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Schist Materials in NC

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  • Butch Wilson
    replied
    I don't think you are going to find very much info ! I can't see where they were worked as tools ! They appear to me to be rocks not tools! Sorry!

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  • NC_Stone_Collector
    replied
    There is but it's a lil harder to find.  I just stumbled across these forms and they are not the same as the other rocks either.  I tested the strength of course.  They are really harder than they look.  That one your talking about is definitely garnet schist.  There is garnets metamorphosed in the parent rock.  There is breakage planes that show that rock was flaked a certain way according to it's properties but it was formed into the shape of a knife?  Most of the rocks in the area have very apparent fractures due to weathering and erosion.  These I selected, I can't figure out why a natural process would change it into the form it is in today.  Which then makes me think they were used as a tool for what work they desired to do.  I showed them to another NC collector and he agrees that I made some finds, but they are very poor quality.  We talked and speculated that some of the ones I found were preforms or were worked on for fun.  Or they might have possible worked on these to test the fracture properties for their selves.  So like you said about these materials, that they may break down rapidly while working.  We believe they were testing these properties in time when the more better quality materials were limited.

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  • Hoss
    replied
    Just my honest opinion here but that material appears to be too soft for tool stone. Just having feldspar and mica in the matirx  would make it break down rapidly while trying to work with it.
    I can't really see the garnets either. Are you talking about the flecks in the third and fourth picture?
    Keep looking there has to be some good quartz , quartzite or Rhyolite in your area.

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  • NC_Stone_Collector
    replied
    Schist does have a quartz ingredient.  Quartz, feldspar, mica are the predominant minerals.  There is a couple of varieties of schist that can be worked and used; most occurs in sheet-like forms also.  Looks like it was made according to the properties that schist have.  Schist materials can be flaked and/or slabbed off; it often has grains of garnets also.  I'm just speculating but if I lived in ancient times and didn't have flint/chert/rhyolite readily available I would resort to another source of material. Perhaps even finding stones that Mother Nature made already that looks like a weapon or a tool suited the use of your desire. I have a homemade tomahawk w/ handle. The stone I found may or may not have been an artifact, but it works for the weapon I desired to create. It looks really cool anyway.  I went back to the same spot today and found three more forms a few inches under ground.  One looks like a weathered Guilford, another a schist blade, and the other looks like an unfinished form.  Some pieces I found looks like they were worked on for fun or to learn the material fracture properties.  All having the very apparent wear that NC artifacts have in age too.  I guess I have stumbled upon an Archaic age settlement nearby.  Hopefully, I can work my way around this ridge-side to find some fresher pieces.





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  • CliffJ
    replied
    Those look to be quartzite rocks.

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  • NC_Stone_Collector
    started a topic Schist Materials in NC

    Schist Materials in NC

    I went to a new spot where I ride 4wheelers today. I have been seeing a lot of broken, patinated schist pieces eroded out of the trail. Ended up finding more than I expected. Most of the pieces were too broken or weathered to see actual good worked edges. I found most of them in the trail and the dark colored one I found in the creek. I just stuck my hands in the water to rinse the dirt off and picked that one right up. All the materials I think is schist/ garnet-schist. These schist materials are new to my collection. I've never seen any examples of schist from NC. Any one have ideas on what kind of age or could supply me with some more info about these finds? I would really appreciate it!





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