Today's SE Kansas Finds

[Gravelbar32]

I have been dying to get back to my bluff butcher/ cache site where I found the 27 large flakestone knives that I chronicled here ad nauseam. I finally got there today and scraped around in the same ten foot spot and found six more.

today
today

That makes 33 large pieces, not a single point, no flaking debris, pottery, scraper or drill. A few pieces of bone and tons of burned rock. Curiously, only a spec or two of charcoal. These folks were not there very long.

Some of the previous pieces.

 

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[old digger]

Looks like you have a lithics site where they collected material and hauled off pieces (cores) to be finalized elsewhere.

 

[dognose]

Some nice flake blades.

 

[H.P.]

Looks like a core reduction site, they knocked off them waste flakes and took the bifaces with em for further reduction...A note about flake knives..Yes a flake just struck will cut, however the blade edges are not strong and don’t stand up well over several uses, that’s why a minimal edge retouch is needed, and that produces a very distinct flake removal pattern. Maybe a couple of those are actually knives, only you can tell by studying edges, trying to see an intentional series of flake removals, hope this helps, there’s a lot to learn about artifacts.

 

[Fat]

Great explanations and location.
The crappies fizzled out?

 

[kansa54]

The material looks like Keokuk from N.E. Oklahoma. When I use to do a lot of flint knapping I drove to a quarry in N.E. Oklahoma and spalled out a couple buckets. Looks identical to what I brought back. Cool stuff.

 

[Gravelbar32]

Looks like a core reduction site, they knocked off them waste flakes and took the bifaces with em for further reduction...A note about flake knives..Yes a flake just struck will cut, however the blade edges are not strong and don’t stand up well over several uses, that’s why a minimal edge retouch is needed, and that produces a very distinct flake removal pattern. Maybe a couple of those are actually knives, only you can tell by studying edges, trying to see an intentional series of flake removals, hope this helps, there’s a lot to learn about artifacts.

Point well taken. But 3/4 of these have been beaten up. That pristine razor end hook is mostly gone on these. A few are fresh as can be. The ones with moderate secondary work (which was not done at this site) are used up too. The five or six broken blades have their mates within a few feet. I would think a core reduction site would be in a more comfortable place. Not on the steep slope of a 80 to 100 foot drop off. The burned stone in the bluff adjacent these flints suggests that activity was not on top but below. I contend that they were brought here to use and when they were done, they walked away. I swear there is not one sliver of flint at this site that suggest anything was made or altered here. If they were not used here, they were used somewhere else and stashed here. But if they were just to be cached, why the big fires on the slopes? My narrative may be untrue but the facts are intriguing! Thanks for the input.

 

[Gravelbar32]

Great explanations and location.
The crappies fizzled out?

So cold and dreary and I was under dressed so I did not venture near the water today. I feel they could be caught, tho.

 

[Older The Better]

Just wondering out loud... could it be a spot they were heat treating the stone? Maybe those pieces were in line to be treated but they had to move on before they could be altered. Maybe a pile was misplaced. Or maybe they gathered more than needed and those were left behind once they had all they wanted.

I’m still learning my lithics so it’s good to see someone knows their stuff. Is keokuk wide spread? I always thought it came from Illinois/Iowa way.

 

[Gravelbar32]

Just wondering out loud... could it be a spot they were heat treating the stone? Maybe those pieces were in line to be treated but they had to move on before they could be altered. Maybe a pile was misplaced. Or maybe they gathered more than needed and those were left behind once they had all they wanted.

I’m still learning my lithics so it’s good to see someone knows their stuff. Is keokuk wide spread? I always thought it came from Illinois/Iowa way.

I suppose it could be. They were brought there to treat and when done they walked away with what they wanted. I must say, though, that my untrained eye thinks the treated and untreated have been used. ( there are both) In my mind, if it was just for processing, why not do it somewhere where it could be done in a daily life setting like in the many many camps nearby? The answer may be that the weather was bad. It is a very protected site albeit crazy steep.

So after a cursory search of Keokuk, it looks like it is the same formation as Burlington. The examples I saw were a little more mottled than what I have from this site but creamy white is in the OK spectrum. The heat treated samples I have from this site range from burned black to an orange/ pink. The untreated is satin white.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Geologically the formation with Burlington/Keokuk is called MVL, or, Mississippian, lower Valmayern. It runs from Western IL down through MO and in to OK. Mainly white to cream to yellow material. Formation is bedded and the pieces can be large. I learned to knap on this stuff. It's not the very best, but some of it is awfully good. Gary