Analysis of the Copper Bead from Calf Island,Massachusetts

Given the increasing interest in copper analysis and the relative scarcity of prehistoric copper artifacts in the Northeast, those of us with unpublished data have an obligation to make them available to other researchers. Therefore, this article presents new metric and chemical data on a copper bead from the Calf Island site, a Late Woodland fishing and hunting camp in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. In addition, several new radiocarbon dates from the site are presented and discussed. It is suggested that beads may have been increasing in quantity and variety during the Late Woodland period in eastern Massachusetts.