Chemical analysis of copper and brass samples from Christian Island, Georgian Bay, Ontario

One hundred and eighty-seven metal samples, recovered from the fortified mission of Ste. Marie II and nearby villages in Christian Island, include 3 samples of native copper, 22 samples of European copper, 19 samples of brassy copper (≤ 8% Zn), 141 brass samples and 2 samples of lead. The European copper samples from 5 distinct chemical groups, possibly coming from 5 different copper kettles. The brassy copper samples are more difficult to group. When the brass samples are sorted by Ag and As, they from 2 major groupings: group 1 with high Ag and low As contents; group 2 with similar Ag and As contents through to low Ag and high As contents. Group 1 consisted of 11 chemical sub-groups and 6 outlier s, while group 2 contributed 14 sub-groups and 14 outlier s. This combines to give a total of 45 potentially unrelated brass chemistries, and leads to the possibility of as few as 20 different brass trading items (mainly kettles) from which the samples were cut. The small sub-sets of samples from the sites away from Ste. Marie II tended to fit within chemical groups found there, suggesting some possible inter-site contemporaneity. (author). 21 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs