Edwards Chert Patinazation

[uniface]

We've got some Texas dudes here who might care to help a Back Easter out with guesstimating how old an artifact of Edwards chert is by the way it's patinated.

I've read articles that say Edwards patinates at a steady rate once it's knapped, and that separating paleo from Archaic from Woodland relics of Edwards on this basis alone is consistently possible with 90 % + accuracy.

Problem is, I don't have a handle on exactly what they have in mind. Does it get glossier ? Or change color ? Or, what ?

Thanks in Advance

 

[abarnard]

It gets really glossy looking, and the texture is super smooth. I need to look into it a little more..... I have a uniface paleo scraper mad out of this lithic, and it has really smooth features and nice patina. I found it wedged in a layer of soil on a point bar about 4 feet from the ground surface. I will post a pic later in a couple weeks after this job is over in Baytown tx so you can see. I found the uniface scraper on the Colorado River in the Austin area, where Edwards chert was the lithic of choice.