While Metal Detecting Along A River In Wisconsin, A Man Found A 3,000-Year-Old Spearhead Made In The Great Lakes Region
Three decades ago, a man took up metal detecting as a hobby—and now, it has certainly paid off. Along the Root River in Racine, Wisconsin, 65-year-old Dick Banaszak stumbled across a 3,000-year-old spearhead.
Upon making the discovery, he knew that the artifact had a rich historical background. The year prior, he had found an incomplete Copper Culture arrow point.
“I went and sat under a tree,” Banaszak, a retired Public Works employee, said about the discovery. “Just sat there, picked the dirt off it, and was like, ‘Wow, this is thousands of years old; it was amazing, and now I have it in my hand.”
Afterward, he went home and excitedly shared details of the find on the social networking site Reddit. Several users expressed their thoughts, with one suggesting that it was a Copper Culture spearhead and another saying it was just a fence topper.
Banaszak brought the spearhead to the archaeology department at the local university and informed them about the artifact. It was confirmed to be a Copper Culture socketed-tang spear point dating back around 3,000 years ago.
According to the Milwaukee Public Museum, Old Copper Culture refers to the tools that people from the Great Lakes region of North America made, possibly beginning around 4000 B.C. The museum houses one of the largest collections of Copper Culture artifacts in the world.
Over the years, it is believed that tens of thousands of Old Copper Culture artifacts have been uncovered. Museum experts think that number would be greater if it weren’t for early European settlers in North America melting them down to forge new items.
Old Copper Culture items are only found in the Great Lakes region. Banaszak lives in the southernmost section, and discovering such an artifact there is even rarer than in the northern areas.
When Banaszak updated Reddit users on the spearhead, many commenters congratulated him on the rare find. One user pointed out that the spearhead may be one of the last of its kind since the use of copper was becoming more restricted by 3,000 years ago.
Don – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
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Banaszak plans to get a special display case for the ancient arrowhead. Someday, he will pass it on to his son, who he used to go metal detecting with when he was growing up.
“It’s something I’m pretty passionate about,” Banaszak remarked. “I’ve told a few of my friends about the Copper Culture, and they’ve looked it up, and they were pretty fascinated by it. I’d like to see other people get out and enjoy what I like to do.”
Back in May, another significant discovery was made by archaeologists in Wisconsin. They unearthed 10 dugout canoes from Lake Mendota that date back about 4,500 years. Overall, the findings indicate that the region was once an important site for ancient peoples.
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