| The above 3 pictures telescope in view down to the pure copper ore that when struck, bent as does copper rather than broke as would a rock. The ancient miners did their work well: this is the last piece of exposed copper on the site and as such saved this hill from exploitation after the latest 1492 AD European incursion. That is why the main fire marks are at this site. (For use of fire in mining: read the Argonautica in reference to the Chalybes: read early writings on Isle Royal when they could still be seen: read early mining techniques available to ruling Celtic peoples.) The lack of defined fire marks elsewhere indicate this mine was worked in 2 phases. Given the proximity to the entranced of Thermodon, if the first impetus for mining was the early Celtic contact, this mine may be the oldest of all ancient Thermodon Mines. To understand the effect at the mines of the falling water levels on the shores of Thermodon (Brought on by Isostatic upheaval since the last ice age.) one can think of Thermodon as a pitcher of water. During pouring from a pitcher the water level does not change at the lip when at the same time it falls drastically at the back of the pitcher. The lip in this case is the shore of Thermodon at the present city of Sault St. Marie that has remained relatively stationary while the rising back of the pitcher is the shore nearest the city of Nipigon. The mines being closer to Sault St. Marie would have experienced a lesser amount of change then the shores near Nipigon. [For those already acquainted with my work I will word it another way. The closer to the Iroquois village (The oral tradition of the Ojibwas speaks of a time when they were brothers of the Iroquois and is born out by the Argonautica: see Busch on the Amazon Iroquois confederacy of 3 nations, one of which threw darts – the atlatls found by archaeologists on the upper Mississippi: also see recent archaeological excavation near Echo Bay for a new highway were Iroquois pottery was found in what was described as a large village as described by the ancient Greeks called Temiscyre.) of Temiscyre (from the Argonautica) at the outlet of Thermodon, the smaller was the water level change.] |
