Is this Chert?

[painshill]

[QUOTE]11KBP wrote:

Jasper is essentially an opaque form of chert coloured by iron oxide inclusions.

Agreed, but you will be hard pressed to get the collecting community to change their terminology, lol.
And when its all said and done there really is no harm in using the terms jasper and chert interchangeably.


That’s for sure. It’s too ingrained now. In the overall scheme of things it matters not. What’s more important is that a material (whatever it might be incorrectly called from a geological standpoint) can be tracked to its source.
America also wears the pants in the mineralogical community these days. The guys on the naming committee have this endearing habit of forcing names onto everyone else. They find a shiny new rock down a mine shaft near Pittsburgh, say and decide they’re gonna call it “Pittsburghite”. Then some geologist in Uzbekistan points out that they’ve had specimens of it for years and they know it as “Chlorobundum” or whatever. The naming committee then forces the name “Pittsburghite (of Uzbekistan)” onto them. Happens all the time. :laugh:

[Missouri Mule]

So what I am getting out of this great discussion is that within the North American artifact community chert and jasper are interchangeable terms for the same type of rock.  Would the same be true for flint and chert?  I realize not all chert rocks are equal as suitable materials for tool and point making, so it’s likely that there may be all kinds that did not cut the mustard and were ignored.  Since the brown chert in my area is abundant, I am now most curious to see if tools and points were made from it.  Perhaps, it’s junk chert . . . there’s a new scientific term.  Thanks for the discussion everyone!

[11KBP]

Missouri Mule wrote:

I found this on the Internet about Jasper: "Chert is the general term applied to the granular cryptocrystalline varieties of quartz, of which flint and Jasper are examples. Jasper is a variety of chert, which is the general term applied to granular cryptocrystalline quartz varieties."  Anyone ever find an artifact of brown jasper?
11KBP . . . that's very interesting. Could you post a picture or two of these artifacts?

[Missouri Mule]

WOW!! Thanks for posting pictures of your points.  The two on the right in the top picture look very close to the chert I found.

[Hoss]

Wow 11KBP those are fantastic. What nice points. Mo.-mule I think your last picture might be Mozarkite. it has a bluish looking color. And the others do look jasper like to me too.

[11KBP]

Hoss wrote:

Wow 11KBP those are fantastic. What nice points. Mo.-mule I think your last picture might be Mozarkite. it has a bluish looking color. And the others do look jasper like to me too.

  Thanks for the comment Hoss.

[Mt. Hope]

In my Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals...the material doesn't look like jasper.  Just goes to show how much you can actually tell from a photo.  IMPO.  I'm sticking with, "chert."  Can't go wrong that way.
I have a piece I have been told is jasper which has recently been told me that it is not.  Go figure.  I don't know what it is.

[brookes]

Very new to the world of artifacts the difference between materials and everything I was wondering an easy way to tell the difference between all the "Flint" as well