American Indians Metal Casting

American Indians metal casting. There is plenty evidence for the American Indians art of casting pewter. In the mid-1600's, bullet molds are fairly common among the Iroquois Indian and there is also evidence for casting pewter spoons (Beauchamp 1902). However, there is little written or archaeological evidence of brass and copper casting among the American Indian. Brass or copper casting was probably rare or not practiced by American Indians due to difficulty in reaching temperatures high enough to melt the metal (Beauchamp 1902).

Brass Combs:
American Indians southern New England wore decorative brass hair combs with traditional native animal and bifurcate (whale-tail) design designs. Roger Williams' (1973) comments from 1643 about Narragansett casting may indicate that some brass combs were Native-made in the 17th century. Narragansett Indians brass combs have been found in Rhode Island (Turnbaugh 1984). Wampanoag Indians brass hair combs from this time period are found in Rhode Island. The 'kissing animal' designs on these comb, as well as the small 'dot in a circle' design, are very similar to that found on many late prehistoric and early historic bone and antler combs, and supports the theory that combs were manufactured by American Indians (Groce 1980). A similar cast brass comb may have belonged to Ninigret's daughter Weunquesh in the late 1600's (Simmons 1978).

Lead Ornaments:
In the 1600`s, casting lead is well documented among the American Indians of southern New England (Beauchamp 1902). Objects cast from lead include animal effigies, shot, and possibly more complicated gun furniture. Lead casting equipment, including carved steatite molds for pendants and buttons, as well as finished buttons, raw cylinders, musket balls, or chunks of lead and pewter have been found at Fort Shantok, a 17th century Mohegan Indian village. Steatite button molds presumably made by American Indians of Connecticut in the early historic period are also among the Connecticut State Archaeological Collections. Beauchamp (1903) depicts several cast lead effigies, resembling turtles, other animals and humans, made by the American Indians in what is now New York State.

Lead Shot:
In the 17th century, Wampanoag Indians of Rhode Island, as well other Indians of New England, made use of lead shot and European shot molds (Blanchette 1980). American Indians were also quite adept at making their own molds and casting in lead. In William Bradford's narrative of early historic New England, he refers to the mastery of the Native Americans in casting lead shot and other weapon related items: