Fire cracked Rock at campsite and possible Nutting Stone

[cloudboy]

Hello. I was checking my usual hotspot (at a flat area in the first fork in a branch upstream from where it empties into a navigable creek). There are lots of leaves so I didn't see any flint pieces but I kept looking at the hundreds, possibly thousands of red and cracked rocks strewn along the branch there. You don't see these very much in the branch other than this area. I haven't found many good photos of "Fire-Cracked Rock" but I'm assuming that's what this is. I took 4 rocks nearby and took this photo of them, there are many more.

The 2nd and 3rd photos are of a decently sized rock I found in the branch. There are many rocks with natural looking holes in them, but this one definitely looks ground to me. Is it a cupstone? It definitely felt smoother in the depression than along the rest of the rock. I've never found one so I wasn't sure. I'm not sure it shows in the photo but it's quite circular.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Sorry, it is natural stone, called omars, often found in streams and creeks

 

[cloudboy]

Sorry, it is natural stone, called omars, often found in streams and creeks

Interesting, I hadn't heard of those. Are they often found in Kentucky?

Here's a top down

Also, regardless, the other rocks are burnt, right?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Omarolluk, Omar's for short are found anywhere the glaciers were during last ice age, the glaciers moved them south into US as the glaciers moved.out of Northern Canada.

Found in multiple locations and Kentucky is one of the states. I have found them in Missouri, Illinois and I know they are found in upper Midwest states and North West and North East too.

Here is another large one.

 

[CreekSide]

Cooking stones are usually a quartzite/ sandstone grainy type of rocks.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Fire cracked rocks around here are mostly pieces of quartzite. Very common. Those rocks were used for cooking food. Heat the rock in fire then put it in a clay pot with food to heat it. Heating and quenching the rocks eventually cracks them.

 

[cloudboy]

Fire cracked rocks around here are mostly pieces of quartzite. Very common. Those rocks were used for cooking food. Heat the rock in fire then put it in a clay pot with food to heat it. Heating and quenching the rocks eventually crack them.

I know very little about geology. Is that what I have here? Quartzite Sandstone? It seems to have been a camp since I've found very many lithic flakes scattered around right there above the stream. These cracked rocks are everywhere around there. Makes you wonder... how many people were there...

I'm still confused about the omar since I didn't think glaciers came this far south.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I know very little about geology. Is that what I have here? Quartzite Sandstone? It seems to have been a camp since I've found very many lithic flakes scattered around right there above the stream. These cracked rocks are everywhere around there. Makes you wonder... how many people were there...

I'm still confused about the omar since I didn't think glaciers came this far south.

No one knows for sure exactly how far south the glaciers extended, it is known for sure Glaciers reached northern Kentucky and pushed land and rocks hundreds of miles further south.

"Glacial deposits (Qg).--Glacial deposits are shown along and near the Ohio River Valley on all three sheets of the geologic map. Glacial deposits are thickest and most extensive in north-central Kentucky (sheet 2), where they reach an aggregate thickness of several hundred feet. The unit consists chiefly of outwash, till, and lacustrine deposits. These deposits mantle the preglacial landscape and indicate the sequential advance and retreat of glacial ice in north-central Kentucky."

USGS Professional Paper 1151-H: The Geology of Kentucky: Quaternary System

 

[ToddsPoint]

I'm still confused about the omar since I didn't think glaciers came this far south.

This is likely what your Omar originally looked like in the original sedimentary deposit. Your rock was freed from the deposit and then a round concretion like in this pic eroded away, leaving the pocket in your rock. All natural and untouched by man.