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Evidence of Early Metalworking in Arctic Canada
Article first published online: 1 DEC 2014
DOI: 10.1002/gea.21497
Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Sutherland, P. D., Thompson, P. H. and Hunt, P. A. (2015), Evidence of Early Metalworking in Arctic Canada. Geoarchaeology, 30: 74–78. doi: 10.1002/gea.21497
Publication History
- Issue published online: 16 DEC 2014
- Article first published online: 1 DEC 2014
- Manuscript Accepted: 2 AUG 2014
- Manuscript Revised: 1 AUG 2014
- Manuscript Received: 10 MAR 2014
Funded by
- The Government of Canada Program for International Polar Year. Grant Number: 2006-SRI-MD-142
- Canadian Museum of Civilization and Memorial University of Newfoundland
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
This paper examines new evidence related to an early (pre-Columbian) European presence in Arctic Canada. Artifacts from archaeological sites that had been assumed to relate to pre-Inuit indigenous occupations of the region in the centuries around A.D. 1000 have recently been recognized as having been manufactured using European technologies. We report here on the SEM-EDS analysis of a small stone vessel recovered from a site on Baffin Island. The interior of the vessel contains abundant traces of copper–tin alloy (bronze) as well as glass spherules similar to those associated with high-temperature processes. These results indicate that it had been used as a crucible. This artifact may represent the earliest evidence of high-temperature nonferrous metalworking in the New World north of Mesoamerica.
