Ever Seen This Before?

Backbacon · Sep 25, 2014

I was wondering if any of you have ever seen this color of material before and would know where it originates from?

A friend of mine found this and we're trying to determine how far it has traveled as it's not from around these parts.

Thanks for looking and any help that can be offered.

redbeardrelics · Sep 26, 2014

It looks like two different samples. The one on the left I have no idea other than a high quality light colored chert, but letting us know what area of the continent you found it in might help. The one on the right looks a little greenish, with a lighter colored and more porous, or "bubbly" exterior, and looks like the iron furnace slag that I am used to seeing.

rock · Sep 26, 2014

Red is dead on with the one on the right. If they are both the same examples then Id have to call slag on it. I picked up a small piece the other day cause it was heavy for the size I was thinking Metorite on mine but then I saw the tiny bubbles on the side of it. Slag comes in all different colors even red.

Backbacon · Sep 26, 2014

Opps my bad, the photo on the right is the wrong one and they were found in the Ottawa, Ontario area.

Here's the photo that I meant to post up along with another one.

Apparently there are waste flake everywhere up on this high ridge overlooking a big bay on a lake.

Thanks again for looking.

rock · Sep 26, 2014

Lets see the outer skin on them. Sometimes that will help

rock · Sep 26, 2014

Now we do find a blue flint here which is a high grade type. I am not sure it is from GA but do think it might be from TN just guessing of course on the location.

GatorBoy · Sep 26, 2014

Looks like foundry slag of some type

olroy70 · Sep 26, 2014

Backbacon said:
I was wondering if any of you have ever seen this color of material before and would know where it originates from?

View attachment 1058639 View attachment 1058640

A friend of mine found this and we're trying to determine how far it has traveled as it's not from around these parts.

Thanks for looking and any help that can be offered.[/QUOTE

that stuff comes from around the big bend area. was pretty hard for making points, but they kept trying. I find a lot in west texas\

releventchair · Sep 26, 2014

I don,t recall the source of white flint received at a long ago shoot but was told it had been buried in sand below the fire and recovered the following morning to harden it.
Ohio was a source for one type of white that may have traveled north through trade or a trip south....
FINDING THE FLINT: Identifying the Source Can Be Both Helpful and Easy to Do | The People of the Stone

GatorBoy · Sep 26, 2014

Those pieces of his are not flint of any kind its slag glass

Backbacon · Sep 26, 2014

Please forgive my ignorance and maybe excessive questions on the subject as I've never encountered it before myself.

1. How old could it be?

2. Would this be a product of an old Foundry Furnace of sorts?

3. Would this slag be old enough for post contact Natives to work such as examples of railway glass points?

Once again, thanks for looking and any info would be greatly appreciated.

GatorBoy · Sep 26, 2014

Easily 1800's... Onward..
Yes ..
Yes..
People still collect and knapp it today.. The stuff is weak and brittle compared to flint and wouldn't be sensible for real projectile points though.

GatorBoy · Sep 26, 2014

releventchair · Sep 26, 2014

Post four does not resemble any slag I recognize. Seen coal slag,foundry slag in a waste dump area as a kid,(sure we thought it was volcanic,l.o.l..)
I worked years in a foundry, grey iron and ductile, and never saw white slag. Foundry slag stinks almost as bad as the foundry when fractured and often porous. Never considered knapping any due to flake sizes, insufficient and poor even among the small ones... Would not have passed it up were it possible. Sharpened a lot of chisels to remove it though.
Neat slag GatorBoy. Great knapping of it too. Any idea of what process it is from? It looks so glassy I can see the appeal.Few inclusions, cinders or junk.

GatorBoy · Sep 27, 2014

Just pulled them from knapping sites on the web.
Apparently steel forms white slag

olroy70 · Sep 27, 2014

I have quite a few pounds of it, and can guarantee it isnt slag! found in West Texas.

Charl · Sep 27, 2014

olroy70 said:
I have quite a few pounds of it, and can guarantee it isnt slag! found in West Texas.

But it was found in Ottawa, Canada. For it to be from Texas, it would need to be raw material transported by Early Paleo hunters. I doubt very much there was a trade network between the Ontario area in eastern Canada and Texas in later periods. Doesn't mean it isn't a similar material to what you are accustomed to finding in West Texas Big Bend area, but it isn't likely to have originated from the Big Bend area.

As you can see from the map, that's one heck of a hike!! More then 2000 miles.

releventchair · Sep 27, 2014

A Georgian Bay resident could journey, or from trade route see various materials relayed a ways. S.W. of there to Michigan it is still not understood why multiple sites contain multiple lithics from varied cultures(styles associated with known geographic areas) in same depth, but very similar mix in distant locality with suspicion of same people depositing them in a hearth at a mound site... With many sources able to be traced back to by examination of material it has brought conclusion of some of the distance traveled. My guess is that they were all deposited at same time as symbolic alliance or a ritual of effect of various battles. Texas would be a stretch but in time anything is possible. Someone in Ottawa familiar with local sources of material may be able to shed some lite on the source. S.W. of Georgian Bay at Saginaw bay are chert sources long utilized and as mentioned before Ohio flint, and others from other directions could be acquired when near or deliberately traded along the old routes..
Note the Kettle Point chert from Ontario turning up in Saginaw area.
http://www.castlemuseum.org/#!saginaw-valley/c214z