Adze

[Adena_man]

Here is an adze that I found last summer. It is strange in that it seems to be made out of a type of quartz (rose quartz?). You can shine a light and see through it. I didn't think they would make a tool out of that type of material. Anyone have any ideas?

[Atlantis0077]

Howdy,

On the contrary, the higher quality pieces are normally made out of good quality flint, quartz, etc. Much of it will be translucent...a few pieces even transparent. The really good paleo pieces I have are normally "glossy" giving the appearance of wax or soap at first glance. Nice little tool you have there. Of course what they made things from varied greatly from location to location...native Americans traded a lot, but were also opportunists in the materials they used.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

[Cannonman17]

That is a nice little tool there- from the picture though it almost looks like more of a chert...maybe a heat treated chert of some sort?? Nice either way-

[pickaway]

Hmm carter cave material?
could it be a broken blade or square knife?

[Adena_man]

It is actually rounded off on the right side. You can tell where they smoothed off the edges by flaking it. When I first picked it up I thought it was broken. I went ahead and cleaned it up at home and saw where it had been worked on the right. Most of the square knives that I find in this field are about half as tall and longer. I had first thought it was a type of quartz earlier, but I am starting to think it is some sort of translucent chert like others have said. A friend of mine looked at it and leaned towards it being a type of chert. They find a lot of Carter Cave material just up the interstate. That is a possibility like Pickaway said. I've got a lot to learn about material types!

Thanks for the help!