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Help identifying. Is this chert?

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  • Help identifying. Is this chert?

    I acquired these nodules some time ago. They were sourced from private land in south-central Texas (Near the Brazos). I think this is chert, but I really have no idea. Can anyone help? Other than identification, I'd like to know if this is a suitable material for heat treatment in my kiln.
    I'm not a knapper, but my amateur interest in paleoanthropology led me to experiment and now I have several buckets full of debitage and a greater appreciation of the skill that goes into knapping. Most of my interest is in early stuff. I'd like to understand more about levallois but would be happy to make a primitive hand-axe. Some of the nodules look to me like they're begging for a master knapper. I feel bad just reducing some of these to a pile of shards, and wondered if any of these nodules would be acceptable to offer to one of the local knapping groups in exchange for joining in for instruction.

    Here is the album with more shots.
    Album of nodules
    Thank you for your help.

  • #2
    Looks like Perdnales but it's been a while since i talked knappin'.

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    • #3
      Thank you.  That gives me a point from which to study.

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      • #4
        could we gt some better pics of the materials?
        natural light would be best
        the lighting in those pics is giving every thing a funky hue
        looks like most of it has a bluish grey color to it
        if so then i would say its george town,if its higher quality no need for heat treating it
        if its lower quality,heat will help it
        if its tannish then i would say pederanles
        once again,if of a higher grade good stuff and no need to heat,lower grade heat will help
        but im gonna guess(from what i can tell in these pics,its george town flint)
        both of them materials are nice materials,even in the lower grades
        some of my fav materials to hit
        they make for some sharp points and tools
        i see no need to offer it to any knapper in your area for instruction on knapping
        just go to a local knapp in,and just ask some of the folks for instruction,let them know your new to it
        i have never met a knapper that says "no" when some one asks for a little instruction
        i give a few simple lessons to newbies at every knapp in i attend
        dont know why but they always seem to come to me and ask for lessons  :dunno:

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        • #5
          i should add
          if your going to heat it be very carefull
          if you heat it to hot,you will ruin the rock
          then theres also the possibility of it blowing up in your kiln too

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          • #6
            Sorry for the poor lighting.  I'll try to get some shots in the daylight tomorrow. 
            The material is bluish-grey with a few chalk inclusions.  The outer surface fades to a pale grey-white.  The flakes are pretty opaque but don't have the brownish tint of rocks I pick up near San Angelo (That stuff is translucent and brown like beer-bottle glass).  It doesn't seem as easy to flake as the San Angelo rock, but it's just as likely my inexperience talking.
            I've been spalling bits off of the larger rocks.  I don't want to touch the pancake-looking nodules until I have lots more practice.
            Many thanks for taking the time to help.  I'll begin looking for local knap-ins, and I won't risk my kiln without some supervision.

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            • #7
              It does have the look of Georgetown Blue, although usually (but perhaps not always) it's translucent. The Georgetown material is generally recognised as the best quality material for knapping in North America since (although the distinction between chert and flint is blurred by most folks), it's probably the only true flint (from a geological perspective) found in America:
              There is - as far as I know - only one deposit in the whole of North America that might be described as “flint” by conventional geological terminology. It...

              Whatever it is, I would say it looks to be a sufficiently high quality material that it may not benefit very much (if at all) from heat treatment.
              I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

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              • #8
                Thank you very much! 
                It does look to me just like those photos of Georgetown flint.  I traded a few fist-sized bits of some brown, glassy San Angelo rock for two buckets of this stuff.  This has been two years ago and I don't recall what the rockhound I swapped with called it, but he seemed pleased with the trade (and wanted to know if he could snoop around my aunt's washout).
                I may be misremembering the source.  I thought he said it was the Brazos area, but since we were in Austin at the time it probably was from the Georgetown area.

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                • #9
                  texas rootbeer flint is brown (like rootbeer) and glassy
                  another very high quality lithic
                  also one of my favs
                    funny most of my favorite lithics come from texas

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                  • #10
                    It does look like rootbeer, and it's more... glassy?... than this stuff.  I can scavenge bits of it from my aunt's place near San Angelo, but it's hard to find in sizeable chunks.  I think I still have a butchered core of it in my bucket and will try to get it into the pics tomorrow. 
                    I asked about heating the georgetown material because it's slightly more granular than the rootbeer and I wind up spalling off a lot of obviously workable material to get to the dark grey silicate core.

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                    • #11
                      the thing with a lot of texas lithic is the best is usually towards the outside of the rock
                      right under the cortex(the white powder out side of it)
                      i have made some points from george town,and other texas rock, that was the layer directly under the cortex
                      had to remove the cortex while pressure flaking
                      matter of fact just made  one a week or so back that i posted on this site,with before and after pics
                      the before pic shows the cortex on one side of the flake
                      the inclusions  in the material(us knappers call it concrete)
                      will not improve with heat
                      but like was stated earlier, the higher grades of it does not need heat treatment
                      you wont do the rock any good by heating it
                      no matter of the grade of the material, a lot of texas rocks have the concrete inclusions in it.
                      usually more towards the center of the rocks

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                      • #12
                        The lower center piece is begging to be made into a Kerrville knife.
                        The material is good quality even with the white "cortex".
                        Jess B.
                        It is a "Rock" when it's on the ground.
                        It is a "Specimen" when picked up and taken home.

                        ​Jessy B.
                        Circa:1982

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                        • #13
                          Here are those sunlit shots as requested. 






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                          • #14
                            That's some really nice looking Texas Georgetown Flint looks to be of high quality no need to heat it
                            Just set up good platforms and hit it hard

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                            • #15
                              And these are some of the 'root beer' shards from around San Angelo.   I butchered a few good rocks with my makeshift boppers, but I've found a few knap-ins in the D/FW area.  Thanks again for your comments and help in identifying this material.



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