Need help on Oklahoma point

[naturegirl]

Hi guys! Buckshot and I got to walk a creek today and found more flakes than we ever have. I was enjoying that, but he kept saying there has to be something here. About the time I was saying you know they always say on TNet, if there's flakes keep looking, there's probably a point. Buckshot said "Insitu!" Pretty dang cool if you ask me. It's got a funny twist to it, I hope the last picture shows that. He's looking at the Overstreet book, and thinks it might be neosho. What do y'all think? I feel like it's Kay county chert, and it has a fossil in it that i don't know if the picture shows. It was a good three hours of hunting, found two old dump sites also. Thanks for looking. Has it been re-worked?

naturegirl

 

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[RGINN]

I can't answer your questions, NG, but I can say 'Keeewwwwllll Find!

 

[Th3rty7]

Nice find, that piece sure has some torque to it. Looks like it was reworked into a chisel tip tool or drill.

 

[11KBP]

It is a little hard to tell from the picture to be sure what the material is but it does appear to be Kay County and you are correct on the artifact type. Nice find!

11KBP

 

[naturegirl]

Thanks for the answers, sorry for the pictures, they aren't great. We can't find any pictures online of neoshos, does anyone have a link? Kay county chert was kind of a given, that's where it was found. It's Just too much fun to find something like this. Now I have a question about the word "torque" as it applies to points. Is it the narrowing of the edges a little up from the notches, or is it the twist that this one has? We're confused about that.

ng

 

[Neanderthal]

Yes, it's a Neosho, which is Harahey variant named for the Grand/Neosho waterway here. They are your original buffalo skinning knives, used throughout late prehistoric to early historic times. The material is heated Florence 'A' variety, what some people call Kay Co. The whitish/grey fossiliferous permian chert that you find there is the Florence 'B'.


The "torque" on your piece is from beveling. It's a resharpening technique used by many different cultures (but primarily early archaic). Beveling is when they take very small flakes on the edge of the blade, one face only on each side - as opposed to more conventional methods of flaking to the center, or on both sides per surface. Beveling is more or less a method of preserving material for a longer time, while still maintaining the sharp edge.

In your area Naturegirl, the more common beveled pieces you may find are Harahey variants, Dalton, Rice, White River and maybe a Searcy on occasion.

 

[naturegirl]

Thanks Neanderthal, I get it now about the torqueing. I thought the grey flakes with fossils were Florence D, I was close, but this one only has one little fossil, and is pink overall. We found several flakes of the B type, but predominatly the flakes we found were pink-tan. Now where are those points that all those flakes produced? It was neat, we learned a few things. We kept finding Florence A chert chunks, buttersotch color, sometimes these were bi-colored butterscotch/red, red/pink, some were all the way a dark red. We wondered if they had been heat treated by people, or nature. We found a burnt spot, obviously a tree from a recent fire, with ashes, and a pile of reddish chert right where the fire must have been, so we got out answer, wildfires must also change the color of the chert? They're were also pieces that had obviously exploded. Really a fun day.

Harahey, ok, thanks a direction to go.

naturegirl

 

[Charmin]

Nice point and insitu, naturegirl! We just had 1 1/2" of rain this morning so I'm gonna have to go check all the gravel bars !
regards~~sandcreek

 

[Neanderthal]

Thanks Neanderthal, I get it now about the torqueing. I thought the grey flakes with fossils were Florence D, I was close, but this one only has one little fossil, and is pink overall. We found several flakes of the B type, but predominatly the flakes we found were pink-tan. Now where are those points that all those flakes produced? It was neat, we learned a few things. We kept finding Florence A chert chunks, buttersotch color, sometimes these were bi-colored butterscotch/red, red/pink, some were all the way a dark red. We wondered if they had been heat treated by people, or nature. We found a burnt spot, obviously a tree from a recent fire, with ashes, and a pile of reddish chert right where the fire must have been, so we got out answer, wildfires must also change the color of the chert? They're were also pieces that had obviously exploded. Really a fun day.

Harahey, ok, thanks a direction to go.

naturegirl

The colorful red flakes of Florence that you're finding are heat treated. The treating alters the chert and makes it much more knappable (as well as aesthetics). Wildfires can heat treat some cherts, but more often than not it breaks or pops it into unusable pieces. Also, it often only effects the outer parts of the material. When intentionally heat treating, you bed the material and bring it up slowly to a specific degree to get rid of any moisture in the stone and keep it from blowing apart, etc. Frequently you will see artifacts that have been heated, then knapped/reduced, and then heated again to make it even more usable.

Florence is nice stuff! You will also find Foreacre, Woodford, Keokuk, Reeds, Wreford, Niabrara (and other Jaspers) with some frequency where you are.

 

[creek astronaut]

great find!dig those pics

 

[naturegirl]

Funny you should say it's nice stuff, I was thinking about it on the way home from work. We have such a huge amount of sandstone and limestone, that the flint has a strong attraction, 'cause it's different The lack of grain in it, it's "creamy". Thank for the names of the other types, I'll have to learn more about them. Yeah we learned about Florence exploding when we heated a big chunk with a torch. Yes I had on a face shield, yes rocks will explode. We knew the Indians didn't use torches, but we just wanted to see the color change, and it did turn a dark red. Thanks for the info.

ng