Ancient American Magazine Hopewell 250AD Archaeoastronomy: The Yost Earthworks : Page 2

Ancient American • Issue Number 98 An Ancient American Exclusive---ncient American has learned of a potentially important archaeo-logical discovery made during July 2012, but only now disclosed to the general public. It took place just across the northern Wisconsin border from Lake Gogebic, the largest lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. While searching there for “float copper” ---metallic specimens dropped millennia ago by retreating glaciers ---scuba diver Scott Mitchen and his colleagues instead discerned traces of what appeared to be a very old, possibly prehistoric village site ris-ing partially from under the surface of another smaller lake to above water on the shore. Probing its sunken founda-tions, they found a cache of copper points and objects resembling ladies hairpins from Victorian times. A Imperial Roman Artifacts Found in Wisconsin by Frank Joseph a. Copper and bronze artifacts discovered by Scott Mitchen in Northern Wisconsin, summer 2012. Copper point (a.) w as cleaned to reveal its true copper color. b. c. d. e. f. g. The five points were arrow-heads and spearheads of exceptionally high quality, but the real identity of the other six pieces was unknown until last December when Ancient American publisher, Wayne May, visit-ed Italy’s Villa Giulia Museum in Rome. While examining its rich collec-tion of Classical Era artifacts retrieved from Andalusia, he found himself in front of a mounted display of six Roman items described as “Stli per scrittura su tavolette cerate” or “writ-ing styluses [sic] for wax tablets.” Their physical resemblance to the Wisconsin “hairpins” discovered by Scott Mitchen convinced May that both sets were styli. A stylus is an instrument made of metal, bone, or some similar-ly hard material configured to resem-ble a thin, elongated pencil and used for writing on a pliable medium. It is pointed at one end for impressing or 2 carving letters or characters into clay or wax. The opposite flat and circular end is handy for erasing what has been written. This early form of writing utensil was invented by Iran/Iraq’s Late 4th Millennium B.C. Sumerians wrote in cuneiform on soft clay tablets with stiff reeds plucked from a type of tall grass-like plant that grew profuse-ly throughout Mesopotamia’s Fertile Crescent. Egyptians likewise took advantage of reeds flourishing along the banks of the Nile River, but wrote on improved erasable wax tablets, while Minoans preferred bone styli to etch their Linear A script and Cretan hieroglyphs on clay left to dry and harden in direct sunlight before being inscribed. "Stylus" comes from the Latin word stilus, a pointed “stake,” itself derived from the earlier Greek tsilis for “pillar.” The Greeks intro-duced metal styli, and both bronze and iron versions were familiar to Roman writers. Erasure handles of the Italian specimens identify them as Roman examples of a common inexpensive type owned by students, bureaucrats, Writing Styluses on display at Italy’s Villa Giulia Museum in Rome c. d. Bronze stylus (d.) and smelted copper point (c.) acquired by Wayne May from Scott Mitchen

