ramah chert(quartzite)

[will dawes]

Theres lots of great pics onlineof the highly translucent variety of ramah not so much on this darker variety so to clear any confusion here is a pic from elfshot gallery of the dark gray stuff and my recent moorehead phase point find of what looks to be the same stuff hope it helps anyone else who has found this material in the northeast

[CMD]

Well, two thumbs up for the clarification, Will. I do remember suggesting your point was not Ramah. What do I know?
Answer:  :dunno:  :rolf:
Can see the sugary texture in your's now as well, Will.
For sure it is a material that does not show up in southern New England much at all. My understanding is that it has been found as far south as NJ. But, in general, very few collectors down here will ever find so much as a flake. I have seen an amazing huge killed blade of Ramah  from a RI burial. It is in the Harvard collection.
Ya gotta see this, Will. Kalamazoo, Michigan!!

http://www.arrowheads.com/index.php/forums/learn-about-material-types/74233-ramah-chert

[painshill]

Ramah chert has been found as far south as Maine (Fitzhugh, 1972), a distance of 1500 km from its source in the Torngat Mountains, and some specimens are reported from New York, Delaware and even Florida. Strictly speaking I think it’s a lightly metamorphosed chert rather than a true quartzite, although the degree of metamorphism is variable.
The Ramah and Mugford groups actually have three other lithics with potentially strong visual resemblance to Ramah Chert, which may require detailed petrological examination to distinguish between them. The other similar materials are known as Cod Island Chert, Ryan’s Quartz and Saglek Quartzite. There’s some great information in this paper:

http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic33-3-628.pdf

[will dawes]

Thanks pain this may actually be a totally differant lithc is what your saying then im gonna do some home work i guess id realy like to know what is for sure thanks alot buddy

[will dawes]

Charlie im still not 100% positive this thing is ramah im just trying to show visual similarity just wanted to clear up the fact that it does come dark and almost non translucent as well this point could also have a maine origin while camping last summer at little munsungan lake i gathered some knapping material and as i recall i found some of what i believe pain just described as weakly metamorphised chert that has similar quartz veining and a light sugary texture but its quite a bit darker let me find a chunk in the rock garden ill be rite back bud ;-)

[will dawes]

Charlie this is the sugary chert from willard brook i broke a large hunk of it out of a ledge in the brook it looked really waxy and high quality when it was wet but when it started to dry i noticed the sugary look and assumed it to be either quartzite or poor grade chert but maybe painhill will be able to tell us something about it

[will dawes]

And do you see a similarity with this stuff to my point charlie ?

[CMD]

wildo420 wrote:

And do you see a similarity with this stuff to my point charlie ?

  Sure Will, but I doubt I could lithic ID my way out of a paper bag locally, let alone Maine and Labrador. It's a great point and material, but better seen in hand, and, like I said, out of my league.

[clovisoid]

Sort of off topic, but that area of Canada would be one of my top destinations to hunt artifacts.

[will dawes]

Well charlie im really glad that you like the point buddy and my buddy jay and i really would like it if you could make it up this way for some artifact hunting you want to find some gouges and adzes you just let us know your welcome in my backyard any time buddy id love to get out and do some looking with you man  theres plenty of red paint articats to go around .

[will dawes]

clovisoid bud i think we all want to go to ramah bay that lithic is just amasing isnt it imagine finding a blade like charlie showed earlier thanks for your comment brother and happy hunting

[will dawes]

And as you say charlie always better seen in hand as most artifacts are and i agree i dont think i should be labeling lithics either because my knoledge is not to that extent i learn something new with every day that passes and to think ill ever be as knoledgeable  as id like would just be wishfull thinking lol youve got years of experience and alot more knoledge built up in those years than me  this is why i appreciate your input on all my posts thanks for that without all the great guys like you and painhill this website would be a much less enjoyable and educational outlet ;-) i thank you all for that

[CMD]

wildo420 wrote:

Well charlie im really glad that you like the point buddy and my buddy jay and i really would like it if you could make it up this way for some artifact hunting you want to find some gouges and adzes you just let us know your welcome in my backyard any time buddy id love to get out and do some looking with you man  theres plenty of red paint articats to go around .

  That's so kind of you to say, Will. I'd love nothing better. It's on my mind now, my friend   Hope we can make it happen, maybe this Summer some time. Thanks so much for the invite!

[will dawes]

Any time my friend any time we got the goods you wanna find thats a fact haha later buddy