Texas site #1 jasper - Site #2 Jasper

[texasriverdigger]

This is some of the pieces from my sites.. The sites are approx 10 miles apart as a crow fly's, I have found many pieces made the same way from Chert and Jasper... I think it is more than coincidence to find this many pieces made the same way to be GEO-FACTS...If you study all that I have posted I think you can see they were related in someway to use the same style for tools or points or whatever these was used for?? Some of the Jasper pieces look to be preforms because some are incomplete, the site#2 is a cache of Jasper in quantity and I still have alot digging to do there,I have more I will be posting..I find it odd to be finding this Jasper in the first place, that site is not accessible by any vehicles or equipment and never has been, this jasper is not native to here or this part of Texas (If from Texas at all?) I welcome your thoughts in this thread or by PM.... Thanks... Mike

[texasriverdigger]

I went to my Jasper site today and found a couple of new pieces, The small brown chert was found on the river ,They sure look similar to me? I have pictured this Jasper wet to show its bright colors and to also show how it has caught my eye when it is wet, I have walked all over these salt grass flats, rivers,beach's and any place I have had or been able to access and I have never seen it any where else. The only reason I ever found it to begin with was due to erosion and it being uncovered by water.... Thanks......Mike

[pickaway]

The top pic looks like some cores,Not sure about the others,I found a core of red jasper this winter was told it was deposited by glaciers,But i also could see it coming on foot for trade,Nice color in the material your finding.

[texasriverdigger]

Thanks pickaway..This is somemore pieces that I have found at both places.. The Jasper ?came from the #2 site.. And the 2 porcelain pieces came from the #1 river site(and yes I said porcelain) They have the distinct sound of porcelain?I have some odd pieces from what I believe is from the possible hearth I have reached I will post later.. I haven't been digging through the wet months but it is drying up some here and I am looking forward to spring...Thanks.... Mike

[texasriverdigger]

I think these are some small point types, The 1st is more of the baked clay I found it on the riversite #1 with the other clay pieces I have posted, 2nd&3rd is Jasper &chert and they came from site #2.... Thanks... Mike

[texasriverdigger]

This is some of the nicest pieces of the Jasper all from site#2.. I think they may be tools, The biggest ones are a type of blade? the 2nd one looks to be a sickle knife or scraper, I have only seen a few other examples of that style on other sites..and the 3rd looks to might have been used as a spoke shave type tool?I have some I will be posting, so you might want to wear your shades? LOL...... Thanks all.... Mike

[Cannonman17]

Most of these are not artifacts, a few flakes but the smooth things ones are naturally formed.

[texasriverdigger]

This is from the Jasper site, I have tried to load instu pics but the files are to big.. This is located at the base of some old shell midens out in the middle of nowhere.. It was a well protected and highly productive back water bay at one time,but due to salt water intrusion and erosion it is now exposed to heavy tidal action that is why it has such water & scrub wear, this site has no available way to access it and it never has.. This site is approx 20ft long by 10ft wide that is exposed, I do not know how deep it goes or if this is the entire body of it.. the Jasper scatter is on both sides of this patch of jasper,that is the only reason I was able to discover it..It is a walk in site, and can only be worked during low tide..I guess my biggest question how did this pretty jasper get out here in the middle of no where? Who brought it there? and when was it brought there?.. So I ask another question would you have just passed this by if it were in the middle of your path out in the middle of no where?I will be adding more group pics all day to give a complete picture of this find...Please be patient until the entire post is done.. I do appreciate your thoughts if not in the thread by PM.. Thanks.. Mike ----more pics comming--- (a Honest thought when I first found this jasper I thought WOW this would make a real nice pad for my BBQ pit! and it still might be used for that.........)

[texasriverdigger]

This is another group of the Jasper. I have a few more but will have to sort them, I will try to add later today with some other nice things aswell... Thanks.... Mike

[texasriverdigger]

This is more of the smaller pieces of Jasper....if you will compare these smaller pieces to some of the chert pieces in my other threads you will see some look to be made the same way? Thanks.... Mike ----More comming---

[texasriverdigger]

This is some of the smaller pieces, compare some of it to the chert.. Thanks.... Mike

[Atlantis0077]

Morning,

I am sure given the quantity of lithic material you are finding there are indeed some artifacts in the general area, but 90% of that appears to me to be just rocks. They havent been worked in any way and though a few have interesting shapes, they are a product of nature, not man. You do find lots of that sort of thing in sites, but unless its "worked"...chipped in some way, its doubtful it would be considered and artifact.

I spent a good 5 years when I first started collecting picking up such as that thinking I was really finding something. With time and experience it became possible to filter out the possible maybe's from the probable "likelies" and of course the 'not a chances.' Sites are filled with stuff they used, and didnt use. Truly they may have brought the materials in, but they didnt utilize them afterwards.

Spent yesterday afternoon up to my arm pits digging in an old midden site. Found tons of broken animal bones...mostly deer. A little bit of pottery and several rocks. I left the rocks....lol.

Keep checking out those spots. No doubt there is a ton of good stuff around you. Look more for chips, points and pottery fragments. Small chips are more indicative of a good site than larger chunks of rock as they speak of point manufacture. Pottery can tell you much about a site...mostly age. A lot, but not all pottery will have designs of some type...ranging from elaborate to simple. Age can also be ascertained from what the pottery is tempered with. Break open a piece...if you see white flecks...that would be bone or shell fragments..newer pottery is tempered in this fashion. Dont be fooled by clay deposits...especially those in on a lake shore or riverbank. They look really good...many are in the shape of tools and have holes, grooves and other markings that can fool even an expert at a casual glance, but in the end, its just clay that the water has "worked" and weather hardened.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

[texasriverdigger]

Thank you Atlantis, The whole journey begun because a man found a jasper bead about a mile from this location.. It is now known as the Little Bear bead, maybe you are familiar with it? It is thought to be part of the Poverty Point culture, I have been working that area for many years and I have always found odd pieces of this jasper but I never really give it much thought until that bead showed up... And it just became a obsession to find out where this jasper was comming from, and after many months and miles of walking I think I have found a good cache site of it? I will continue that journey and see just what I can find that might give a better clue as to how this might all be tied together if at all, also because of the few pieces from the river site that I have found it must have been pretty wide spread? I am only a amateur and have alot to see and learn and this is just another page in that book...Besides as I have said it sure will make for a real nice pad for my BBQ pit, I have already hauled out 2yds of material 1 bucket at a time... I have contacted the web master to see if he can help get my situ pics posted it would help to see this Jasper in its actual environment, I have tried to down size and shrink them but they keep getting rejected as file to big? .....Thanks.... Mike

[Atlantis0077]

Morning,

Dunno what program you are running, but when I make photos on my digital camera they are always too big. Transfer the pics to your computer, then click on the photos....then click edit...then compress.....I compress to webpage size which is normally about 40KB You might give that a try and get around the size limitations.

Atlantis