Imperial Roman Artifacts Found In Wisconsin

Frank Joseph

An Ancient American Exclusive--- Ancient American has learned of a potentially important archaeological discovery made during July 2012, but only now disclosed to the general public. It took place just across the northern Wisconsin border from Lake Gogebic, the largest lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. While searching there for “float copper” --- metallic specimens dropped millennia ago by retreating glaciers --- scuba diver Scott Mitchen and his colleagues instead discerned traces of what appeared to be a very old, possibly prehistoric village site rising partially from under the surface of another smaller lake to above water on the shore. Probing its sunken foundations, they found a cache of copper points and objects resembling ladies hairpins from Victorian times. The five points were arrowheads and spearheads of exceptionally high quality, but the real identity of the other six pieces was unknown until last December when Ancient American publisher, Wayne May, visited Italy’s Villa Giulia Museum in Rome. While examining its rich collection of Classical Era artifacts retrieved from Andalusia, he found himself in front of a mounted display of six Roman items described as “Stli per scrittura su tavolette cerate” or “writing styluses [sic] for wax tablets.” Their physical resemblance to the Wisconsin “hairpins” discovered by Scott Mitchen convinced May that both sets were styli. A stylus is an instrument made of metal, bone, or some similarly hard material configured to resemble a thin, elongated pencil and used for writing on a pliable medium. It is pointed at one end for impressing or carving letters or characters into clay or wax. The opposite flat and circular end is handy for erasing what has been written. This early form of writing utensil was invented by Iran/Iraq’s Late 4th Millennium B.C. Sumerians wrote in cuneiform on soft clay tablets with stiff reeds plucked from a type of tall grass-like plant that grew profusely throughout Mesopotamia’s Fertile Crescent. Egyptians likewise took advantage of reeds flourishing along the banks of the Nile River, but wrote on improved erasable wax tablets, while Minoans preferred bone styli to etch their Linear A script and Cretan hieroglyphs on clay left to dry and harden in direct sunlight before being inscribed. "Stylus" comes from the Latin word stilus, a pointed “stake,” itself derived from the earlier Greek tsilis for “pillar.” The Greeks introduced metal styli, and both bronze and iron versions were familiar to Roman writers. Erasure handles of the Italian specimens identify them as Roman examples of a common inexpensive type owned by students, bureaucrats, accountants, and other record-keepers. The more designed erasure handles of 2012s northern Wisconsin styli indicate that they were produced during the early-to-middle Imperial Era, from the late 1st century B.C. to the turn of the 3rd century A.D., when they likely belonged to someone of prominence, being more ornate and costly models than the Villa Giulia finds. Ancient American purchased one of Mitchen’s styli (d.) For closer study. It is exactly four inches long, weighs .02 ounces, and appears to have been made of bronze, an observation yet to be confirmed by future professional testing. Although no other Imperial Era styli have so far been found in the Badger State, they are not the only artifacts from that period discovered in Wisconsin. During early 1994, Fred Kingman was searching the banks of the Wisconsin River for 19th Century artifacts, when his metal-detector alerted him to a cache of coins minted in 4th Century Rome, and subsequently authenticated by James P. Scherz, then Professor of Surveying and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. These coins lend additional credence to Scott Mitchen’s styli, the cultural diffusionist significance of which is revealed by their presence in the Upper Peninsula of the Great Lakes. It was here that the most ambitious mining enterprise in all antiquity occurred, when a minimum of 125,000 tons of the world’s highest-grade copper was excavated by unknown persons, mostly between 3000 B.C. and 1200 B.C., only to disappear from North America. During subsequent centuries, the pits were occasionally and sporadically re-opened and closed, again by unidentified miners who extracted far less of the metal than quantities removed during previous operations. Native American tribal inhabitants preferred the easier process of simply picking up small nodules of “float copper” whenever and wherever they could be found for personal adornment purposes. Unconventional investigators conclude that Upper Peninsula copper was shipped overseas to Europe and the Near East for the production of bronze. If so, the Wisconsin styli may have belonged to Roman accountants who used them to tally up and record on wax tablets amounts of Great Lakes copper excavated and loaded aboard freighters for their long homeward voyage. These possibilities are reinforced by the Michigan border styli in company with spearheads, which, for their exceptional workmanship and elegant style, are more reminiscent of similar blades in the ancient Old World than cruder counterparts typical of pre- Columbian America. If Mitchen’s discovery were the only one of its kind ever made, it might be dismissed as entirely anomalous, however intriguing. But the objects he found are actually part of abundant physical evidence for ancient Roman influence throughout the Americas, as documented in previous issues of this magazine. Dozens of authenticated, Roman Era coins have come to light in Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin while dozens more Roman amphorae--storage jars--were found under water off the shores of Rio de Janeiro. Within the context of such artifactual profusion, Wisconsin’s styli join a growing body of proof confirming the indelible impact visitors from Imperial Rome made on the prehistory of our continent. Sources: Adkins, Lesley and Roy A., Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, NY: Facts on File; updated edition, 2004. Alcock, Joan, Life in Ancient Rome, UK: The History Press, 2009. Casson, Lionel, Everyday Life in Ancient Rome, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press; revised & enlarged edition, 1999. Cowell, F. R., Life in Ancient Rome, NY: Perigee Trade, 1976. Rydholm, Fred C., Michigan Copper: the Untold Story, MI: Winter Cabin Books, 2006.

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