Ocala mined chert and Site chert

[tomclark]

I walked the Paleo-Early Archaic spoil site after some wind/rain yesterday. I thought I'd take some pics of the material that the county puts along the highways and in this case, along the beach to help stop erosion. This is mined Ocala chert. Some is highly fossiliferous, some not. Some interesting colors. You can plainly see zones where the silicification lol changes from shiny to grainy and the crust is all kind of crazy. I know some knappers hit these piles and so do fossil collectors. Most of these boulders, I say MOST, are too big and heavy to haul out plus it's legally stealing from the State, LOL.

[gregszybala]

Good post Tom, you should include this in the lithics section too.

[tomclark]

Another hunk of Ocala mined "deep coastal plains?) chert. Second pic are more of those ledge flint baybottom "preforms/cores". Third pic is the backbone of a Gafftopsail Catfish that is/was sold in FL to tourists as "The Jesus Thingy" 'cause of the way it looks When you break them open you find the otoliths that are VERY hard shell material (white pearly things). Bonus Bolen. Coral hammerstone from same site.

[Hoss]

great topic Tom man thats a lot of lithics .

[Tam]

Very nice Tom , thanks for another education to put in my back pocket .