material

[pkfrey]

Hello All! Does anyone recognize this material? Not sure of the provenance. This is from a larger collection, and unfortunately wasn't cataloged. Thanks!

[sailorjoe]

Wow! A dandy little Clovis you have there. I'm afraid  I can't help with the ID but do have a question. Is the color of the material the "natural" color of the stone as it came out of the ground or is what we see a patina or from the effects of patination? I know sometimes its hard to tell. But it seems to be a pertinent consideration when all we have to go on is the pic. Having said that, with my poor knowledge of geology outside my area, I would be of no help anyhow.

[pkfrey]

That is a problem. The patination has lightened and hides the original color. There aren't any fresh chips so I would only guess the original stone is darker tan to a grey color. It's tough from a photo. I was thinking Edwards chert.

[JoshMathews]

looks like hornstone  to me .    Could it have come from around Kentucky area?   Very nice what ever it is .

[pkfrey]

Since it wasn't cataloged, all I have to go on is to figure out the material. Then I could at least venture an educated guess where it came from.

[JoshMathews]

It looks like the material I find in Western Kentucky,  but I don't know much about other types of materials.

[JoshinMO]

Its grey,  :dunno: , so many grey materials. Thats a nice looking point though! hmy:
Some macro shots of the material might help. :dunno:

[painshill]

Hi Paul
You haven't mentioned the writing on it. Presumably the original collector added that. It clearly says "HX" at the bottom and the word above it looks like it starts with "S", ends with "on" and perhaps has an "x" in the middle. Can you make out any more?

[JoshinMO]

Can i get an A,Q and O. 

[pkfrey]

The writing on it is so faded, I can't tell what it says. I can only pick out certain letters. Hornstone was mentioned, and the more I look at it, I think it might just be hornstone. But area found would still be a big question. Hornstone was used all over. Oh Well!

[Kyflintguy]

Reminds me of an Ohio piece,  I've saw some lighter Hornstone like this from that area,  but I think another possibility is a creamy tan Flintridge from Ohio :dunno: If you take a look at Jon Dickinsons website,  he has several pieces of similar materials to reference and you might shoot him a message and ask him if it looks familiar to him. Nice material whatever it is!

[sailorjoe]

It seems like some of the respondents to Paul's thread are letting the color of this point play too big a role in guiding their suggestions as to material type. The color that you see is not necessarily the color of the original material. A chert/flint that is grey in color as it comes out of the quarry may take on a patina that can  over the years, and in this case many thousands, result in an artifact that can be white, tan, chocolate brown, cream and various shades in between.  It depends on the nature of the particular chert, the chemical properties of the soil, and the climate (amount of rain over the millennia and the acidity of the rain,etc.). So often as not, for early Archaic and older artifacts the color of the point is a poor indicator of the type of the mother material. In my area where Ft. Payne chert is the most common lithic, I found points that were white to brown and unless there was a recent chip or break then one can only make a WAG as to the type of the mother material.

[pkfrey]

HI SJ, Thanks for your thoughts. I was leaning toward hornstone, BUT, under high magnification, there is a mottling effect of tan/brown/gray/creamy color, so I am almost certain it's heavily patinated Ft. Payne chert. And I figured out the writing. It's not the locale, it's a collectors name, Sanderson. That still doesn't tell me where it's from, with the exception that the other artifacts in the frame were from Sullivan and Johnson Co's., Tn., and surrounding areas. Thanks for everyone's help, I appreciate the input. P.S. Has anyone ever heard of a collector from down that way named Sanderson?