Clovis materials

[Aurora1959]

I just watched a video of Dennis Standford giving a lecture on the Solutrean theory, and he clearly states that Clovis points are made of quartz crystal exclusively. But "projectilepoints.net" sure has alot of photos of Clovis points that don't look like quartz crystal to me. What's this all about?

 

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[Tdog]

Flint/chert, chalcedony and some others are cryptocrystalline varieties of quartz.

Check out this link - http://www.quartzpage.de/flint.html

 

[Aurora1959]

Flint/chert, chalcedony and some others are cryptocrystalline varieties of quartz.

Check out this link - http://www.quartzpage.de/flint.html

Flint/chert, chalcedony and some others are cryptocrystalline varieties of quartz.

Check out this link - http://www.quartzpage.de/flint.html

Thank you Tdog. Your explanation makes it as clear as glass.

 

[unclemac]

but obsidian is not...so that statement is not true.

obsidian clovis point - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[Tesorodeoro]

but obsidian is not...so that statement is not true.

obsidian clovis point - Google Search

www.google.com

I was thinking the same thing, but don’t know enough to stand behind a statement. Obviously these folks were opportunist utilizing the best natural materials at hand.

 

[joshuaream]

I'd be curious which video. It might have been a comment about a specific site/cache, or something along those lines. Or it was a comment about cryptocrystaline materials.

Given Dennis' involvement with all things Clovis, he's handled the range of materials they are made from.

 

[Older The Better]

They are all …mostly… made of sio2, as I get farther from my geology classes I forget more and more but pretty sure the differences lie in how the crystals arrange themselves. Quartz has a larger crystal structure, flint, chert, obsidian don’t … cryptocrystalline. That and how they are made, chert/flint sedimentary, obsidian volcanic origin. I think where he misspoke was calling them quartz “crystals”… In my mind that excludes flint chert and obsidian but that’s also splitting hairs I think most know what he means

 

[Aurora1959]

I didn't have it right - Dr. Stanford said "When possible, they flaked quartz crystal." So, not exclusively, as I thought.
Here's the link. Crystal talk at about 31:50.