Ancient Copper Peoria Falcon Art Tile

Ancient Copper Peoria Falcon Art Tile ...‘Ancient Copper Peoria Falcon’ Broken corroded condition found before 1859 CE on the shore of Peoria Lake, Peoria IL, USA. Exact location, exact date found, discoverer: all remain a mystery. Approximately Dated to: 1000 CE to 1200 CE (but see more below). Age: According to this it would be 823 yrs to 1023 yrs old. Depending whether you assume 3 or 4 generations per 100 yrs … or 823 or 1023 yrs gives Between 25 to 40 generations ago (but see more below). Although called the Peoria Falcon (as it was found in the town of Peoria) … The actual Peoria (Peewaareewa) people were not always just in Peoria though … They came here from Iowa having generally moved around as indigenous peoples did. Period: Definitely Pre Columbian (before 1492 CE) … possibly Pre Leif Erikson (before 1000 CE). The Peoria spoke a dialect of the Miami-Illiniwek language, a Central Algonquian language. The Ancient Copper Peoria Falcon is also associated with the dozen earthen burial mounds found on the shore of Peoria Lake, a few still found there today … “A group of 12 ‘Middle Woodland’ period (200 BCE to 400 CE), ‘Havana-Hopewell’ burial mounds”. But, note the earlier date … some 600 to 1200 yrs earlier than the earliest date given above. So, could this possibly imply an earlier possible date for the Peoria Falcon? Please note … No name is known for the peoples living at the time of the Peoria Falcon. It is ‘Pre Peoria’. Possibly ancient ancestors of the Peoria. Early Illinois people. The Peoria Falcon was mostly bilaterally symmetrical so to create the fuller look I took the more complete side and copied it to the broken side and immediately could see other animals in its design: A realistic squirrel, a lion?, a beaver?, a racoon. The falcon’s fat feathered legs and 4 toe claws are difficult to see … But are spread out bordered by cut out areas and the claws seem to be carrying a snake? A broken slave chain? Imagine the dancer story-teller wearing this polished copper falcon as a headdress or as a breastplate reflecting the pulsating flickering campfire light in front of his audience … many as children. The First Americans arrived between 23,000 to 33,000 yrs ago. That is some 700 to 1,320 generations ago. Or roughly 11 x the time since the early Egyptian Dynasties! The period of this is called Mississippian Woodland and this particular work has been identified to represent a Peregrine Falcon important to this culture. It is exciting to learn that the local indigenous native Americans discovered pure copper deposits in what now is the upper Michigan peninsula and on the nearby Lake Superior island now called Isle Royale ... circa 7,500 BC to 6,500 BC ... so 9,500 years ago to 8,500 years ago where they continued to gather it to make practical tools such as pins, needles, hooks, awls, projectile points, and knives for their own use as well as for trade which means this became an industry here in that time for thousands of years. Eventually as their culture developed into a hierarchy the remaining pure copper was apparently reserved for ceremonial or decorative purposes for the elite. The copper was traded and found as far south as present Alabama. The Peregrine Falcon was an important theme in this region. I thought I could see a squirrel at the top with its ear tops touching the falcon necklace, its eyes reflecting light, and its front paws holding a nut ... the nut becoming the nose of another mammal ... that could be about anything like a lion or a beaver or anything. Interestingly, I read that the squirrel was known to represent a warning of trouble ahead. At around this time the indigenous native American culture was in a decline or about to ... especially when Columbus and other Europeans arrived bringing viruses for which indigenous native Americans had no immunity ... as well as Europeans enslaving the native Americans ... such that most of the indigenous Native Americans did not survive.