A couple from the bucket

[Blackfoot58]

I went through a bucket of flakes & misc flint chunks today. I pulled these two out.

I realize that the right hand pc isn’t a tool. I thought it was a good example of a piece with cortex and several scars from strikes. Also it isn’t the Burlington flint that I nearly always find here. This is more of a tan/gray chert.
The left hand pc has me wondering if it’s a preform hafted scraper. It has a beveled edge and resembles some others I have seen & found. If not a preform, possibly a worn out piece that was discarded rather than refaced.
Here’s the other sides.

And an edge shot

 

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[ToddsPoint]

I recognize that grey flint by the cortex. It comes in light grey, brown and black. Very high quality. We find it in the glacial till sparingly. All I know is it came from somewhere up north.

 

[Mortenson]

We find a lot of broken fragments of the gray stuff with cortex also, in our top couple fields. Lots of times the cortex will be attached to it still. I can't say the family collection has many artifacts made from it, probably a few though. I picked one up a couple weeks ago and showed it in the "show your best materials" thread that I called possible galena, but maybe it's this stuff.

Edit - I called it moline, not galena

 

[Mortenson]

I recognize that grey flint by the cortex. It comes in light grey, brown and black. Very high quality. We find it in the glacial till sparingly. All I know is it came from somewhere up north.

If it also comes in black, then we're finding quite a bit of as well lately. We found the 1 on the right a couple days ago. I think it's a scraper. The 1 on left found a couple years ago. Probably a flake they were starting to work into a point?

 

[ToddsPoint]

I found better pieces of the grey and dark stuff. This nodule of the dark stuff is the biggest I’ve ever found. You can see by the curve the original nodule was nearly a foot across. Somewhere north of here there’s a creek or hillside full of these off white nodules that are worth some serious dollars.

 

[ToddsPoint]

If it also comes in black, then we're finding quite a bit of as well lately.

How far north are you in IL Mortenson?
What county if you don’t mind telling me. I’m in Shelby near the terminal moraine of the WI glacier.

 

[Mortenson]

How far north are you in IL Mortenson?
What county if you don’t mind telling me. I’m in Shelby near the terminal moraine of the WI glacier.

That's a nice area you're in. I was born and raised in Lasalle Co. Most of the good stuff my dad and grandpa found came from one farm that's not in the family any longer. But my kids and I have been picking up a few things on some other farms the past few years, ever since we developed the hunger. Starved rock area - have you heard there's talk of changing the name of the park?

 

[CreekSide]

I found better pieces of the grey and dark stuff. This nodule of the dark stuff is the biggest I’ve ever found. You can see by the curve the original nodule was nearly a foot across. Somewhere north of here there’s a creek or hillside full of these off white nodules that are worth some serious dollars.View attachment 2147645View attachment 2147646View attachment 2147647

The stuff I find is a tan cortex with black inside but I think mine is Knox chert. I sent some to a guy I know and he said it was hard to work. Idk if he tried to heat it or not. Comes in slabs last time I was there.