Seppo Renfors wrote:

snip

http://www.rocklakeresearch.com/history.htm

snip

Whatever you might think about their theories, there is one thing that
is particularly interesting there - the claimed hiatus of mining
between 1200 BC and 900 AD. Didn't you see that?

Seppo,

This claim flies in the face of the evidence of copper from the
UP of Michigan being used from ca. 7000 ybp through the coming
of the French. The Old Copper complex dates from about 3000 BC
to something like 1000 BC (depending on location).
Mississippian cultures began about 800-900 AD, and also used
copper. I wonder why these two dates were chosen by the
website's authors. I suspect it might have had to do with the
florescence of the Old Copper Complex and the rise of the
Mississippian cultures; although they clearly relate those dates
to events in Europe, too.

However, copper use never stopped, and mining in the UP of
Michigan continued. Red Ochre, Hopewell, Effigy Mound,
Mississippian, Oneota (ca. 400 BC--European contact) were all
manifestations of Indian culture in the American midwest that
used copper. Most of the copper was from the areas we've been
discussing.

There was no hiatus in copper mining.

Tom McDonald