copper plates: Mississippian mound builder art

[swamp monkey]

I found reference to a cedar mask that is of interest here.  It was a Mississippian era eastern red cedar mask. . .  human face effigy really.  Kinda small to be a real mask.  Any way it was carved and covered with a thin sheet of copper.  Then two falcon masked were painted over the eyes to go on the cheeks.  I will try to post something that explains that in a picture. 

The reason I posted it is it shows SOME copper art was embellished with paint.  I am not saying all of it was but this one for sure was.

[riverrat]

nice work. soon as i seen that "sucker fish" my first thought is wow that looks more like a "buffalo fish" which they probley ate smoked on a rack cause its easy to bow fish and spear them as opposed to suckers which stay out in the water further from shore. lol i like your work. thats really nice.Tony

[Del the cat]

Very cool work... I love working copper.
Del

[swamp monkey]

nice work. soon as i seen that "sucker fish" my first thought is wow that looks more like a "buffalo fish" which they probley ate smoked on a rack cause its easy to bow fish and spear them as opposed to suckers which stay out in the water further from shore. lol i like your work. thats really nice.Tony

Since I posted that copper "sucker fish" I have studied a number of whelk shell engravings from Spiro OK.  Some of them have fish.  Everyone of those fish looks a lot like a buffalo fish. One of the shell drawings is pictured below.   Now I wonder if that copper fish wasn't meant to be a buffalo. Interesting that you interpreted that buffalo right away.

[riverrat]

i bow fished for them many a time. as well as took a few with a leister spear i made wayyyy back.i have studied from books some of the cultures in my neck of the woods. and they ate those buffalo fish. that top fin gives it away for me. ive smoked them over a slow fire on willow racks. good eating really.now of days i can them up. call them poor mans salmon. thats what it tastes and smells like.wish i was skilled like that . id make me a copper neck piece with that fish on it.Tony

[riverrat]

buffalo fish, native to north America

[swamp monkey]

Here is that cedar maskette that had copper and paint on it.  The green residue is copper the white falcon eye motif is paint.  This maskette was found in Fulton County Illinois and is a Mississippian Era artifact from a mound building culture.  It was not a full mask in size.  It likely was secured to a headdress.

[swamp monkey]

Below is an image of copper plates found in Southeast Missouri.  The Malden plates are referenced numerous times when it comes to Mississippian icons and copper art.  They were found in Dunklin County Missouri near the town of Malden.  The other plate is a lesser known plate that was found at a Mississippian site in southern Bollinger County Missouri. 

This will be inspiration for future projects this winter.  What I have drawn here is a reconstruction of each plate.  Most were damaged by the ravages of time and the elements.

[riverrat]

from the looks of it it was probley this extinct bird it ranged from newyork state to mexico.

[Trapper Rob]

You do beautiful work.

[swamp monkey]

Here a few new copper plate replicas:
The first one is from Lake Jackson Florida.  This bird man dancer has an elaborate headdress including a bi-lobed arrow, a stone mace, what looks like a shell club, and a bird mask. 
Second is a plate from Spiro Oklahoma that features a warrior head surrounded by arrowheads. 

The copper scrap from this was contributed to my copper blade project in the primitive skills section.

[swamp monkey]

Another Malden MO copper plate (H) and another from Sprio OK.

The last one is a dancing bird man theme from Union County Illinois.  I fauxed up a patina for an artsy look and mounted it. 

Thanks for looking. 

[swamp monkey]

In 2016 i tried my best to improve my copper plate art skills.  I recreated all 8 of the Malden copper plates and some others.  I am getting better at not leaving tool marks but i still want to get better.

Thanks for looking.