Hornfels?

[Poquonock]

Hi, everyone. I hope you are all well. Recently I have found many flakes, and two broken points (pictured) made of the same, or similar, material in a concentrated area in a field in central Connecticut. At first glance it looks like basalt, but it has a much finer grain . Can anyone confirm that this is hornfels? I also included three detail pics of my favorite flake. I love this lithic.

[gregszybala]

Not that familiar with East Coast lithics and maybe CMD, Hoss or others will be around soon but in the meantime take a look through this section of the site:

https://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/information-center-gc33/lithic-artifacts-technology-materials-gc71/lithic-material-types-sourcing-gc72/northeast-me-nh-vt-ny-ma-ct-ri-pa-nj-de-md-aa

[Poquonock]

Thanks for the link, Greg. I've checked there before and, as far as I can tell, haven't found this particular lithic posted.

[redrocks]

Looks like basalt?

[Poquonock]

Hi, Red. Thanks for the comment. I though it was basalt at first too. However, I’ve found basalt in this field and it has a much coarser grain. Though, I think “basalt” can be a general term for several different lithics. Maybe these are two different kinds of “basalt”.

[cgode]

Maybe the lighter colored one in the pic with a quarter but not completely sure.....the darker flakes no. Out of curiosity, any Jacks Reefs in that field? The JR people loved Hornfels as a lithic.....I’m on the Ct shoreline and see Hornfels often...and appears to be very closely related to Jacks Reefs for a preferred lithic.

my guess on the darker flakes is one of the cherts sourcing out of southern NY state.....I see that down here as well.

[Poquonock]

One more interesting characteristic that popped into my head is that these flakes pick up oil from my fingers quite easily and unlike any other lithic I’ve encountered. As a result, they darken quickly with handling.

[cgode]

Interesting lithic.....I could be wrong of course and it is hard to say without it in hand looking at pics on line. I’m used to seeing a lighter green hue often with black veins running through it from my experience. If you go to the typology section for the North East you’ll see Jacks Reef listed....I and CMD both have good examples in that section...both made with Hornfels and Jasper.

[Poquonock]

The pictures you’re referring to are one of the reasons that I made this post. Braintree hornfels often appears patinated, correct? And these flakes clearly are not, at least not in the same way. However, if you look at the Braintree hornfels entry on projectilepoints.net, it shows a picture of a broken cobble. From the picture, you can see that the rind is patinated, and the inside looks very similar to these flakes. I would think though, that after lying in a field for this long, these flakes would also show patination.

[SurfaceHunter]

Looks like its water stained?

[Poquonock]

I’m not sure if it’s water stained or not, though it could be because this field lies within the flood plain of a river.