by JD » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:49 am
Heh heh I can tell this thread is going to wander a lot assuming it survives past this post! <br><br>Here's a nice article on the Superior Copper Problem:<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf090/sf090a01.htm" target="top">www.science-frontiers.com/sf090/sf090a01.htm</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>Missing: 500,000 tons of copper<br><br>For some 1800 years, beginning abruptly about 3000 BC, some industrious peoples mined ore equivalent to 500,000 tons of copper from Michigan's Isle Royale and Keweenaw Peninsula. Who were these mysterious miners, and what happened to all all that copper? It certainly hasn't been found in the relics of North American Indians. And where was the ore smelted? About all the unidentified miners left behind are some of the crude tools they used to pound out chunks of ore from their pit mines (5000 pit mines on Isle Royale alone). Outside of some cairns and slabrock ruins, there is little to help pin down these miners. Mainstream archeologists attribute all these immense labors to a North American "Copper Culture" -- certainly not to copper-hungry visitors from foreign shores. Admittedly, many copper artifacts have been dug up from North American mounds, but only a tiny fraction of the metal the Michigan mines must have yielded. <br><br>Curiously, North American Indian mounds have contained copper sheets made in the shape of an animal hide. Called "reels," their function, if any, is unknown. The reels do, however, resemble oddly shaped copper ingots common in European Bronze Age com merce. Their peculiar shape earned these ingots the name "oxhydes." They have been found in Bronze Age shipwrecks, and are even said to be portrayed in wall paintings in Egyptian tombs. The standardized hide-like shape, with its four convenient handles, was useful in carrying and stacking the heavy ingots. Could the reels from the North American mounds have been copied from the oxhydes? It is tempting to speculate (as we are wont to do) that the Copper Culture miners were actually Europeans, or perhaps Native Americans employed or enslaved by Europeans -- an omen of future, more devastating invasions! (Sodders, Betty; "Who Mined American Copper 5,000 Years Ago?" Ancient American, 1:28, September/October 1993.) <br><br>$$$$$$$$$$$$<br><br>I was first introduced to this topic by a book written by Jim Bailey called "Sailing to Paradise" that covers his idea of the Superior Copper mines in detail. Interesting book; albeit I haven't put a lot of effort into probing its strengths and weaknesses. In trying to find a link that covers its content I found Bailey's obituary. What a fascinating man. RAF fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. Opponent of aparthied and a friend of Mandella. This guy had an interesting life. Worth reading for sure.<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,230989,00.html" target="top">www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,230989,00.html</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>The best and most fair review of the content of Bailey's "Sailing to Paradise" is below (note the references to Atlantis below need to be put into the context that Bailey thought Atlantis was the Americas):<br><br>A stirring read about sea-faring, metal-trading Atlanteans., 1999-02-25<br>Jim Bailey presents the reader with a stirring account of his quest for the lost bronze age Atlanteans. Unlike earlier authors on the subject, Bailey suggests the Atlantean sea trade grew out of the shortage of aluvial tin and copper - the ingredients of bronze - in Mesopotamia around 2000 B.C.E. Bailey theorizes that Mediterranean metal prospectors found their way to the New World, exploiting aluvial sources on the Mississippi and Amazon rivers, as well as in and around Lake Superior. The legacy of these Atlanteans, Bailey holds, can be found in the curious similiarities between Sumerian, Egyptian and Minoan cultures and those of West Africa and ancient Mexico. A chart comparing ancient Greek Linear A Scripts with the Mayaglyphs is indeed intriging. Also are the many similiarities between the enigmatic Indus Valley and Easter Island writings. Bailey puts forth a convincing theory for early global trade, with economic profit as its premise, but periodically exagerates the evidence (a casual mention of sunken Phonecian galleys in the Caribbean, among many more) without concise documentation. Furthermore, the book cites a great deal of evidence from Africa, backed up more by Bailey's personal anicdotes than hard archeological evidence. A strong point of Sailing to Paradise is his comparison of architecture in both Old and New Worlds (the "Atlas" figures carved on pillars in India and Mexico) as well as myths and religions. Of interest to me is the Greek account of Atlas, who ruled Atlantis during the Third Race of Man, compared to the Mexican account of Atl, who created, and then destroyed the Third Age of the World. Overall, an exciting read, one that, like other works on the subject of lost civilizations and Atlantis, must be digested with a grain of salt.<br> <p></p><i></i>
