My Whitey

[Sheperdess]

I would like to know what this is, how old is it and what is the rock it is made from. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

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[Sheperdess]

And the other side.

 

[Tnmountains]

There has been some discussion and rumors of a white flint lately. Your looks like a fluted scraper which does not make much sense? Lets see what some of these arrowhead gurus say.

 

[NC field hunter]

For the white flint, I always heard my dad call milky quartz flint. But, that means nothing. I think you have a Folsom that is broken or was broken then reworked to use as a scraper. That is a beautiful artifact.

 

[wells]

More pics. would be helpful. Looks like the original intention was to make a fluted point and the first flute dove down and took off some of the tip. Looks like the base was never prepared for removal of flute on the other side. Maybe it was used as is - does look like a scraper. Cant help on the lithic materials from your area. It is a beautiful specimen !

 

[Twitch]

Looks like a paleo fluted point, ~12,000 years old, that was broken in the manufacturing process. Possibly then reworked into a scraping tool. The flint looks like a white flint or maybe a chalcedony. Really cool piece. Welcome to the site.

 

[Sheperdess]

Here are some new pictures, if you think it will help.

 

[Sheperdess]

There you go.

 

[Sheperdess]

Here is the last one.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

The material looks like Chalcedony to me and it's either a failed attempt at a Clovis Point or it's from and impact fracture.

 

[wells]

The mystery deepens - very tiny isnt it ? From your first pics. i thought it was 2 or 3 inches long.

 

[BosnMate]

My Smithsonian Rocks and Minerals Handbook that I just purchased at the gold show, says chalcedony is a microcrystalline variety of quartz, which includes jasper and agate. Chalcedony can also be a dehydration form of opal. By comparing photographs of the artifact and the picture in the book, I agree with twitch and reaper, it sure looks like chalcedony to me. I've been told that if you really don't know what it is, call it "chert," and the book says chert and flint are in the same family of sedimentary rocks. Quartz and chalcedony are oxides, and the milk quartz doesn't have the opal like sheen this point has, so I'm thinking it's a really neat if not head scratching, opaque white chalcedony biface with a waxy luster. Sometime in my fog shrouded past I recollect being told that really hard rocks like jasper and chert were many times heat treated before being knapped, and going along with that I was told you could tell a heat treated, annealed artifact will have a waxy sheen to it. That's not in my book, so take it for what it's worth. You have an interesting find, and welcome aboard T Net.

 

[Sheperdess]

It is also unique that if you set it on the table with the rounded side down and give it a spin, it goes around just like a pop bottle would. My Uncle could not get over this fact. I want to thank you guys for all your deciphering. Sorry it took me so long to reply, but we have a flu bug attacking our house. I think tomorrow I may have it licked. Thanks Again! Renee`

 

[uniface]

What you found is a Folsom point that failed. Second side was crested for fluting but the guy quit at that stage. SUPER item !!!!!!

Idiot spellcheck changed crested to created.

 

[unclemac]

do Folsom's come that small?

 

[uniface]

If you mean that short, note that the distal end's broken off, resulting in its abandonment.

 

[unclemac]

, no I meant thin, as in not wide

 

[uniface]

Surprised the western posse hasn't weighed in by now.

pp.net says width varies from 13mm to 26mm (1 inch = 25.4), so half an inch . . . unless it was going to be one of the miniature ones.

 

[Sheperdess]

Am I the Western Posse? I was watching. That is one of my favorite pieces. But I think they used it after it broke, as the end is worked.

 

[Garscale]

do Folsom's come that small?

Yes they do. I think uni is exactly right. If you look at the scraper end you can see where the flute dove thru and cut the tip off. No reason to strike the other side after that.