[blam]

"Research shows that a lot of the copper used in Europe 1,000 years before Columbus came from somewhere in the midwest."

I have some suspicions along this line too but, I don't think there's any 'proof' what-so-ever.

The Phoenicians blocked the Straits Of Gibralter to keep other nations from getting the plentiful tin (used to make bronze) from England.(an over-land trade route through France to the Mediterranean was busy then...the route is still visible today)

The Phoenicians may have been secretly running copper from Michigan during this period. There does seem to be a lot of copper 'misssing' that isn't accounted for in American Indian sites.

BTW:
* Tin and copper = bronze
* Zinc and copper = brass

[stockpirate]

I recently read where they have compared The Michigan copper to copper used in the Mediterranean area and it is the same copper.