context of body modification, is a short, cylindrical piece of jewelry commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings. Modern western plugs are also called flesh tunnels. Because of their size—which ...
s covered in copper.Welch (1991), Moundville's Economy : 69, 168
Long-nosed god maskette Long-nosed god maskettes are artifacts made from bone, copper and marine shells (Lightning whelk) associated with the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological sites in the Midwestern United States and the Southeastern ...
s, a special kind of ear ornamentation, are sometimes found made of copper. Copper examples have been found at the Gahagan Mounds Site in Louisiana and at the Grant Mound in Florida, each of which produced two of the earpieces. Several copper covered cedar knives were found in the Great Mortuary mound at Spiro. Several matching pairs were found, although of slightly differing lengths, ranging up to long. One set had Weeping eye motifs repousséd into the copper sheathing. A variety of copper and copper covered items have been found at the Moundville Archaeological Site in Alabama, although no copper plates have been found there. Moundville copper artifacts generally consist of copper covered ear spools and tear drop shaped pendants thought to represent trophy scalps. A unique copper piece was discovered at the Emmons Cemetery Site in
Fulton County, Illinois Fulton County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 37,069. Its county seat is Lewistown, and the largest city is Canton. Fulton County comprises the Canton, IL Micropolitan Statistic ...
. It is a wooden by by copper covered object shaped like a human face with a crenelated crown-like decoration on its forehead. It resembles the small human face that makes up part of the headdress of Malden plate A (including the distinctive crenelated crown-like structure) and archaeologists believe it was in fact part of a real headdress.


Gallery

File:Cahokia Birdman tablet HRoe 2012.jpg, Birdman sandstone tablet excavated from Monks Mound in 1971 File:Etowah Dancing Warrior plate HRoe 2013.jpg, Etowah Dancing Warrior plate discovered by W.K. Moorehead File:Reed Mound plate HRoe 2012.jpg, Reed Mound plate, Oklahoma File:Upper Bluff Lake plate HRoe 2012.jpg, Upper Bluff Lake falcon plate, southern Illinois File:Wilcox plate HRoe 2012.jpg, Wilcox plate, western Florida File:Elder birdman plate HRoe 2012.jpg, Elder Birdman plate, Lake Jackson site File:Etowah copper ogee plate.jpg, Ogee motif plate, Etowah File:Stack Plate Number 5 HRoe 2020.jpg, Stack Style Plate 5, Spiro File:Spiro copper replicas HRoe 2005.jpg, Replicas of copper plates and feathers at Spiro, on display at the site museum File:Spiro copper replicas2 HRoe 2005.jpg, Replicas of copper plates, Spiro File:Mississippian copper pendant.jpg, Copper pendant, Moundville File:Moundville copper earspools.jpg, Copper ear spools, Moundville File:Moundville Archaeological Park 56.JPG, Copper headdress ornaments shaped like maces, Moundville File:Copper ornament bussell island.jpg, Abstract copper ornament,
Bussell Island Bussell Island, formerly Lenoir Island, is an island located at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River, at its confluence with the Tennessee River in Loudon County, near the U.S. city of Lenoir City, Tennessee. The island was inhabited by variou ...
, Tennessee


See also

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Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America is the extraction, purification and alloying of metals and metal crafting by Indigenous peoples of the Americas prior to European contact in the late 15th century. Indigenous Americans have been using nativ ...
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Mississippian culture pottery Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine ( ...
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Mississippian stone statuary The Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. Two distinct ...
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Old Copper Complex The Old Copper complex or Old Copper culture is an archaeological culture from the Archaic period of North America's Great Lakes region. Artifacts from some of these sites have been dated from 7500 to 1000 BCE. It is characterized by widesprea ...
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Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes ...


Notes


References

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External links


Copper Breast Plate, Lake Jackson Mounds, Florida


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The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri

The North-South Copper Axis William Fox

Cahokia Copper
{{Pre-Columbian North America Mississippian culture Native American art American Indian relics Artworks in metal Copper sculptures