- Joined
- Mar 2, 2018
- Messages
- 9,109
- Reaction score
- 32,642
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Todds Point, IL
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
- #1
Thread Owner
This is a large flint blade that was dug at Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma in the 30s. It was tentatively identified as being made from Kaolin flint from Union County in So IL. Photo by Pete Bostrum.
While looking for flint sources for knapping in Union Co IL I stumbled upon an ancient quarry. It was a low ridge with numerous pits. Maybe 10’ across and mostly filled now with debris. I found a nodule of flint poking out of the dirt near one of the pits. It filled my 5 gal bucket. It was big but had numerous flaws. I took it home and reduced it into bifaces then heated it. I then chipped several points from it. It’s pretty obvious the large blade came from this quarry.
I ran into the owner of the big blade at an arrowhead show near St Louis and showed him the points I made. He was very surprised. There’s little doubt the blade was quarried and chipped by people from Cahokia, then shipped to the Spiro site in Oklahoma where it ended up in the mound.
While looking for flint sources for knapping in Union Co IL I stumbled upon an ancient quarry. It was a low ridge with numerous pits. Maybe 10’ across and mostly filled now with debris. I found a nodule of flint poking out of the dirt near one of the pits. It filled my 5 gal bucket. It was big but had numerous flaws. I took it home and reduced it into bifaces then heated it. I then chipped several points from it. It’s pretty obvious the large blade came from this quarry.
I ran into the owner of the big blade at an arrowhead show near St Louis and showed him the points I made. He was very surprised. There’s little doubt the blade was quarried and chipped by people from Cahokia, then shipped to the Spiro site in Oklahoma where it ended up in the mound.
