Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry analysis of copper-based artifacts from Southern Ontario and the chronology of the indirect contact period.pdfVIP

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6 (2016) 332–341 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: /locate/jasrep Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry analysis of copper-based artifacts from Southern Ontario and the chronology of the indirect contact period Alicia L. Hawkins a,?, Joseph A. Petrus b, Lisa Marie Anselmi c, Gary Crawford d a School of the Environment, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada b Department of Earth Sciences, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada c Department of Anthropology, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, NY 14222, USA d Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississagua Road, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada article info Article history: Received 15 May 2015 Received in revised form 10 February 2016 Accepted 20 February 2016 Available online 5 March 2016 Keywords: LA-ICP-MS Native copper European copper Brass Late Iroquoian Indirect contact period Ontario abstract Samples of copper-based artifacts from four components from three Late Iroquoian archaeological sites in southern Ontario were analysed using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. Compositional analysis showed that the concentrations of Ni, Zn, As, Ag, Sn, Sb, Au, Bi, Co, In and Pb clearly differentiate North American native copper from European-introduced smelted copper and brass. Together with radiocarbon dates, this indicates the presence of trade metals on Iroquoian sites in the early to mid sixteenth century, well in advance of a European presence in the region. The small sample analysed suggests that red brass appears earlier than yellow brass, and trade metals may be found at sites in the Lake Ontario drainage before they are found in the southern Georgian Bay area. ? 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND lic