Bear Ribs
Well-known member
There were extensive copper mines around the great lakes, but the nearest point they could get tin to make bronze was in the southwestern states. Without animals to haul wagons of goods or a viable sea route they just couldn't make the two meet and start up a serious bronze age.Sort of how like the Hittites had iron while everyone else was in the bronze age? That doesn't disprove my point, technological levels are inconsistent. The Indians were on the cusp of entering the bronze age, but failed to push forwards. We know that in Eurasia that the Bronze age by necessity required massive continent wide trade networks to get both copper and tin in the same place. It is very likely that cultures like the Aztecs becoming blockers to trade was what kept the Indians so primitive.
The lack of viable animals to use for anything really hosed the Native Americans as far as getting any industry off the ground.
As a curiosity, there were actually some tribes working iron, notably at Ozette they've found pre-Columbian iron tools in archeological digs. However, the current theory is that they weren't smelting it themselves, but got the iron from Japanese ships.