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NC Silicified Shale Materials
I am wanting to learn more about a certain material, silicified shale, that was used by the Clovis culture. I hunt areas in Surry County, NC that are less than 8 miles away from where some of NC's best examples of the Clovis were found. I am wondering if anyone here has any pictures of this form of material that they have collected? Also I am wanting to know if any one knows where this material could have been sourced in NC? I think I know where one source is but I'm still not quite sure. I would love to learn more about this rare material and even possibly finding an example of it myself someday. Any help would be very much appreciated.
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Ancient you are right, there is Silicified Shale in North Carolina but I am not certain how much of it the Paleoindians actually used. I believe the Scilificied Shale but the workability of it may vary and with all of the Rhyolite and great sedimentary rocks there, the Paleoindians said to heck with the shale.
Almost all of the ancient NC Clovises, Hardaways (both Daltons and side Notches), Haw Rivers, and Alamances that I have seen were either made from varieties of Tuff (a type of silicified Volcanic ash), Rhyolite, Green Silicified Siltstone, high grade Quartz, Jasper, and Coastal Plains Chert.
http://www.arrowheads.com/index.php/...hd-collection-
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/anth/uploa...otank-site.PDF -
Here is a North Carolina Paleo article from Arrowheads.com Information center. A great resource section .
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Overall, when I think about where these Paleo Indians came from, they moved from the north (from Canada) to the south. Even the Cherokee Indian tribe knows that their ancestors moved here from Canada thousands of years ago. Seems they found better quality materials, like what materials were found at the Hardaway site, to make more the advanced weapons or arrowhead types. I see the Yadkin River, being a major route of travel, whether for hunting, camping, or even trading. From what I have read, this area of the Piedmont has an overlapping of cultures, the mountain cultures mixed with the interior cultures. The reason I ask about silicified shale is b/c I know it's rare. After talking to locals around here and doing some investigating myself, this rare material must have been quarried for a limited amount of time here. The source I believe is deep underground in an area along the Yadkin River where shale would normally originate. This source was suppose to have colorful, semi-precious stones that will break down to thousands of years of weathering. People here call it the Lime Rock quarry. Just across the Yadkin River from there is where those Clovis' were found, one of them may be pictured in that link. There is suppose to be a funerary mound there too. Unfortunately, my chances of finding an example is probably low. I haven't got a chance to really read every thing in those links. I will soon but I appreciate it!
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That is a great link! I come to value the actual history of North Carolina's early inhabitants just as much as finding their materials. However, finding that evidence would feel very rewarding though. I really like that speckled rhyolite Hardaway-Dalton found in Randleman.Butch Wilson wrote:
Here is a North Carolina Paleo article from Arrowheads.com Information center. A great resource section .
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