Four Old Copper Culture Artifacts from the Winnipeg River Region of Manitoba, Canada. Many different Old Copper Culture artifacts have been found across southern Manitoba, including adzes, ulus, beads, and knives. Most date between 4000-1000 B.C.E. [2048 x 1530]

These artifacts were cold-hammered and annealed, not smelted. Currently, there's no convincing evidence that the Old Copper Culture smelted any copper, although they technically could after thousands of years of experimenting with copper metalworking. Perhaps it was a religious taboo that kept them from smelting their artifacts.

Artifacts Types from left to right (based on Warren Wittry's 1950-1951 copper artifact typology): I-A, I-D, I-E (top), III-B1 (bottom).