Copper Objects 119 



of the awl and needle forms common in Wisconsin and Michigan, when 

 they possessed so many axes, plates, and designs in sheet copper. It 

 has been the experience of both C. B. Moore and Professor Mills that 

 the mound copper of the Ohio Valley and the South is confined exclu- 

 sively to ornaments, plates, and axes. The utility tools, such as awls, 

 needles, and gouges, do not seem to have passed beyond the confines 

 of Michigan and Wisconsin. 



Next to axes and adzes, plates were the most numerous of the larger 

 pieces. At least fifty more or less perfect examples were obtained, and 

 counting the many fragments, it seems probable that over a hundred 

 were originally placed with the various burials and deposits. The 

 largest plate was about 24 cm long and 14 cm wide, while the smallest 

 observed was 12 cm long and 6.5 cm wide. I should judge the average 

 size to be about 15 by 10 cm. The plates were not quite as thin as the 

 sheet copper designs, but varied considerably in thickness, the heaviest 

 being about 3 mm thick and the thinnest about 1.5 mm. 



One would like very much to know why the heavy axes and adzes 

 over skeletons 260 and 261, and the thick copper plates and eagle 

 effigies, were often badly oxidized, while the thin sheet-copper designs 

 of the other deposits were (for the most part) well preserved. The 

 surfaces of numbers of the copper tools are much pitted, whereas many 

 of the thin sheets retain nearly their original form. One would naturally 

 suppose that the frail geometric designs would disintegrate more rapidly. 

 Possibly the quantity of bark surrounding them and the absence of 

 contact with human remains aided in their preservation. Willoughby 

 suggests that the thin sheets were of purer copper and more highly 

 finished, which made them less liable to decay. 



A plate of typical form, found with one of the skeletons, is shown 

 in Plate LV, No. 1. Willoughby has drawn outlines of some of the 

 plates illustrating variations in sizes (Fig. 15). The central plate e was 

 found with skeleton 199. Plate LV, No. 2, shows a more specialized 

 form of plate found in the sheet-copper deposits. It is a rather narrow 

 rectangle, with three small holes drilled at either end. While classed 

 with the plates, it is somewhat different and much thinner and, as 

 stated, lay with the deposit of copper designs. On many of the plates 

 there were traces of cloth, and on others slight indications of fur or hair, 

 as though they had been wrapped in skins. Most of the plates were 

 perforated, and appeared to have been worn on the person. On one 

 side of the smallest copper plate found, which was with skeleton 199, 

 there were remains of a fringe made of twisted fibre of some kind. 

 Sinews, running from one hole to another, showed the method of attach- 



