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Breathitt County Chert??

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  • Breathitt County Chert??

    I've been trying to identify this material for some time. It appears grainy, some good luster, very chocolate in color.

    I was thinking Breathitt County Chert? Maybe? What do you all think??​​

    If you're interested in the story behind this piece or any other crazy ponderings then read on...

    When I was 12 or 13, me, my brother, and some other friends were jumping our bikes into a creek in Bullitt Co KY. Being the nerd that I was/am, as I was pushing my bike out of the water after a jump, I glanced up at the 8-10 foot bank the creek had cut through the valley hoping to find an arrowhead... and noticed the tip of this piece protruding from thick clay.

    I was shocked. I had hunted a lot of fields finding points, but the depth of field finds are, what, 12" - 18", maybe 24" TOPS depending on the plow. But... this tip was protruding from a 4-5 feet depth... it opened my eyes as to what lies beneath the surface. What else is out there? Everywhere? That we'll never find at the depth of a plow. I had searched the banks of this creek before, but was only looking at a depth of up to 2-feet... never realizing how deep artifacts could be found...

    I had no idea what I had found until I saw some examples of Cobbs in an Overstreet book I had purchased at the mall... I read they could be early archaic.. pretty old stuff.. explaining why it would be so deep.

    I still find it confusing how Paleo Clovis points and early archaic points can be found at much shallower depths in plowed fields. I suppose it all depends on sedimentation rates, and other events that could wash away layers of dirt over the years, not sure. I have even heard about points that are considered archaic being found in burials thought to be from a much later period. I guess the indigenous liked to collect like we do? I have also heard of points being reworked... many years later... somewhat possibly explaining why paleo - early archaic points can be found at shallower layers. Maybe the Indians in later periods found the points from the Paleo and archaic periods and reworked them for convenience, or collected them. I mean, why not, we do.

    So many questions...

    It took me at least 20 minutes to chisel this out of the hard clay with a wooden stick as to not damage the point...


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  • #2
    Nice blade. I dig on a large scale in Texas. Many sites have layered cultures 10ft deep. I have dug sites over 20ft.

    Comment


    • DiversionHound
      DiversionHound commented
      Editing a comment
      Wow! Incredible!

    • Garguy
      Garguy commented
      Editing a comment
      Yep. Most of those farm sites have vast amounts of pristine artifacts below the plow zone where they never met steel plows nor 100 years of collectors.

  • #3
    Very cool Cobbs blade, looks like it was used. Cobbs are often thought of as pre forms for early Archaic notched types i.e. Dovetail, Thebes, Lost Lake but they are often bevel resharpened indicating use.
    Regarding Material, Breathit chert that I'm familiar with was usually dull in luster. I know it outcrops in northern Kentucky but am not as familiar with that region.
    To be honest the material reminds me of Harrodsburg chert. I believe I can see tiny fossils in the material wich is indicative of Harrodsburg chert, if I remember correctly Harrodsburg Chert may often be heat treated as well.

    I'll drop some links below.





    Josh (Ky/Tn collector)

    Comment


    • DiversionHound
      DiversionHound commented
      Editing a comment
      Thank you! Yes I have wondered Harrodsburg as well. I've found a few points around that are definitely Harrodsburg.

  • #4
    Nice artifact
    South East Ga. Twin City

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