Little Story For You

[rock]

I like going to artifact I.D. places where people bring in their "old" things they have found for the person or archy to give them a I.D. on them. Twice already out of the 4 times I have gone somebody will bring in fakes claiming they dug them on their properties. The reason these people are doing this is because they want to see if they will pass the collectors. I dont claim to be a expert due to I have only been collecting for around 5 years now but I can spot a fake at times. Just this year back in Jan of 2017 at one of these places no name is needed cause I dont want to down the person running it. A guy brought in not just 1 of his repros but a whole collection of them he or somebody made from my area. I spoke up when I looked at them and looked the guy in the face and he didnt even blink as he told me how he had dug them. The Archy didnt even know they were fakes and actually used one in a example of the class. The red flag for me was no age on the piece and the material was all wrong for the area. Im not saying Coastal Plains chert couldnt of been traded but this was a Paleo. I have never found Coastal Plains chert in my area I hunt this material falls way south of me. I do find pieces from TN and Ala flint in my area which have been traded but never nothing south of me which leads me to believe they traded from the north,east and west.
Just wondering if anyone that actually hunts their area has ever found any traded material south of them and Im not talking 20 miles away which could be local. Coastal Plains chert is a good 75 miles away straight from my home and dont know how many miles it would be by canoe going upstream. rock

 

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[Jon Stewart]

Not sure on that one Rock. I have a source spot in New Mexico that has many many different kinds of chert. One kind is the twin to Flintridge material which is found in Ohio. I brought some of that material to the knap in at Flintridge and no-one could tell the difference. A few of the points the wife and I found this winter was made out of obsidian. We are probably at least 50 miles from the nearest obsidian deposit. My guess would be a rock found in one place could be referred to or by another name in another place. JMHO of course.

As far as bringing fakes to an authenticator: they could keep them on their toes and be used as a learning tool.

 

[bookummdano]

Where are you located. I know coastal plains chert artifacts are prevalent up and down the flint river in ga. Kinchafoonie creek Ga, etc.

 

[Cachefind09]

I hunt in Clark County Ohio and have found Carter Cave pieces from Kentucky which is about 150 miles to the South. Although not in great abundance, occasionally I will find a piece. I have also found a piece of Indiana Green which was sourced about 200 miles to the West.

 

[Rege-PA]

It is not uncommon for paleo people to source good preferred lithic material from up to 100 miles away. They made seasonal stops in their wanderings and would go out of there way to get good material. The big paleo choppers were often times turned into points, burins and scrapers. Kind of like a sheet of plywood that could be turned into many different items until it was all used up. I don`t think any other culture pursued good lithic material on a regular basis more so than the paleo hunters.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I found an Obsidian Triangle Point on one of my Ft Ancient sites here in southern Ohio and there are no sources with a 1000 miles of my area. There were lots of Obsidian pieces found in the Mounds near Chillicothe Ohio that were associated with the Hopewell culture so my guess is someone from the later culture found a broken piece and used the material to make Triangle Points out of it.

 

[Tnmountains]

i have a large drill off the river that looks like coastal chert with fossil inclusions and another drill that looks to be made of that fancy Dakota material. Brain dead can't think of the name of the chert.Both local items. I know your flint looks a lot like mine Rock and I also remember your first post here

 

[The Grim Reaper]

i have a large drill off the river that looks like coastal chert with fossil inclusions and another drill that looks to be made of that fancy Dakota material. Brain dead can't think of the name of the chert.Both local items. I know your flint looks a lot like mine Rock and I also remember your first post here

Knife River Flint

 

[Wyoming Valley Relics]

Maybe my situation is different since other then low grade pebble flints there are no local sources . I find projectiles and tools made of Pennsylvania jasper ranging from paleo all the way to contact and the source is 60+ miles away. One site in particular i find a high concentration of Susquehanna Broad spears (Late Archaic to Early Woodland) 90% of which are made of rhyolite(which is the preferred lithic for this type) and the closest source is 120 miles away and this field is basically carpeted with rhyolite flakes. It's not until closer to contact period I begin to see less of the distant flints and more utilization of the local, low grade pebble flints, as the natives here were getting squeezed out by tribes from the north and south.

 

[quito]

Like Grim, I have found worked Obsidian pieces, but here in eastern S. Dakota.
I also find a fair amount of Knife River Flint from a few hundred miles away, and Bijou Hills quartzite from well over a hundred miles away.
I am near the Sioux River and the last two materials are common along the Missouri river over 100 miles west of me.
I think it is pretty fascinating how far some of these materials traveled.

 

[sandchip]

I think it is pretty fascinating how far some of these materials traveled.

That says it all, brother. I've gotten to where I hate to drive anywhere over 50 miles away.

 

[tonykidd]

I think it is pretty fascinating how far some of these materials traveled.

Especially with less than modern means of travel. Imagine the dangers they faced even a few miles from home, and the hardships they could encounter. It makes their culture even more unique when something as simple as a visit to a neighboring clan could be deadly.

 

[tonykidd]

Where are you located. I know coastal plains chert artifacts are prevalent up and down the flint river in ga. Kinchafoonie creek Ga, etc.

I just heard the term ""kinchafoonees" from an archaeologist in reference to some small points a friend of mine found. They are notched, look similar to a Bolen but without a bevel. It has to be referring to that creek. Is that a common point in that area?

 

[patiodadio]

I hunt in Clark County Ohio and have found Carter Cave pieces from Kentucky which is about 150 miles to the South. Although not in great abundance, occasionally I will find a piece. I have also found a piece of Indiana Green which was sourced about 200 miles to the West.

I live near Carter Caves and found a pice of Mica that was brought / traded from far away. I think they had a very extensive trading network.

 

[Buckleberry]

Generally there were of course extensive trade and travel among NA raw materials, I think the point rock is making that when taken as a whole, an out of range lithic is just another red flag for the artifacts that also didn't have patina and are rare for using especially with regards to paleo.
I believe here in Ohio, although not unheard of many paleo artifacts were not made of flintridge, so seeing one made from that would be one red flag....you wouldn't believe how many flintridge clovis there are on fleabay.

 

[rock]

i have a large drill off the river that looks like coastal chert with fossil inclusions and another drill that looks to be made of that fancy Dakota material. Brain dead can't think of the name of the chert.Both local items. I know your flint looks a lot like mine Rock and I also remember your first post here

So are you trying to say Ive come a long ways or what

 

[jamey]

i found a piece of obsidian in my friends backyard creek.he lived in watertown tn.

 

[Jon Stewart]

I just emptied my knapping tarp in the field next to the RV Park we are in. Someone is going to find Keokuk and obsidian in Texas. That will be a story for someone.

 

[RGINN]

In SW Oklahoma, evidence of a very extensive trade system in all directions, and hundreds of miles, so type of material might not be a major tip off, but since rock hunts that area, it was probably more of a gut instinct, and he most likely nailed it. I can't believe people will try to pass off fake artifacts, as I never buy or sell them, but I guess greed drives a lot of things.