A Walk on the Wild Side

[Scorpion68]

Heh! Heh! Well we had a real gully-washer here last night but it came with heavy winds, gusting up to 60 MPH. Lots of debris on the ground but after that rain I figured this is the day for a walk about on the mountain to see what washed out of the ground. I start out about 11AM on the downhill side from my house.
Not a lot of washout on this logging road. Just more leaves covering everything.


Ain't gonna be much down there either. And I sure ain't gonna rappel over that to see what's at the bottom.



Now this one may hold some promise.....

I can see areas of bare ground and washout on the sides. Here we go for a look see...

Now then, this has promise. Gotta get a closer look ...

Looks like they tried to work around the core on this one. The base is plainly visible but the shoulders kinda give way more core material. If you look closely at the first closeup, you can see lots of vein in the material which I imagine would hamper the flaking process. In order to get the core material off, it would have been an uncontrollable process, I think. I'm not a knapper but it just seems reasonable.

[Scorpion68]

Also found this rock on the same walk about.

and on my way

back home I stopped by my lithic pile to make another contribution.

Then it was uphill the rest of the way home. Whew, this mountain living can be a pain but this walk was really enjoyable and I finally got out and got some much needed exercise. Hopefully this rain will quince the forest fires burning in Eastern Tennessee and be an answer to our prayers. ...Chuck

[Six nations son]

Thanks for sharing! Boy you live in some beautiful country! Neat to get out after a storm like that. Mother Nature uncovers stuff and it makes the hunt even better. Love those woods. My fathers, fathers side came down into Tennessee in 1800 from Virginia. Whole mess of them were born and settled round there. Fought in all the Wars. I gonna get out that way someday.

[SDhunter]

Fun to go on the walk with you. Nice to see some other country!

[gregszybala]

Felt like I was walking right along side of you, thanks!

[Scorpion68]

Greg - do you have any idea as to the lithic on the partial point and the core stone in this post. Hi-Lo was asking me and I have no idea. I checked out your lithic encyclopedia and couldn't find anything that really matched these.

[sailorjoe]

In your area, I think there is a good chance that it is Ft. Payne chert. It kinda depends on what sedimentary formation that the nodules eroded from. The Highland Rim area of Tennessee has lots of Ft. Payne chert. Much of the Plateau is capped with sandstone and below that are limestone formations where the chert comes from. At least that is my memory of the general area. The Highland Rim is the lower area to the west of the Cumberland Plateau and extends south into Alabama and north into southern KY and west of the Central Basin (the Nashville area in the hills between the western segment of the Tenn. River. The highest area of the Rim is in your area and just to the south where elevations dip toward Alabama. I think Ft. Payne chert is named after Ft. Payne, Alabama which lies in an eroded valley east of Sand Mt., one of the outlying ridges from the Plateau.

[sailorjoe]

I just reviewed what I last wrote. There is no way to edit comments so my remark does not tell exactly what I meant to convey. But you probably got the gist of it.

[clambellies]

I find that mountain so interesting. Do you think the N/A's were living up there, or were they just gathering stone for points & tools?

[Scorpion68]

I think they may have been living in the rockhouse under the waterfall just below my house. Most of the chert/flint lithic that I find is just above that area. Also with the variety of material and points that I have found, I think maybe there was some sort of trade route through here. Either that or there were a lot of different NA's passed through this area.

[Havenhunter]

Really pretty country!

[2ndoldman]

Thanks for bringing me along on the walk Chuck.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Chuck, That is a beautiful place to live. I agree with you on that half point: It's an interesting piece.

[Hi-Lo]

Thanks for the tour Chuck.

Have you determined what chert that is? I like the larger core.

[Scorpion68]

Hi-Lo - I usually have to ask someone else when it comes to identifying lithic material. I just asked Greg if he could help. Let's wait and see if he or someone else knows...

[OBION]

Beautiful place to smell the air. Thanks

[Kyflintguy]

Chuck I believe that material is Hornstone, or that's what I would call it. Hornstone occurs in many grades and can be found in Tennessee. We call it Ky Blue back home but it varies from dark blues to light Greys and in In. And N. Ky. Its often shades of brown. It often has swirls or bullseyes, and can patinate to brown hues in the right conditions. Here's a link from the info center...

http://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/information-center-gc33/lithic-artifacts-technology-materials-gc71/lithic-material-types-sourcing-gc72/east-central-mi-in-oh-ky-tn-northern-ms-al-ga-aa/108653-wyandotte-harrison-co-kentucky-blue-chert-indiana-hornstone-indiana-kentucky

Interesting find by the way, not unusual to see a rind base but on the side too!? Pretty neat!

[Scorpion68]

Thanks Josh - I see a lot of that material in this area but could never determine what it was. Education is the key. Tks again.

[clambellies]

Thanks Chuck. It certainly is an interesting place. Not to mention a great place to live also!

[CMD]

I agree with everyone else, that's a nice place to live and a nice area for your walkabouts!

[sailorjoe]

I just read what Josh said about Hornstone after I scrolled down to see the other comments. I still stand by my guess as in being Ft. Payne chert. Ft. Payne chert can also come in a variety of shades from light grey to bluish to almost black. It all depends on the geological formation it came from and in your area I would think Ft. Payne.

[Kyflintguy]

I also had the thought Ft. Payne, and infact I see several pieces that are undoubtedly Ft. Payne. My call of Hornstone may be incorrect, this may be a variety of Ft. Payne ive never saw therefore im confusing it with Hornstone... In the Cumberland lake region of Kentucky I use to pick up ft Payne in black, grey's and sometimes bluish hues. Most was banded, speckled, or mottled to some extent. I also have saw the solid Brown Ft. Payne that many Cumberlands from the Tn valley were made from. This material Chuck shows is consistently blue or grey with a white/tan outer cortex which is why I said Hornstone. But I do know Ft Payne can also be similar in color to what Chuck has. So as to my guess of Hornstone, im not 100 % confident but I would like to get to the bottom of this. I believe Chuck is in a Geologically diverse area wherein those two lithics in question overlap. More research is in store for me on this topic . to be continued lol.