Artifact Collecting
Finding Old Copper Complex artifacts is a time consuming endeavor. Through 30+ years of collecting we have searched woods, plowed fields, river banks and reservoir beaches. No matter where we have successfully hunted, the common denominator has always been water, every site where we found copper artifacts has been near water. This should not be surprising since networks of rivers and lakes have always been the highway system for ancient peoples.
In order to successfully locate the lakes and rivers as they were in the period of the Old Copper Complex you need U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps. Careful study can show you the location of river courses before they were dammed for hydro-electric power generation and flood control purposes. Many of the Old Copper Complex sites we have worked are only exposed when the water level of rivers and reservoirs are lowered in the Fall of the year to accomodate snow melt run-off in the Spring or during periods of little or no rain when water levels fall.
Armed with your topo map, round point shovel, garden trowel, rubber knee boots and metal detector you
can now head to the field. Without this last item, a metal detector, you are going to do a monumental amount of digging and come up, almost assuredly, empty handed. We use 6 different metal detectors in our artifact hunting. What you will quickly find is that without a good metal detector you will become frustrated in your search. By way of example you will see pictured below 3 groups of artifacts displayed on an orange background, these were found over a period of almost 20 years by a husband and wife with a summer cottage on a reservoir in nothern Wisconsin who walked the lake shore for exercise whenever the water was low. These artifacts were all found without the use of a metal detector, but remember, it took almost 20 years to find them. On the other hand, the artifacts displayed in the case below were all found at a single site in one collecting season with the use of metal detectors, quite a difference.
Our metal detectors with a variety of different heads for various conditions
Notice the 3 spots of native silver on this socketed point
Copper artifacts found over a period of almost 20 years without the aid of a metal detector
More artifacts found without a metal detector
Copper artifacts found at a single site with the use of metal detectors by my father, Dr. E.W. Johnson
Low water with lots of open ground with the original river course delineated on the Rainbow Flowage in northern Wisconsin
Unfortunately this is how you usually find river and reservoir sites
When you check back a few months later you may get lucky and find the same site as above looking like this site.
Artifacts wash out of the sandy bank and are found in the sand at low water on the exposed beach
In undeveloped areas the only way to access sites is with a boat or walk through miles of woods, yours truly at a siite.
Just as with rock and mineral specimens, a good place to look for copper artifacts is in the roots of uprooted trees such as at the site shown here.
Same site with the water up
Island Site during high water, during low water you can walk to the island
Site where all the copper artifacts shown in the case 9 photos above were found.
Site only partially exposed, time to get out the boots or swimsuit and hunt the shallow water.
As the water goes down many small islands have exposed areas that can be hunted
The first site we worked more than 25 years ago and still producing artifacts today
When the water is this low you hunt artifacts no matter what the weather is like, overcast and raining like this makes little difference, you hunt while you can because the water will not stay low
Artifact hunting is like other outdoor hobbies, do it responsibly. Never disturb Native American burials, if these are are going to be disturbed, these should be left to archeologists to excavate properly. Ask for permission before hunting on private property. Leave the area you have hunted so no one can tell you have been there, if you dig a hole fill it in before you leave, don't leave trash behind. Do these things and you will be welcomed back again.
If you decide to go artifact hunting remember that you can expect to look for a long time before you find that first artifact. Unless you do some homework before going you may be disappointed with the results. Expect to dig a lot of holes and turn up pull tabs, bottle tops, aluminum cans, lead sinkers, metal fishing lures, and scrap metal of all kinds. Some areas in northern Wisconsin have a great deal of magnetite which can drive you crazy. The new higher end detectors have the ability to discriminate between metals and can save a great deal of digging and frustration once you learn how to use them.
Good Luck!
My father and I hunting in Northern Wisconsin September 2004
The results of a successful artifact hunt.
